Chapter 11 - WHAT HE PLANNED FOR TOMMY
I couldn’t breathe.
Claire opened the document.
It was a draft.
But it was detailed.
Very detailed.
It described me as emotionally unstable.
Financially reckless.
Obsessive.
Unable to cope with Tommy’s medical history.
It claimed I routinely exaggerated his symptoms.
It suggested I had “created psychological dependency” in my son.
I looked at Joe.
“You were going to say I made him sick?”
Joe said nothing.
Tommy stood beside me.
His face had gone blank.
Claire kept reading.
The petition requested that Tommy be placed temporarily with Joe.
And Eleanor.
I laughed once.
A terrible sound.
“You were going to take my child.”
Joe finally spoke.
“I was protecting him.”
Tommy exploded.
“FROM WHAT?”
Everybody turned.
His whole body was shaking.
“From Mom taking me to doctors when I couldn’t breathe?”
“Tommy—”
“From Mom sleeping in hospital chairs?”
“Stop.”
“From Mom knowing every medication I take while you couldn’t name one?”
Joe’s face tightened.
“I paid for those doctors.”
Tommy stared at him.
“That’s the most Dad thing you’ve ever said.”
I put my arm around him.
Joe looked at me.
“You’ve poisoned him against me.”
“No,” Tommy said. “You did that.”
Silence.
Then Tracy started crying again.
Joe snapped, “What now?”
She looked at him.
“You told me she wouldn’t let you see him.”
Joe’s eyes closed briefly.
“You said Sarah used Tommy to punish you.”
“He’s manipulating you,” I said quietly.
Tracy shook her head.
“No. He manipulated me.”
She looked sick.
“I brought Leo here tonight because Joe said this was the only way to force the truth out.”
I believed her.
Maybe not completely.
But enough.
She looked at me.
“He said you’d scream. He said you might hit me.”
“I almost did.”
Her eyes widened.
“I’m kidding.”
Tommy whispered, “She’s not.”
“Tommy.”
“Sorry.”
Detective Alvarez interrupted.
“There’s something else in the folder.”
Claire opened a spreadsheet.
Dates.
Doctor appointments.
Medication changes.
Hospital visits.
School absences.
Somebody had been tracking Tommy for almost two years.
Not helping.
Tracking.
A column on the right contained notes.
WEAK PERIOD.
SARAH EXHAUSTED.
GOOD FOR PETITION.
FAMILY WITNESS AVAILABLE.
I felt physically sick.
Then I saw the initials attached to several entries.
E.V.
Eleanor Vance.
I turned toward her.
“You used his illness.”
Eleanor’s eyes filled with tears.
“Sarah, I never intended—”
“Don’t.”
My voice shook.
“Whatever sentence comes after that, don’t.”
Tommy looked at his grandmother.
“You wrote ‘weak period’ when I had pneumonia.”
Eleanor covered her mouth.
“You were eight.”
She started crying.
Tommy didn’t.
He simply stared at her.
Then Detective Alvarez’s phone rang.
She answered, listened, and looked toward Joe.
“Yes. I understand.”
She hung up.
Joe asked, “What?”
Alvarez walked toward him.
“We just received confirmation from the bank.”
“Of what?”
“The seven-point-three-million-dollar transfer.”
Joe’s face hardened.
Alvarez continued.
“The receiving company was dissolved last month.”
Claire asked, “Where did the money go?”
Alvarez looked at Joe.
“Most of it came back to the United States.”
“Where?”
“To an account connected to a property purchase.”
Joe said nothing.
The detective finished.
“A property purchased under the name Leo Monroe Vance.”
Tracy turned white.
“What property?”
Alvarez looked at her.
“A fourteen-million-dollar house in Palm Beach.”
Tracy stared at Joe.
May you like
“You told me you rented that house.”
And suddenly, even Joe’s mistress realized she had been used as evidence.
