Chapter 9: What Eleanor Offered
I photographed the note before I touched it again.
Then I put it in a plastic bag and called Patricia.
She answered on the second ring.
"She offered you money to drop the defense," Patricia said, when I had described it.
"Yes."
"How much?"
I told her.
A pause.
"That's not a casual number.
That's a number she thought you might actually consider."
"I'm not considering it."
"I know.
But the fact that she sent it tells us something.
She's worried about Richard's testimony.
She's worried about Lily's documents.
She's trying to close this before it becomes a formal proceeding where those things become part of the public record." Patricia's voice was measured, but I could hear something underneath it.
"She doesn't want this in front of a judge."
"Then she should have left us alone ten years ago."
"I agree.
Save the note.
Don't respond.
I'll file a motion tomorrow morning that will make any further direct contact from Eleanor or her representatives a matter of court record."
I set my phone down and stood in the kitchen for a moment.
Then I went upstairs and knocked on Maya's door.
She was still awake.
She opened the door and took one look at my face.
"What happened?"
I showed her the note.
She read it.
Read it again.
Her expression didn't change the way I expected.
She didn't get angry.
She went very still instead, in the way Lily used to go still when she was thinking hard about something she had already decided.
"She thinks we have a price," Maya said.
"Yes."
"She thought Mom had a price too."
"Yes."
Maya handed the note back to me.
"What does Patricia say?"
"That it tells us Eleanor is scared.
That we don't respond.
That she files a motion tomorrow."
Maya nodded slowly.
"Okay."
"Are you okay?"
She leaned against the doorframe.
For just a moment she looked younger than eighteen.
She looked like the girl she had been a week ago, before any of this had arrived on our doorstep.
"I keep thinking about what she said to Mom," Maya said.
"In the hospital.
That we'd follow the money." She looked at me.
"She's been thinking of us as a transaction this whole time.
Not as people."
"Yes."
"She's never going to stop, is she.
Not unless something makes her."
I didn't answer immediately.
Because the honest answer was complicated.
"Patricia believes that once Richard's testimony is on record and Lily's documents are submitted, Eleanor's petition will not survive a hearing," I said.
"Her own behavior — the hospital visit, the texts, the note tonight — it all works against her."
"But?"
"But Eleanor Calloway has money and patience.
Patricia was honest with me about that."
Maya was quiet for a moment.
"Richard said he argued with her today," she said.
"Yes."
"What if he went further than arguing?"
I looked at her.
"What do you mean?"
"He's a Calloway.
He controls part of the family business.
If he wanted to, couldn't he—" She paused.
"I don't know.
Make things harder for her?
Financially?"
"Maya."
"I'm not saying do anything wrong.
I'm just asking if he has leverage she doesn't want used."
I thought about Richard at the kitchen table.
About the way he had said *I'm trying to be honest with you* without flinching.
"I don't know," I said.
"But that's his choice to make."
She nodded.
"Then maybe someone should ask him."
I closed her door and went back downstairs.
I sat at the kitchen table with the note in its plastic bag in front of me and Richard's number in my phone.
I stared at both for a long time.
Then I picked up the phone.
He answered on the first ring, like he had been awake and waiting.
"She sent a note," I said.
"To the house.
Tonight.
An offer."
A long silence.
"How much?" he asked.
I told him.
Another silence.
Longer.
"She's panicking," he said finally.
"That's what Patricia said."
"She's right." His voice was quiet and careful.
"My mother only offers money when she thinks she's about to lose something she can't replace."
"Richard." I paused.
"Is there anything you can do?
From your side.
Legally.
That would make this harder for her to continue?"
The silence this time was different.
Thoughtful.
"There might be," he said.
"The petition was filed through a firm she's used for thirty years.
That firm also handles two accounts that are technically under my authority as a co-director of the Calloway Group." He stopped.
"I would need to speak with my own attorney."
"I'm not asking you to do anything—"
"I know what you're asking," he said.
"And I'm telling you I'll look into it."
He paused.
"She went to the hospital," he said.
"While Lily was dying.
She sat next to her and said that to her." His voice was very quiet.
"I need you to know that I will not let her win this."
I believed him.
But the next morning, Patricia called before I had finished my coffee.
"Eleanor's attorney filed an emergency addendum last night," she said.
"They've added a new claim.
They're alleging that you coached the girls to reject contact with their biological family.
They're citing Maya's behavior at the door when Richard first arrived as evidence."
I set down my mug.
"That's not what happened."
"I know.
But they have a witness statement."
"From who?"
May you like
Patricia's pause was one beat too long.
"From someone who was in the house that day," she said.
