Chapter 9: The Hearing
The family court hearing was scheduled for a Tuesday, three weeks after Carol filed the evidence submission.
By then, the lifestyle blog interview had been picked up by two Chicago news outlets.
A financial journalist had connected Hargrove and Laine to three separate Carter family legal matters over the past decade.
Claire Ashworth's attorney had successfully argued that the fraud complaint voided her NDA, and Claire had given a quiet, careful statement to Carol's office confirming the pattern.
Daniel Carter had not made a public statement.
His name appeared in the financial press anyway.
Olivia had not spoken publicly again after the blog post.
Sebastian and I had spoken four times in three weeks — twice by phone, twice in person, always about the children, always careful.
He had moved out of the apartment he shared with Olivia.
He had not announced it.
He didn't need to.
The morning of the hearing, I dressed in a gray blazer and dropped the children at my sister's apartment in Evanston.
Aunt Diane met me at the door.
You okay?
she said.
I'm okay, I said.
She looked at me the way she had looked at me the night I arrived on her sofa with three newborns and one suitcase.
You don't have to be brave today, she said.
You can just be right.
I hugged her.
Carol met me outside the courthouse.
We walked in together.
The hearing room was smaller than I expected.
Wood paneling.
Fluorescent light.
A judge named Honorable Patricia Wren who had gray hair and reading glasses and looked like someone who had heard every version of every story and was not easily impressed.
Daniel's attorney from Hargrove and Laine was present.
He sat at the opposing table with two associates and a briefcase that probably cost more than my first car.
Daniel himself was not there.
Sebastian sat in the gallery, not at the table.
He had come alone.
Judge Wren reviewed the submissions for several minutes without speaking.
Then she looked up.
Counsel, she said to Daniel's attorney, your client withdrew the emergency custody petition three weeks ago.
You are here today solely in response to the fraud complaint.
Is that correct?
That's correct, Your Honor, he said.
And we would like to address the characterization of—
The recording submitted as Exhibit A, Judge Wren said.
Has your client disputed its authenticity?
He paused.
We have raised questions regarding the chain of custody—
Has your client disputed its authenticity?
she repeated.
Another pause.
No, Your Honor.
She made a note.
The witness statement from Margaret Holt, she said.
Your client's position?
We believe Ms.
Holt's account is colored by personal grievance following her employer's death—
Ms.
Holt's statement is corroborated by a timestamped photograph and a phone log, Judge Wren said.
Is there a factual dispute regarding the photograph or the phone log?
The attorney straightened his jacket.
We reserve the right to conduct further review—
I'll take that as a no, Judge Wren said.
She looked at Carol.
Counsel for the complainant.
You have also submitted documentation relating to a prior settlement involving a Ms.
Claire Ashworth and the Carter family trust.
Your position on relevance?
Carol stood.
Your Honor, the Ashworth settlement was structured using identical legal language to the proposed settlement presented to my client.
It was handled by the same firm, funded through the same subsidiary account, and executed under the same pattern of evidence suppression.
We submit it as evidence of deliberate, repeated conduct rather than isolated incident.
Judge Wren looked at the Hargrove and Laine attorney.
He was looking at his briefcase.
She turned back to her notes.
The room was very quiet.
I want to be clear about what I'm reading, Judge Wren said.
A woman in a maternity ward made eleven documented phone calls that were intercepted and deleted.
She sent physical correspondence that was intercepted.
She was visited by legal counsel while still recovering from an emergency medical procedure and pressured to sign documents.
She was then locked out of her home.
And the man she was trying to reach was told, by someone with direct access to his phone, that she had lost the pregnancy.
She set down her pen.
And this was not discovered until five years later, she said.
Because the person who did it kept a recording she believed was buried.
Silence.
I'm going to need a recess, Judge Wren said.
Thirty minutes.
She stood.
Everyone stood.
Carol leaned close to me.
That's a good sign, she said quietly.
I looked across the room at Sebastian.
He was looking at the floor.
His hands were clasped between his knees, and he was very still, in the way that people are still when they are trying to hold something together from the inside.
I looked away.
Thirty minutes later, Judge Wren returned.
She did not sit down immediately.
She looked at the Hargrove and Laine attorney.
I'm referring this matter to the Illinois Attorney General's office for review of potential fraud, she said.
I'm also issuing a formal finding that the original separation agreement signed by Ms.
Hannah Reeves was obtained under duress and is therefore void.
Ms.
Reeves retains full legal standing to pursue any and all claims arising from the events documented in this submission.
She looked at Carol.
Your client is also entitled to a formal paternity determination, which I'm ordering to be completed within thirty days.
All custody and parental rights discussions will follow from that determination, under this court's supervision.
She finally sat down.
Is there anything further from either party?
The Hargrove and Laine attorney closed his briefcase.
No, Your Honor, he said.
His voice was flat.
The two associates beside him were already gathering papers.
Carol stood.
Nothing further, Your Honor.
Thank you.
Judge Wren nodded once and called the next matter.
We walked out into the hallway.
Carol exhaled slowly.
Hannah, she said.
I know, I said.
She put her hand briefly on my arm.
Sebastian was waiting near the elevator.
He had his coat over one arm.
He looked at me as I came through the door.
I heard most of it, he said.
I nodded.
He was quiet for a moment.
I'm sorry, he said.
I know that's not enough.
But I'm sorry.
I looked at him for a long moment.
The children want to get a fish, I said.
He blinked.
A fish?
Lucas thinks it would give you something to learn about them.
Something moved across Sebastian's face.
Not a smile exactly.
Something quieter than that.
I'd like that, he said.
If you're willing.
I pressed the elevator button.
We'll see how the paternity test goes first, I said.
He almost smiled then.
A real one.
Fair enough, he said.
The elevator opened.
I stepped in.
He didn't follow.
He stood in the hallway with his coat over his arm, watching the doors close.
In the lobby, I pushed through the revolving door and stepped out into the November air.
Carol caught up with me on the steps.
What now?
she said.
I looked up at the sky.
Gray and flat and very Chicago.
May you like
Now I go pick up my children, I said.
And we talk about fish.
