Chapter 7: What the Lawyers Found
The meeting lasted three hours.
Sophie sat in Richard's office with the door open, watching cartoons on his laptop with the volume low.
Richard had carried the armchair from the corner of her bedroom downstairs so she could sit in something familiar.
She had a bowl of cereal — real cereal, with milk, the kind she had picked herself from the pantry — and she ate all of it.
The lawyers worked in the dining room.
Richard sat at the head of the table.
Vanessa sat at the far end with her own attorney, a man named Gerald who had arrived twenty minutes late and spent the first ten minutes reviewing documents he clearly hadn't read before walking in.
The woman in the gray suit was named Patricia Wren.
She put the behavior log file on the table first.
"This document," she said, "was compiled without the knowledge or consent of Mr.
Sterling, who is the legal guardian of the child.
It contains characterizations of the child's mental and emotional state that were not made by any licensed professional.
It was kept in a private location within the employer's home." She looked at Gerald.
"We'll be requesting a full forensic review of all documents created during Ms.
Cole's placement."
Gerald leaned over to Vanessa and said something quietly.
Vanessa shook her head.
"Ms.
Cole," Patricia said, "can you explain the purpose of the room at the end of the second-floor hallway?"
"It was a designated calm-down space."
"A calm-down space with a lock that operates only from the outside."
"For safety."
"Whose safety?"
Vanessa didn't answer.
The second lawyer, whose name was Carson, slid a printed document across the table.
"This is a sworn statement from Daniel Holt, along with supporting documentation from his daughter's time in your care.
We also have a signed release from Thomas Reeves in Portland, along with eleven minutes of footage from his home security system." He paused.
"We have been in contact with a family in Edinburgh.
They are currently deciding whether to provide a formal statement."
Gerald picked up the document.
He read the first page.
Then he set it down and looked at Vanessa with an expression that said he had just understood what kind of case he had walked into.
"I'd like a moment with my client," he said.
"Of course," Patricia said.
Richard walked out to the hallway.
He stood near the office door and looked in at Sophie.
She had finished her cereal and was watching the screen with her knees pulled up to her chest.
She looked up and saw him.
"Is it almost done?"
"Getting there."
"Will she have to go to jail?"
Richard crouched down to her level.
"That's for other people to decide.
Not me."
"But you want her to."
He looked at his daughter's face.
Six years old.
Gray eyes that had seen too much.
"I want you to be safe," he said.
"That's the only thing I want."
Sophie considered this.
"Okay," she said, and turned back to the screen.
Gerald appeared in the dining room doorway.
"Mr.
Sterling.
Could we speak?"
Richard stood and walked back in.
Gerald had the look of a man trying to negotiate a controlled descent.
"My client is willing to provide a full written account of her time in this household in exchange for—"
"No exchange," Richard said.
He sat down.
"She provides the account.
The account goes to the police.
What happens after that is not my decision."
"Mr.
Sterling, if we can reach a civil—"
"Gerald." Patricia's voice was pleasant.
"The footage from the Holt home has already been shared with the detective assigned to the Holt complaint.
That complaint was filed two years ago and stalled for lack of evidence.
It is no longer stalled." She folded her hands on the table.
"Your client's cooperation at this point affects the narrative, not the outcome."
Gerald looked at Vanessa.
Vanessa was looking at the table.
"All right," she said quietly.
"All right."
She looked up then — not at Richard, not at the lawyers.
At the hallway.
At the office where Sophie sat.
"I want it on record," she said, "that I never physically—"
"Ms.
Cole." Carson's voice was flat.
"I'd recommend you stop speaking without a full consultation with your attorney.
What you say in this room can and will be used."
She closed her mouth.
Richard looked at her one last time.
He had expected to feel something in this moment.
Satisfaction, maybe.
Or rage finally finding its release.
Instead he felt very tired, and very clear, and entirely certain that the next thing he needed to do was take Sophie somewhere she had never been locked in a room.
He stood up.
"Patricia.
Carson.
You have everything you need from me?"
"For now," Patricia said.
"We'll be in touch this afternoon."
He nodded.
Walked to the office.
Closed the laptop gently.
"Hey," he said.
"You want to get out of the house for a while?"
Sophie looked up at him.
"Where?"
"Wherever you want."
She thought about it very seriously for a moment.
"The zoo," she said.
"I've never been."
Richard felt something move through his chest that had no name.
"Then we'll go to the zoo."
He picked up his jacket.
Behind him, in the dining room, he heard Gerald speaking quietly to Vanessa.
May you like
He didn't listen to what was said.
He took Sophie's hand and walked out the front door into the morning.
