Chapter 8 - THE WORDS IN HIS OWN VOICE
Attorney Naomi Brooks did not flinch when Daniel showed her the folder.
She read every page.
Then she asked him questions he didn’t like.
Had he ever left the children alone overnight?
“No.”
Had he ever told Rachel he couldn’t cope?
“Yes.”
Had he struggled after Anna’s death?
“Yes.”
Had he sought help?
“Not enough.”
Naomi looked up.
“Being overwhelmed is not the same as hurting your children. But we need to be precise about what happened and what can be documented.”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“She used things I actually said.”
“Tell me.”
Two months after the funeral, he had called Rachel from the grocery store parking lot.
Lily had cried through dinner. Owen had refused to go to bed. Daniel had forgotten a school form and burned a frozen meal.
He had said, “I don’t know how to do this without her.”
Rachel’s notes described that as an admission that he could not safely parent.
Another night, he had said, “I can’t take one more thing today.”
She had written: Father expresses hostility toward children’s needs.
Daniel stared at the page.
“I was talking about my truck breaking down.”
“Do you have the messages around that conversation?”
He checked.
He did.
Naomi asked him to preserve the originals and make copies.
“No arguments over text. No public accusations. Give the investigators what you have.”
“What about the money?”
“Report the transactions you didn’t authorize. Let the records establish where it went.”
He nodded.
Then his phone rang.
Marcus.
“Everything’s okay,” Marcus said immediately. “But Owen wants to speak to you.”
Daniel put him on.
“Hey, buddy.”
“Did you find the pages?”
“Not yet.”
“They’re not in my room.”
“Where are they?”
Owen was quiet.
Then: “Inside the box with Mom’s Christmas stuff.”
Daniel leaned back in his chair.
“I’ll look.”
“There’s a paper from school too.”
“What paper?”
“The one I wrote when Mrs. Hall asked what we wish grown-ups knew.”
Daniel remembered a school email about a classroom writing project.
Rachel had said Owen didn’t want to participate.
“Did you give it to your teacher?”
“I was going to.”
“What happened?”
“Aunt Rachel found it.”
Naomi watched Daniel’s face change.
May you like
On the phone, Owen’s voice became very small.
“She said if anybody read it, you’d find out what a bad brother I was.”
