Chapter 6 - The Doctor Who Never Met Me

Tessa opened the court filing on her tablet. It claimed I had suffered repeated episodes of confusion, irrational spending, and paranoid accusations.

At the bottom, someone had attached a letter from a physician named Dr. Howard Vale.

"I've never seen that doctor," I said.

"He's retired," Tessa replied. "Which makes this interesting. The letter is dated last Thursday."

Dad's jaw tightened. "They're trying to declare my daughter incompetent because she caught them stealing."

"They're trying," Tessa said. "A petition isn't a court order. We have time to answer it, and I intend to."

Detective Elena Ortiz arrived that evening. She moved a chair beside my bed and asked me to describe the shove without interruption.

"Did Ethan lose his balance?" she asked when I finished.

"No. He had both feet planted. Both hands were on my shoulders."

"Was there a struggle over the stairs?"

"I was holding an envelope, not fighting him."

She wrote it down. Then she asked whether I'd ever been hurt by him before.

I wanted to say no. He hadn't punched me. He hadn't thrown a glass.

But I remembered the way he'd blocked doorways, counted miles on my car, and turned disagreements into proof that I was too emotional to make decisions.

"He controlled things," I said. "I didn't call it abuse until now."

Ortiz gave me a card. "We're looking for recordings, physical evidence, and independent witnesses. Sophie's statement matters, but I won't ask a child to carry this case alone."

Later, Tessa returned with another discovery. Dr. Vale's office had closed almost two years ago. His former receptionist remembered a woman asking for old stationery and letterhead samples the previous month.

"Could she identify the woman?" I asked.

"She recognized a business card," Tessa said. "Margaret Caldwell Realty."

Dad began pacing beside the window. "We've got to get Sophie out of their reach."

"We will request emergency protective orders first thing," Tessa answered. "Tonight she's with you. And neither of you answers private calls from Ethan."

My phone vibrated as if to defy her.

A message from Ethan appeared above the cracked screen:

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YOU DON'T GET TO RUIN MY LIFE AND KEEP OUR DAUGHTER.

Then another message arrived, this one a picture of Sophie's school playground taken from across the street.