Chapter 11: After the Courtroom
Patricia and I stood on the courthouse steps in the afternoon light.
"That's not the end of it," she said.
"The bar complaint will take months.
The fraud investigation will take longer.
But the motion is gone and the record now shows what they attempted."
"Will Constance face consequences?"
"She directed and funded the scheme.
Sandra's documents make that clear." Patricia put her briefcase strap over her shoulder.
"Her attorney — her new attorney — is going to advise her to cooperate.
Whether she does is up to her."
"And Gerald?"
"His license is at serious risk.
Advising a client to use a minor child's placement as a mechanism for trust fraud is not a gray area." She looked at me.
"He knew what he was doing."
I nodded.
"Rebecca called my office this morning," Patricia said.
"Before the hearing.
She wanted to know if there was a path to a conversation with you.
Not legal.
Personal."
I looked out at the street.
A bus went past.
An ordinary Thursday.
"What did you tell her?"
"I told her that was entirely your decision and that she should not contact you directly."
"Thank you."
Patricia gave me a brief, professional nod and walked down the steps toward her car.
I stood there for another minute.
Claire had texted me the night before.
*Rebecca left my mother's house on Sunday.
She's staying with a friend.
She told me she didn't know about the insurance policy.
I don't know if that's true.
I believe her about some things and I don't know what to believe about others.
I'm sorry, Nathan.
For all of it.*
I had read the message three times and not replied yet.
I took out my phone now and typed: *Thank you for what you did at the chapel.
It mattered.*
I sent it and put the phone away.
The drive home took forty minutes.
When I pulled into the driveway, the chalk drawing was still on the patio stones, slightly faded from the morning dew.
The house with the too-tall flowers.
Sue opened the front door before I reached it.
"She's been asking when you'd be back," she said.
"I'm back," I said.
Emily appeared in the hallway behind Sue, still in her school clothes, holding a piece of paper.
"I drew something," she said.
"For you.
While you were gone."
I crouched down and took it.
It was the same house from the patio.
Four windows, a door, the tall flowers.
But this time there were two figures in front of it.
A tall one and a small one.
Holding hands.
She had written our names underneath in careful, uneven letters.
*Daddy.
Emily.*
"Do you like it?" she said.
"I love it," I said.
She studied my face the way she always did when she was checking whether I meant it.
Then she nodded, satisfied, and went back down the hallway.
I stayed crouched on the front step for a moment, holding the drawing.
Sue put her hand briefly on my shoulder as she passed.
May you like
She didn't say anything.
She didn't need to.
