Chapter 10 - Sloane Tried to Take Caleb Without Touching Him)
The emergency custody petition was filed Friday morning.
Sloane did not appear in court.
Her attorneys did.
The petition claimed Jackson's home had become dangerous.
It cited the recent violent altercation.
It described Hannah as an "unrelated caregiver involved in escalating interpersonal conflict."
It cited police presence.
Anonymous threats.
Repeated security incidents.
Then it argued the most outrageous point of all.
That Jackson's obsession with investigating Natalie's death had made him emotionally unstable.
Jackson read the filing in Margaret's office.
"She created every problem and now she's using them as evidence."
"That's the strategy," Margaret said.
"Can this work?"
"Temporarily? Anything can happen if a judge believes a child is in immediate danger."
Jackson stood.
"Caleb isn't leaving my house."
"Then we prove the danger is Sloane."
The hearing happened that afternoon.
Jackson sat beside Margaret.
Across the courtroom, Sloane's attorneys presented her as a concerned family friend who had helped care for Caleb since birth.
They did not mention the fraud investigation.
They described the vase incident as disputed.
They suggested Hannah had provoked the confrontation.
Then Margaret stood.
She played the recovered security footage.
The courtroom became silent.
Sloane kicking Caleb's toy.
Pulling his clothing.
Hannah intervening.
Sloane escalating.
The vase.
The strike.
When the video ended, Margaret placed Natalie's amended trust document into evidence.
Then the financial records.
Then the petition draft police had found in Sloane's office.
The judge read several pages.
His expression changed.
Sloane's attorneys requested a recess.
The judge denied it.
"Where is Ms. Whitaker?"
One attorney answered.
"She has been advised not to appear due to the criminal investigation."
The judge removed his glasses.
"So the person asking this court to take a fourteen-month-old child from his father is unwilling to appear in the courtroom?"
No answer.
The petition was denied.
More importantly, the judge issued an immediate protective order barring Sloane from contact with Caleb, Jackson or Hannah.
Outside the courthouse, reporters gathered.
News of the foundation fraud investigation had leaked.
Jackson refused to speak.
Hannah held Caleb close as they entered the car.
For the first time in weeks, Jackson felt something resembling relief.
Then Detective Ortiz called.
"Do not go home."
Jackson's relief disappeared.
"Why?"
"Sloane is missing."
"When?"
"Her attorneys haven't been able to contact her since this morning."
"Is there a warrant?"
"The prosecutor approved charges related to the foundation records thirty minutes ago."
Jackson looked at Hannah.
"Where do we go?"
"Police are sending you to a secure location."
"What about my house?"
"Officers are searching it first."
Jackson looked at Caleb.
The little boy was playing with the zipper on Hannah's bag, unaware.
Jackson hated living in fear of a woman he had once trusted inside every room of his home.
They spent the night at a guarded residence used for protected witnesses.
At 1:15 a.m., Ortiz called again.
"We found evidence someone entered your house."
Jackson sat upright.
"What was taken?"
"Nothing obvious."
"Then why enter?"
"Your study safe was opened."
Jackson's heart stopped.
"That's impossible."
"Someone knew the code."
Only Natalie had known the original code.
After she died, Jackson changed it.
Then he remembered.
Sloane had been in his study many times.
Maybe she had watched him.
"What was in it?"
"Your passports. Jewelry. Copies of company documents."
"And?"
Jackson suddenly remembered.
Natalie's old phone.
He had placed it in the safe after the funeral.
Never turned it on.
Never looked through it.
Because opening it had felt like opening a grave.
"Her phone."
"What?"
"Natalie's phone was in the safe."
Ortiz checked with officers.
A minute later, she returned.
"It's gone."
Jackson closed his eyes.
Sloane had risked arrest to enter a guarded house.
Not for money.
Not for jewelry.
May you like
For Natalie's phone.
Meaning there was something on it Sloane desperately needed destroyed.
