Chapter 9: Thursday With Carol Marsh
Carol Marsh's office was on the fourth floor of a building downtown, with a waiting room that had good lighting and no magazines about weddings.
She was in her late fifties, with reading glasses on a chain and a legal pad she wrote on in small, precise letters.
She let me talk for eleven minutes without interrupting.
I know because there was a clock on the wall behind her and I watched it without meaning to.
When I finished, she said, "Tell me about the texts she's holding."
"I haven't seen them.
Tyler confirmed they exist.
Danny — Tyler's brother — believes she has screenshots going back to the beginning of the affair."
"And she's communicated the threat directly to Tyler?
In writing?"
"I don't know if it's in writing.
Tyler would know."
Carol made a note.
"If she communicated the threat verbally, it's still actionable.
But if she put any part of it in a text or email, that's significantly better for you." She looked up.
"What she's describing — threatening to release damaging information unless someone pays her — that is extortion.
It doesn't matter that the underlying information is true.
The threat itself is the crime."
I had looked this up the night before, but hearing it said plainly by someone sitting across from me made it land differently.
"What are my options?" I asked.
"Several.
The first is to document everything Tyler can remember — dates, amounts, how the threats were communicated.
The second is to get Tyler to stop all payments immediately, which removes the ongoing element and forces her hand.
The third is to contact law enforcement, which I would recommend doing with counsel present." She set her pen down.
"But I want to ask you something first.
What do you want the outcome to be?
Not legally.
Personally."
I thought about it.
"I want her to stop," I said.
"I want Tyler to stop being afraid of her.
And I want to understand what my marriage actually is before I decide what to do with it."
Carol nodded.
"Those are three separate problems.
We can help with the first two.
The third one is yours."
"I know."
"Does Tyler have an attorney?"
"Not yet."
"He needs one.
Not the same one as you — separate representation.
But he needs someone in his corner before any of this moves forward." She picked up her pen again.
"Can you get him to do that?"
"I think so."
"Good." She wrote something on the pad.
"I want to see any financial records you can access — the loan on the truck, any transfers or withdrawals that look irregular.
And I want Tyler to write down every interaction with Diane where money was discussed.
Dates, what was said, how it was delivered."
I pulled out the folder I'd brought.
"Danny sent me bank records last night.
Transfers Tyler made over the past three years.
I printed them."
Carol took the folder and opened it.
She looked at the first page.
"This is a good start," she said.
For the first time in two days, I felt something shift.
Not hope exactly.
More like ground under my feet where there hadn't been any.
"What happens to her?" I asked.
"If this goes where you're describing?"
Carol looked at me over her glasses.
"If the evidence supports it, she faces criminal charges.
Extortion carries serious penalties.
And any leverage she thinks she has over Tyler becomes, effectively, worthless — because the secret she's been selling is already out."
I thought about Diane's face at the door.
The relief I'd misread.
May you like
She had thought Tyler was finally coming clean on his own terms.
She hadn't known I was about to take the whole thing apart.
