Chapter 7: Finding Dr. Marsh
Dr.
Elaine Marsh lived forty minutes outside the city in a small house with a yellow door and a garden that had gone slightly wild at the edges.
She answered on the second knock, looked at Charlotte for a long moment, and said: "You look exactly like her."
"I've been told that," Charlotte said.
Dr.
Marsh stepped back from the door.
"Come in."
The house was quiet and warm.
Books on every surface.
A kettle already on.
Dr.
Marsh moved through the kitchen with the careful efficiency of someone who had spent decades making fast decisions in small rooms.
"I wondered when you'd come," she said, setting two cups on the counter.
"Or whether you would."
"Did you know about the reversion clause?"
"I witnessed the signing.
I knew everything your mother put in that document." Dr.
Marsh turned around.
"I also know that Vivienne Ashcroft's assistant called me yesterday afternoon."
Charlotte kept her expression still.
"What did they say?"
"That there was a legal matter related to the Solmere estate and that my testimony might be required.
They were very polite." Dr.
Marsh poured the tea.
"They also mentioned that any testimony I gave could be subject to cross-examination regarding my own conduct during your mother's final year of care.
A suggestion, not a threat.
But clear enough."
"They were warning you off."
"They were trying to." Dr.
Marsh carried both cups to the small table by the window and sat down.
"I retired because I was tired.
Not because I was afraid." She looked at Charlotte directly.
"Your mother was completely competent when she signed that document.
Her cognition was excellent.
Her judgment was sound.
She knew precisely what she was doing and precisely what she was protecting." A pause.
"I will say that in any court that asks me."
Charlotte sat down across from her.
"They'll come after your record."
"Let them.
Forty years of practice.
Not one complaint upheld." Dr.
Marsh wrapped both hands around her cup.
"Your mother sat in that room and told me she was sorry she couldn't tell you what she was doing.
She said you would be frightened if you knew the threat was real.
She thought it was safer for you not to know — so that you would behave naturally, so that Vivienne's people watching you would see nothing suspicious." She looked out the window at the overgrown garden.
"She said the hardest part was trusting that you would come back on your own.
That you were strong enough to find your way to that door."
Charlotte's hands tightened around her cup.
"She never doubted you," Dr.
Marsh said.
"Not once.
In all the conversations I had with her in that last year, she never once said she was afraid you wouldn't come.
She only said she wished she could be there to see it."
The room was very quiet.
Charlotte set her cup down.
Carefully.
"I need your formal statement," she said.
"Witnessed and notarized.
And I need it before the end of the week."
"I have a notary I trust.
I can have it ready by Thursday." Dr.
Marsh studied her.
"There's something else you should know.
When Vivienne's assistant called, they mentioned a name.
Someone they said had already provided a statement supporting the Ashcroft Group's position on your mother's capacity."
Charlotte went still.
"What name?"
Dr.
Marsh said it quietly.
Marcus Vale.
Charlotte didn't move for a moment.
Then she picked up her cup again, took a slow sip of tea, and set it back down.
"Thank you," she said.
"For everything."
"Don't thank me yet," Dr.
May you like
Marsh said.
"Thank me when it's done."
