Chapter 6: What Patricia Said
She called four more times in the next forty minutes.
I sat in Martin's office while he filed the objection and spoke with the trust administrator, and I watched Patricia's number appear and disappear on my screen like something that wanted very badly to be let in.
On the fifth attempt, I answered.
"Mrs.
Hayes." Her voice was warm and unhurried.
The voice of someone who had decided she was still in control.
"I'm so glad I reached you.
I've been hoping we could speak directly.
I think there's been a misunderstanding today that I'd very much like to clear up."
"I'm listening," I said.
"I know this morning was difficult.
Olivia told me what happened at the gate and I want you to know I'm genuinely sorry.
That was never my intention or my advice to her.
The whole situation got away from everyone."
"Is that right."
"Absolutely.
I've been trying to make sure Olivia's transition into this next chapter of her life is handled properly.
That's all.
Your husband was a client and I take that responsibility seriously." A brief pause.
"I understand you may have been given some information today by another party.
I want to make sure you're getting accurate guidance, because there's a great deal of complexity here and it would be very easy to take a wrong step."
"What kind of wrong step?" I asked.
"Filing unnecessary legal challenges," she said pleasantly.
"That sort of thing can delay everyone's access to funds that are rightfully theirs.
It creates hardship.
It makes the process adversarial when it doesn't need to be."
"Patricia," I said, "you submitted a document to the trust administrator this morning claiming I had given verbal consent to waive my co-signature requirement."
A half-second pause.
Less than that.
"That document reflected my understanding of a conversation we had some weeks ago," she said.
"You may remember it differently, which is why I wanted to speak with you directly.
These things can often be resolved without—"
"We have never spoken," I said.
"Not once.
Not some weeks ago, not ever.
You have never been in a room with me, and you have never had a conversation with me about anything.
There is no version of that claim that reflects any conversation, because no conversation took place."
Silence.
Longer this time.
"Mrs.
Hayes, I think you should be very careful before you—"
"I've already filed the objection," I said.
"The transfer is frozen pending a formal review.
Martin Reeves submitted the paperwork forty minutes ago."
The warmth left her voice completely.
What remained was flat and precise.
"Martin Reeves does not have standing to interfere in this matter," she said.
"He has a signed letter of engagement from Richard Hayes, dated two years before his death, granting him oversight authority over the secondary trust in the event of a contested claim.
He also has Richard's written record of every private meeting you held with Olivia without Richard's knowledge or consent.
And I have a photograph of you and Olivia at a restaurant, with a note on it that has already been photographed and logged as evidence." I kept my voice level.
"Do you want to keep going, or would this be a good place to stop?"
Nothing.
"I didn't want this to be adversarial," I said.
"You made it adversarial when you lied to my daughter about who held the power in this trust, and then submitted a false document with my name on it." I paused.
"I want you to hear me say this clearly, because I'm only going to say it once.
Step back from this case.
Withdraw your representation of Olivia.
And do not contact my daughter again."
"You can't tell me who my clients—"
"I'm not telling you as her mother," I said.
"I'm telling you as the co-signatory of a trust you have attempted to defraud.
Talk to your own solicitor, Patricia.
You'll want one."
I ended the call.
Martin was standing in the doorway.
He had heard enough.
"She'll move quickly now," he said.
"I know," I said.
"So will I."
He nodded.
"There's one more thing you need to do today."
I already knew what it was.
I had known since I read Richard's letter.
"Olivia," I said.
"She's going to get a call from Patricia in the next ten minutes," Martin said.
"Whatever Patricia tells her, it won't be the truth.
But if Olivia hears it first from Patricia, she may believe it."
I picked up my handbag.
Picked up Richard's letter.
Folded it once more and placed it carefully inside.
"Where's the reception being held?" Martin asked.
"Thornfield Vineyard," I said.
"But they have no caterer, no photographer, and no one has paid the venue balance." I paused at the door.
"It may not still be happening."
"All the more reason to go now," he said.
"While Olivia is still off-balance.
Before Patricia finds her first."
I looked at him.
"You're quite good at this."
"Richard chose well," Martin said simply.
"Drive carefully, Mrs.
Hayes."
I went back to my car and sat for a moment before starting the engine.
Patricia would call Olivia.
She would frame this as Eleanor's attack on her daughter's future.
She would do it in the language of protection, the way she had done everything else — making cruelty sound like care.
And Olivia, who had already been turned against me once by those exact methods, might believe her again.
I started the engine and drove.
Whatever mess was waiting at Thornfield Vineyard, whatever remained of that beautiful ruined day, I was going to walk back through those gates.
Not for the champagne or the flowers or the money.
I was going to walk back in because my husband had asked me not to give up on our daughter.
And because Patricia Holt had made a serious mistake.
May you like
She had assumed that a woman who pays for everything and asks for nothing in return has no power left.
She had not understood that the opposite is true.
