Chapter 7: The Hearing
The family court hearing was scheduled for a Thursday morning, eleven days after the luncheon.
Lily was discharged from the hospital on the third day.
She came home and went directly to her room and reorganized her bookshelf, which was something she did when she needed to feel that things were in order.
I stood in the doorway and watched her move each book to exactly the right place and did not say anything.
The house felt different without Michael in it.
Not quieter.
Just different.
Like a room where a piece of furniture has been removed and you keep almost walking into the space where it used to be.
The family court hearing was not a criminal proceeding.
It was a review of the custody petition Evelyn had filed — the petition that was now evidence in a crjminal case, but which still had to be formally dismissed by a judge.
I sat at a table on the left side of the courtroom with my attorney, a woman named Grace Holloway who had handled Anna's estate originally and who had called me the morning after the arrests, furious and apologetic in equal measure.
"Gerald Marsh was my colleague," she said, before we entered the courtroom.
"I referred Anna to him.
I need you to know that I did not know."
"I believe you," I said.
"I'm going to make this right."
Evelyn sat at the table on the right with a man in an expensive suit whose name I did not learn.
She was wearing dark blue.
She did not look at me when I came in.
The judge was a woman in her sixties with reading glasses pushed up on her head.
She reviewed the file for several minutes before she spoke.
"I've reviewed the petition, the criminal charges, and the evidence submitted by the prosecution." She looked up.
"Mrs.
Hart, your attorney has indicated you wish to make a statement."
Evelyn's attorney stood.
"Your Honor, my client acknowledges that the circumstances surrounding this petition have been — complicated by subsequent events.
She wishes the court to know that her primary concern has always been the welfare of her granddaughter."
The judge looked at him over her glasses.
"The subsequent events you're referring to include your client's arrest for child endangerment."
"That matter is being addressed in a separate proceeding, Your Honor."
"I'm aware." The judge set the file down.
"The petition is dismissed.
The existing custody arrangement remains in place.
Mrs.
Hart is to have no unsupervised contact with the minor child pending resolution of the criminal charges." She looked directly at Evelyn.
"Is that understood?"
Evelyn's attorney leaned toward her.
She said something quietly to him.
He straightened.
"My client understands, Your Honor."
The judge gathered her papers.
"Mr.
Reeves." She looked at me.
"Your daughter is fortunate."
I didn't know what to say to that.
"Thank you, Your Honor."
"Not fortunate to have gone through this," she said.
"Fortunate to have a father who was paying attention."
Grace touched my arm as we stood to leave.
In the corridor outside, Evelyn's attorney moved quickly toward the exit.
Evelyn walked more slowly.
She stopped a few feet from me.
Her attorney said, "Evelyn — "
She held up one hand.
He stopped.
She looked at me.
Her face was composed, but something behind it had shifted.
Something that had been very certain about itself for a long time was no longer certain.
"Anna loved you," she said.
"I never understood why.
I thought she could have done better." She paused.
"I was wrong about that."
I looked at her.
"That's not enough."
"No," she said.
"I know it isn't."
She walked toward the exit.
Her attorney fell into step beside her.
I stood in the corridor until they were gone.
Grace came to stand beside me.
"You all right?"
"I don't know yet," I said.
"That's a reasonable answer." She picked up her briefcase.
"The DA's office called this morning.
Gerald Marsh accepted a plea.
Full cooperation.
Complete financial records going back to the trust's inception." She paused.
"Daniel.
There's more money missing than we thought."
I looked at her.
May you like
"How much more?"
She told me.
