Chapter 6: The Hearing
The courtroom was smaller than I expected.
Dana sat at the table on the left with the attorney Reeves had arranged — a woman named Claire Odum who wore no jewelry and spoke like every word cost money.
I sat in the gallery behind them.
Agent Reeves sat two rows back from me, her phone face-up on her knee for the first time.
Victor Hale sat at the table on the right.
I had built a picture of him in my mind over the past two days.
Something obvious.
Something you could see from across a room.
He was ordinary.
Fifty, maybe.
Gray at the temples.
A dark suit that fit well.
He sat with his hands folded on the table and he did not look at Dana and he did not look at me and he did not look at the bassinet that Claire Odum had arranged to have present in the courtroom because the judge had agreed that the child's presence was relevant.
His attorney was named Gerald Foss.
He stood up first.
"Your Honor, my client has been the victim of an unlawful seizure of his legal dependent.
The documentation is clear.
The birth certificate on file names Victor Hale as sole guardian.
The mother, by her own admission, was not in a condition to — "
"The mother," Claire Odum said, without standing, "was not in a condition to consent to anything, because she was being held against her will in a property owned by your client."
The judge looked at Foss.
"Counselor, you'll have your time."
Foss straightened.
"The point stands, Your Honor.
Whatever allegations are being made about my client's conduct, the legal documentation — "
"Was filed," Odum said, standing now, "while Patrice Wynn was in active labor.
Without her knowledge.
Without her signature.
We have the hospital records from the private clinic your client used, and we have a nurse who was present who is prepared to testify that Ms.
Wynn was sedated when that paperwork was completed."
The room was very quiet.
Victor Hale's hands, still folded on the table, did not move.
Foss recovered quickly.
"Your Honor, these are allegations.
Unverified, inflammatory — "
"We also have," Odum said, opening a folder, "a statement from a former employee of Mr.
Hale's, one Sandra Briggs, who has provided documentation covering a period of eleven years.
Names, locations, financial transfers, and correspondence." She set a stack of papers on the judge's bench.
"Ms.
Briggs is prepared to testify in full."
Foss turned to his client.
Victor Hale leaned toward him and said something very quietly.
Foss turned back.
"Your Honor, I'd like to request a recess — "
"Denied," the judge said.
She was reading.
She had been reading since Odum set the papers down and she had not stopped.
"I'm going to need a moment."
The courtroom waited.
Lily made a small sound in the bassinet.
Dana reached over without looking and rested two fingers on the edge of the blanket.
The sound stopped.
Victor Hale looked at the bassinet for the first time.
Then he looked at Dana.
Dana looked back at him.
She didn't look away.
She didn't move.
She just looked at him with the same steady exhausted patience she'd had on my couch two days ago, and after four seconds Victor Hale was the one who turned away.
The judge set the papers down.
"Mr.
Foss," she said, "I am granting emergency continued protective custody of the minor child to the current placement, pending full evidentiary hearing.
I am also issuing a hold on Mr.
Hale's travel documents pending review of the materials submitted this morning." She looked at Victor over her glasses.
"Mr.
Hale, I would strongly advise you to have a very candid conversation with your attorney before we reconvene."
Foss was already leaning in.
Victor didn't lean back toward him.
He was still looking at the spot where Dana had been sitting — she had turned away now, was speaking quietly to Odum — and his expression was not anger exactly.
May you like
It was the look of a man recalculating.
That was the moment I understood he wasn't finished.
