Chapter 5: What Evelyn Did Next
The attorney's name was Gerald Marsh.
Ryan had met him once, at a family dinner three years earlier.
He had sat at Evelyn's right hand and laughed at everything she said.
Ryan had assumed he was a friend.
He understood now that Gerald Marsh had never been anything other than a tool.
Ryan called his own attorney that same afternoon.
Her name was Claire Osei, and she had been recommended by a colleague at work six months earlier for a completely unrelated contract matter.
Ryan had never imagined needing her for something like this.
"She's filing to proceed?" Claire said.
"That's what her attorney told me."
"With what evidence?
The camera footage shows her committing the act.
The folder documents premeditation.
Her own former assistant is cooperating with the police."
"I know," Ryan said.
"But she's doing it anyway."
A pause on the line.
"Then she's either very confident," Claire said, "or she's trying to pressure you into a settlement before the criminal case moves forward.
If you agree to any custody arrangement now, it weakens your position in the criminal proceeding."
"She wants me to choose between fighting her legally and protecting my family from a longer battle," Ryan said.
"Yes," Claire said.
"That's exactly what she wants."
"What do I do?"
"You don't settle," Claire said.
"You let me file a response today.
And you get me everything Diane has."
---
Evelyn called that evening.
Ryan almost didn't answer.
Then he decided he wanted to hear what she would say.
"Ryan." Her voice was smooth.
Controlled.
As though the handcuffs had been a minor inconvenience.
"I think we've let this go far enough."
"Have we," he said.
"I know you're angry.
I understand that.
But you have to see this from my perspective.
Maya has never been stable.
You've seen it yourself.
The crying.
The anxiety.
The way she isolates herself."
"Maya cries because you have spent four years making her life unbearable," Ryan said.
"I have spent four years trying to protect my grandson."
"From what, exactly?"
A pause.
"From a mother who cannot cope," Evelyn said.
"Ryan, I have documentation.
I have records going back to before Oliver was born.
I have a physician prepared to testify—"
"Which physician?"
Another pause.
Slightly longer.
"Dr.
Harmon," she said.
"He treated Maya briefly before Oliver was born.
He has concerns about her mental fitness that he was never given the opportunity to raise."
Ryan's jaw tightened.
Maya had seen Dr.
Harmon once, for a single prenatal appointment, after which she had switched to a different practice because she found him dismissive.
One appointment.
Three years ago.
And Evelyn had found him.
"Gerald will be in touch with your attorney," Evelyn said.
"I'm asking you to consider what's best for Oliver before this becomes something neither of us can control."
"It already became something neither of us can control," Ryan said.
"The moment you put your hands on my wife."
"I was provoked—"
"I watched the footage, Mother."
Silence.
"I watched you take the inhaler out of her hand," Ryan said.
"I watched you knock the lamp over.
I watched you str\*ke her.
And I watched you lean down and threaten her while our son was struggling to breathe three feet away from you."
Nothing on the line.
"There is no version of this conversation where I settle," Ryan said.
"There is no version where I agree to any custody arrangement.
There is no version where you come near my family again.
Do you understand me?"
Evelyn's voice came back quieter.
Harder.
"You are making a mistake," she said.
"I have resources you don't.
I have relationships in this city that go back decades.
Gerald has won cases with less than what I have."
"Then I'll see you in court," Ryan said.
He ended the call.
His hand was steady.
He hadn't expected that.
---
Two days later, Claire called him at work.
"Dr.
Harmon withdrew," she said.
"What?"
"He contacted Gerald Marsh this morning and withdrew his willingness to testify.
No explanation given."
Ryan leaned back in his chair.
"Do we know why?"
"Not officially," Claire said.
"But I made a call to the medical board this morning regarding a physician willing to provide testimony based on a single prenatal appointment three years ago.
I mentioned the word 'ethics review.' It's possible that call was related."
Ryan almost smiled.
"Is there anything else she has?" he asked.
"Gerald filed the custody petition this morning," Claire said.
"It's thin.
Without Harmon and without any credible witness to Maya's behavior, it relies almost entirely on the photographs from the folder — which we can demonstrate were taken on days Evelyn visited the house and staged the circumstances herself."
"How do we demonstrate that?"
"Patricia," Claire said.
"She gave a full statement to the detective yesterday.
She confirmed that on at least two occasions, Evelyn asked her to create situations that would cause Maya distress before photographing the result."
Ryan set his pen down on the desk.
"Patricia told them that?"
"Patricia is trying very hard to cooperate her way out of a charge," Claire said.
"She's giving them everything."
Ryan looked out his office window at the city below.
Evelyn had built her plan on people she believed were loyal to her.
One by one, they were walking through the door she had left open.
"Claire," he said.
"When does the criminal hearing begin?"
"Three weeks," she said.
"And Ryan — Diane's records are extraordinary.
Eleven years of documentation.
Dates, instructions, responses.
If even half of it is admissible, Evelyn's attorney is going to have a very difficult morning."
Ryan nodded slowly.
"Good," he said.
He picked up his pen.
Then his office phone rang.
The front desk.
"Mr.
Whitmore, there's a woman here who says she needs to speak with you.
She doesn't have an appointment.
She says her name is Margaret Whitmore."
Ryan went still.
Margaret Whitmore was his aunt.
May you like
His mother's younger sister.
They had not spoken in eleven years.
