Chapter 7: Thursday at Two
Gerald Fitch's office was in a two-story building near the courthouse that had probably been a dentist's practice at some earlier point in its life.
The waiting room had four chairs and a rubber plant that had survived long enough to become enormous.
Patricia came with me.
He was older than I'd expected — late seventies, the kind of man who wears a proper tie on a Thursday because he has always worn a proper tie on a Thursday.
He stood when we came in and shook both our hands with a grip that said he had not yet begun to disappear.
"Sit down," he said.
"Tell me everything from the beginning."
I did.
It took forty minutes.
He made notes in a small spiral notebook and interrupted me twice — once to ask about the zip code discrepancy on the court filing, and once to ask the exact phrasing Ashley had used when she mentioned Dr.
Heller.
When I finished, he set down his pen.
"The hearing is in nine days," he said.
"Yes."
"I can file a motion to continue based on improper notice.
The zip code error — intentional or not — means you were effectively denied the opportunity to respond.
Any competent judge will grant the continuance."
"And after the continuance?"
"We contest the petition on three grounds." He held up one finger.
"First: the assessment from Dr.
Heller was obtained through false information provided by an interested party — your daughter-in-law — without your knowledge or participation.
That assessment is compromised." Second finger.
"The petitioner — your son — was acting on information that was deliberately fabricated by his wife, which undermines the good faith basis for the petition." Third finger.
"The documentation provided by the former employee establishes a pattern of predatory behavior that speaks directly to the motivation behind the filing."
Patricia was nodding.
"Can she face consequences beyond just losing the petition?" I asked.
Gerald looked at me with the particular steadiness of a man who has answered this question before.
"That depends on what the emails establish.
If they demonstrate that she deliberately misled a licensed physician for the purpose of initiating a fraudulent legal process, that is a matter the state bar would want to know about — she maintains her real estate license through the state.
It may also constitute elder financial abuse under state statute, which carries civil penalties." He paused.
"And if the situation in Garfield can be established as a prior instance, a district attorney may find the pattern interesting."
"She could be charged."
"It's possible.
That's not my area, and I'm not promising it.
But the documentation you have is not nothing, Mrs.
— " He glanced at his notepad.
"Margaret.
It's not nothing."
I looked at the rubber plant in the corner.
Someone had been watering it faithfully for years.
"I need to speak to Dr.
Heller before the hearing," I said.
"Directly.
I need him to understand what he was given."
"I'd recommend you do that with me present," Gerald said.
"Or at minimum that you record the conversation with his knowledge.
Anything he says about how that assessment was generated becomes relevant."
"I've been his patient for eleven years."
"Then he'll take the meeting." Gerald picked up his pen again.
"I'll have the continuance motion filed by tomorrow afternoon.
You'll receive a copy." He looked at me over his glasses.
"Are you sleeping?"
The question surprised me.
"Not especially."
"Sleep when you can.
Eat properly.
You're going to need to be sharp." He said it without sentiment, as a fact.
"The other side is counting on you being frightened and confused.
You are neither of those things.
That is your strongest asset in that courtroom."
Patricia drove me home.
We didn't talk much on the way.
When she pulled up in front of the house, she put the car in park and sat for a moment.
"Robert would have been proud of you today," she said.
I looked at the front garden.
The roses were just starting to come through.
Every spring they came back and every spring they surprised me a little, the way things do when they survive longer than you expect.
"He would have been furious," I said.
"He would have been absolutely furious on my behalf and I would have had to calm him down."
Patricia smiled.
"Yes.
That sounds right."
I got out of the car.
I went inside.
I made dinner for one and ate at the dining table.
The table where Ashley had placed that folder.
I left the light on above it when I went to bed.
When my phone lit up at eleven-fifteen, I reached for it expecting Patricia or Daniel.
The text was from Ashley.
*I heard you saw a lawyer today.
I think you're making a mistake.
May you like
There are things about Daniel's situation you don't fully understand.
If you push this, it won't just be me who gets hurt.*
