Chapter 4 - The Missing Letter
Nathan sat on the carpet reading while Lucy watched his expression.
Some of her notes were tiny: "Duke sleeps by my door when I'm scared." Others made him cold. "Grandma says Mom's money belongs to responsible people." "Aunt Caroline cried in the pantry." "Mr. Vale came after midnight and took files out of Dad's office."
"Who is Mr. Vale?" Nathan asked.
"The man with the gray coat. Grandma says he's helping our family."
Gerald Vale was the attorney handling Hannah's estate. Nathan had known him for eight years and trusted him with nearly everything.
He checked his phone. Twelve unanswered calls from Evelyn's office number, all during the last hour. A thirteenth came in. He declined it.
"What letter did Grandma change?"
Lucy unbraided a loose thread at the cuff of her shirt. "Mom wrote you a letter before she got really sick. I saw the envelope. Grandma opened it in the kitchen. She took out two pages and put in a different one."
"How do you know?"
"Mom drew little stars at the bottom of her letters. The page Grandma gave you didn't have stars."
Nathan remembered receiving a brief note after Hannah's death: Don't let grief keep you from living. Let your mother help. He had kept it inside his wallet. He pulled it out and looked. No stars.
"You saw the other pages?"
"Just one sentence before Grandma folded them." Lucy bit her lip. "It said, 'If Evelyn ever tries to take our daughter...'"
The bedroom door shook under a knock.
"Nathan!" Evelyn shouted. "The family attorney is here. You need to come downstairs."
"We're leaving," Nathan called.
"You'd better read the order he brought before you do anything foolish."
He slipped the note and Lucy's shoebox into his briefcase. At the end of the hallway, two men in dark jackets waited beside Gerald Vale, who held a thick envelope.
Vale's expression was solemn. "Nathan, I'm sorry. There has been a petition for temporary guardianship."
"You filed against me?"
May you like
"Your mother did. And she has statements from several witnesses."
Vale lifted the first page. Nathan saw his own signature beneath a paragraph he had never agreed to.
