Chapter 4 - Owen's Warning)
Emily read Owen's letter in the conference room while Rachel quietly took Ava into the hallway.
Em,
I hope you never have to read this.
If you're reading it, either I lost my nerve or I lost the chance to tell you this myself.
Margaret asked me for money three times this year.
Not small amounts.
The first was twenty thousand.
Then forty.
Then seventy-five.
I said no every time.
She told me you didn't need to know because it would upset you.
That alone bothered me.
Then last Thursday she asked what would happen to Ava's trust if you were "too sick to manage it."
Those were her words.
I asked what she meant.
She said you've always been emotionally fragile.
I told her never to speak about you that way again.
She laughed.
Em, I know you love her.
I know every criticism of your mother has always sounded to you like I'm asking you to choose between us.
I'm not.
I'm asking you to protect yourself.
Your mother has debts. I don't know from where.
I saw a notice in her car from a private lender. The balance was more than three hundred thousand dollars.
She begged me not to mention it.
I'm mentioning it.
I asked Martin to change the trust so Margaret can never act as Ava's financial guardian, even if something happens to both of us.
We haven't signed the amendment yet.
If I haven't completed it, do it.
And please don't let her make you doubt your own memory.
You remember more than she wants you to believe.
I love you.
Owen.
Emily reached the last line and stopped.
For several minutes she could hear nothing except the ventilation system.
Martin remained silent.
Emily pressed one hand over her mouth.
"He knew."
"Some of it."
"And he didn't tell me."
"He intended to."
"Why didn't he?"
"Because he was trying to verify the debt."
Emily wiped her eyes.
"What happened?"
"Owen died nine days after writing that letter."
The room suddenly felt smaller.
Emily looked up.
"Did he find anything?"
Martin hesitated.
"He mentioned a lender named Fairmont Capital."
"Who are they?"
"Private lending. High interest. I don't know the details."
Emily looked at the letter again.
Three hundred thousand dollars.
Margaret had asked Owen for seventy-five thousand.
Emily thought about her mother's kitchen renovation.
The Connecticut house.
The expensive coats.
Then she remembered something else.
Six months after Owen died, Margaret had asked Emily whether she had considered buying a larger apartment using money from Ava's trust.
Emily had refused immediately.
Margaret said she was only trying to help.
Now it sounded like research.
Rachel returned.
Emily handed her the letter.
Rachel read it.
When she finished, she looked furious.
"Change everything."
"I already changed the locks."
"Not the locks. Everything."
Martin agreed.
He recommended placing an alert on any guardianship filings involving Ava.
He also suggested notifying the childcare center in writing that only Emily and Rachel were authorized for pickup.
Emily did both before leaving his office.
At 5:12 p.m., Margaret called.
Emily stared at the phone until it stopped.
Then Margaret called again.
And again.
Finally Emily answered.
"Hello."
Margaret did not greet her.
"You went to Martin."
Emily felt a chill.
"How do you know?"
"Beatrice saw Rachel outside his building."
"Are you following me?"
"Don't be dramatic."
Emily almost laughed.
The phrase was so familiar.
"Did you ask Owen for seventy-five thousand dollars?"
Margaret went silent.
Emily continued.
"Did you owe a private lender more than three hundred thousand?"
"Your husband hated me."
"Answer me."
"Owen wanted you isolated."
"Answer the question."
Margaret's voice sharpened.
"I borrowed money."
"How much?"
"That is none of your business."
"It became my business when you asked my husband for it."
"You were married. His money was partly yours."
"No."
Margaret inhaled slowly.
"Emily, you are upset because you found a letter from a dead man who never understood our family."
"You asked him what would happen to Ava's trust if I became too sick to manage it."
"I was planning for emergencies."
"You forged my signature."
Margaret stopped.
Emily heard the change in her breathing.
"I have the forms."
"Then somebody made a clerical mistake."
"My signature was copied."
"You sign hundreds of things."
"I did not sign those."
Margaret's voice became soft.
"You're sure?"
Emily almost answered automatically.
Then she understood what her mother was doing.
Owen's sentence returned to her.
Do not let her make you doubt your own memory.
Emily said, "Yes. I'm sure."
Margaret changed tactics.
"I am trying to keep Ava safe."
"From what?"
"From instability."
Emily's entire body went cold.
"What instability?"
"You don't sleep."
"I have a toddler."
"You cry."
"My husband died."
"You forget appointments."
"I missed one dentist appointment."
"You left Ava at daycare after closing."
"I was twenty minutes late twice."
"You had panic attacks."
"After Owen died."
"You see how this sounds."
Emily gripped the phone.
"To whom?"
Margaret did not answer.
"Mom."
Silence.
"To whom does it sound bad?"
Margaret finally said, "You need help."
Then she ended the call.
Emily immediately phoned Martin.
Before he answered, a new email arrived.
Sender:
New York Family Court Electronic Notification.
Subject:
Notice of Filing.
Emily opened it.
Margaret Hale had filed an emergency petition requesting temporary guardianship of Ava Carter.
The filing alleged Emily suffered from severe emotional instability, unpredictable panic episodes, sleep deprivation, memory loss, and impaired judgment.
Attached were daycare notes.
Medical records.
Statements from Beatrice.
And photographs of Emily crying at Owen's funeral.
Rachel read over her shoulder.
"What kind of person uses funeral photographs as evidence against her own daughter?"
Emily scrolled farther.
Then she found the allegation that made her hands go numb.
Petitioner states that on multiple occasions the mother has left the child unattended.
Emily whispered, "That's a lie."
Rachel read the next paragraph.
There was a witness declaration.
Signed by someone named Laura Jennings.
Emily had never heard the name.
Laura claimed she lived in Emily's building and had personally seen Ava alone in a hallway at midnight.
Emily looked at Rachel.
"Who is Laura Jennings?"
Rachel was already searching the name on her phone.
Thirty seconds later, she stopped.
"Oh my God."
"What?"
Rachel turned the screen.
Laura Jennings was Beatrice Hale's daughter.
Emily's cousin.
May you like
A woman Emily had not seen in eight years.
And according to the declaration, she had been watching Emily for months.
