Chapter 10 - The Last Argument With Thomas
Sarah had argued with Thomas Hale twelve days before he died.
That was the meeting Dr. Avery knew nothing about.
Thomas had called Sarah to his house.
He had discovered that she copied trust documents.
He knew someone was pressuring her about the land.
According to Sarah, Thomas demanded she tell David.
She refused.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because Marcus already had messages.”
“What messages?”
“Mine.”
“About the affair?”
She nodded.
“And the money.”
Thomas threatened to remove Sarah from any future role involving Maya’s finances.
Sarah panicked.
She created the fake trust amendment afterward.
“But Thomas died before you used it.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you use it later?”
“Because Marcus knew.”
Sarah’s voice had become small.
“He found the amendment on my laptop.”
“You could have deleted it.”
“I should have.”
“You could have told David.”
“I should have.”
“You could have done a hundred things.”
“I know.”
For the first time, Sarah wasn’t defending herself.
That didn’t make the truth easier.
At the storage unit, David found another recording.
This one was older.
Thomas’s voice.
Marcus had secretly recorded a meeting.
Thomas sounded angry.
“I know exactly what Westbridge wants.”
Marcus answered, “Then you understand the offer.”
“I understand you’re circling my family.”
“I’m offering money.”
“You’re offering poison with commas.”
David closed his eyes.
He could picture his father saying it.
Thomas continued.
“My son will never sell to you.”
“Your son is deployed half the time.”
“He’ll still say no.”
“Maybe his wife won’t.”
A chair scraped.
Thomas’s voice became dangerous.
“You stay away from Sarah.”
Marcus laughed.
“I think Sarah makes her own decisions.”
Thomas answered:
“Not when she’s being lied to.”
The recording ended.
Mercer looked at David.
“So Marcus knew Thomas.”
David nodded.
“Sarah lied when she said Marcus came into our lives after Dad died.”
“Looks that way.”
Another folder contained emails.
Marcus had worked as an outside property-acquisition contractor for Westbridge three years earlier.
He had approached Thomas directly.
Thomas rejected him.
Months later, Marcus appeared in Sarah’s life under the surname Reed.
Not random.
Not coincidence.
Targeting.
David called Sarah’s attorney.
“I need one question answered.”
Melissa Grant refused to put Sarah on without an agreement.
David hung up.
Mercer said, “Don’t contact her directly right now.”
“She knew Marcus targeted my father.”
“We don’t know that she knew.”
“My father warned her.”
“We know that from her statement?”
David looked at him.
“How do you know?”
Mercer paused.
“We spoke to your sister-in-law.”
David’s expression changed.
I had given my statement.
Sarah’s confession was now part of the investigation.
David leaned against the metal shelving.
“Did Thomas know she forged the trust?”
“He discovered she was copying documents. Sarah says he caught her before the amendment was completed.”
“Do you believe her?”
“That isn’t my job yet.”
David understood.
Evidence.
Not emotion.
That afternoon, the emergency custody hearing took place in Montgomery County Family Court.
David wore a plain blue shirt.
No uniform.
No medals.
He didn’t want his military service to decide the case.
Dana Bell testified about the home conditions and Maya’s disclosures.
The pediatric report documented the injury without unnecessary detail.
Sarah sat beside her attorney.
She looked exhausted.
Marcus remained in custody on the old warrant while investigators developed additional charges.
The judge, Elaine Brooks, reviewed the temporary safety order.
“The court’s primary concern is the children.”
Sarah’s attorney argued for supervised visitation.
David’s attorney did not oppose contact entirely.
That surprised me.
Afterward I asked why.
“Because Maya loves her mother.”
“She’s afraid of her.”
“She’s also six.”
David looked toward Sarah across the courtroom.
“I’m not going to teach Maya that love disappears overnight.”
“What if Sarah manipulated her?”
“Then visits stay supervised.”
He looked at me.
“Protecting Maya doesn’t mean making every decision from anger.”
Judge Brooks granted David temporary primary custody.
Sarah received two supervised visits per week pending the investigation.
Marcus was ordered to have no contact with either child.
The judge also prohibited Sarah from removing funds from any account belonging to Maya.
When the hearing ended, Sarah approached David under attorney supervision.
“Thank you.”
He frowned.
“For what?”
“Not asking them to cut me off completely.”
David looked at her for a long time.
“Don’t thank me.”
She lowered her eyes.
“I did it for Maya.”
Sarah nodded.
Then David asked,
“Did my father know Marcus before he died?”
Sarah stopped breathing.
Melissa Grant touched her arm.
“You don’t have to answer.”
Sarah looked at David.
“Yes.”
His face went still.
“How long?”
“Almost a year.”
David glanced away.
“What did Dad say?”
Sarah whispered,
“He told me Marcus wasn’t interested in me.”
David looked back.
“He said Marcus was interested in whatever I could open for him.”
Sarah’s tears started.
“And I hated your father for saying it.”
“Why?”
“Because part of me already knew he was right.”
She walked away.
David remained in the courthouse corridor.
Then his phone rang.
Mercer.
David listened.
His expression changed.
“What account?”
Another pause.
“How much?”
He looked at me.
After he hung up, he said:
“They found where the missing trust money went.”
“Marcus?”
“Not directly.”
“Then where?”
May you like
David’s face hardened.
“To a company owned by someone named Vincent Avery.”
