Chapter 6: What Janet Built in the Quiet Years
Patricia Holt's office was on the fourth floor of a building downtown.
She had a firm handshake and a desk with nothing on it except a legal pad, a pen, and a photograph of two teenagers turned away from the camera, looking at a lake.
She listened to everything without writing anything down.
When we finished, she set her pen on the legal pad and looked at us.
"Tell me about the first time you noticed a pattern."
Greg and I looked at each other.
"Christmas," I said.
"The first Christmas after June was born."
"What happened?"
"Janet brought gifts.
Amber got a cashmere sweater.
Mason got a gift card for a hundred and fifty dollars.
June got a rattle." I paused.
"June was four months old, so a rattle wasn't unreasonable.
But the difference in value was — noticeable."
"Did you say anything?"
"Not then.
Greg mentioned it later.
Janet said newborns don't need much."
"And the following Christmas?"
"Amber got a leather purse.
Mason got a gaming headset.
June got a coloring book."
Patricia wrote something down.
"How old was June?"
"Two."
"And the year after?"
"Sidewalk chalk.
Easter.
She was three."
Patricia looked up.
"Every year, at every occasion, the gifts to June were significantly lower in value than the gifts to Amber and Mason."
"Yes."
"Did you document any of this?"
"Not formally.
But I have photographs from every Christmas and Easter.
You can see the gifts in the background."
Patricia nodded.
"Send those to me." She looked at Greg.
"Tell me about the Thanksgiving place card."
Greg described it.
The construction paper cards.
The personalized drawings.
Janet moving June's card to the far end of the table.
"Did anyone else see her do it?"
"My wife saw it.
Amber may have."
"Amber confirmed it at the party," I said.
"In front of thirty people."
"Good." Patricia made another note.
"Tell me about the party."
We told her everything.
The storage room.
The mark on June's arm.
The photograph.
Greg's speech.
Amber's testimony.
Richard asking Janet to leave.
"Richard asked her to leave?"
"Yes."
"Is Richard willing to speak to that?"
Greg and I looked at each other again.
"I don't know," Greg said.
"He and my mother have been married for forty years.
He was angry that day.
Whether he'd be willing to put that in writing is a different question."
"Ask him," Patricia said simply.
"A statement from her own husband carries significant weight." She set down her pen.
"Now tell me about the text."
Greg showed her his phone.
She read it twice.
"*Things she hasn't told him.
He should ask her about the year before they met.*" She looked up.
"What is she referring to?"
"A previous engagement," I said.
"It ended.
It has no bearing on anything."
"She may intend to characterize it as a pattern of instability."
"There's nothing unstable about leaving someone who was unfaithful."
"No," Patricia agreed.
"There isn't.
But that's not how it will be framed." She leaned back slightly.
"Here is what I'm seeing.
This is not a woman acting on impulse.
The gift disparity goes back years.
The seating arrangements go back years.
The relationship with the family attorney goes back to the divorce.
She has been, whether consciously or not, constructing a narrative.
That narrative positions your first marriage as Greg's real family and positions you and June as an intrusion."
The word *intrusion* sat in the room.
"What does she want?" Greg asked.
"I don't think she wants anything specific," Patricia said.
"I think she wants to be right.
I think she wants the story she has been telling herself for ten years to be validated." She paused.
"The problem is that she is now taking steps that could affect June directly.
A welfare report, even a baseless one, creates a record.
It requires a response.
It costs time and money and emotional energy." She looked at Greg.
"I want to get ahead of this."
"How?"
"I want to send a letter.
To Janet, and copied to Marcus.
It will outline the documented pattern of differential treatment, reference the incident at the party including the physical contact with June, note the photograph of the mark, and make clear that any further contact with June's school, any welfare report, or any legal action will be met with a formal response including a request for a restraining order."
Greg was quiet for a moment.
"She'll say we're attacking her."
"She'll say that regardless." Patricia looked at him steadily.
"The question is whether you want to be reactive or proactive.
Right now, she is moving.
You are standing still."
Greg looked at me.
I thought about June in the storage room.
Her knees pressed together.
Her hands in her lap.
Not crying because she had already learned that crying didn't help.
"Send the letter," I said.
Greg turned back to Patricia.
"Send it."
Patricia picked up her pen.
"I'll need everything you have.
Photos.
Dates.
Any messages from Janet.
Any messages from Marcus." She paused.
"And I'd like to speak with Amber."
"She's seventeen."
"I know.
I won't put her in a difficult position.
I just want to understand what she saw." Patricia looked at us both.
"One more thing.
Has Janet had any contact with June since the party?"
"No," Greg said.
"Keep it that way for now." She stood.
"I'll have the letter ready by Friday."
We stood to leave.
At the door, Greg paused.
"Patricia.
Is this going to get worse before it gets better?"
She considered the question with the same honesty she had brought to everything else.
"Yes," she said.
"Probably.
But you have more than you think you do."
We walked back to the car in the late afternoon light.
Greg held the door open for me.
When he got in on his side, he sat for a moment without starting the engine.
"She drew her a flower," he said quietly.
"I know."
He started the car.
His phone rang before he pulled out of the parking space.
Unknown number.
He let it ring.
It stopped.
May you like
Then immediately rang again.
This time the screen read: MASON.
