Chapter 7: The Lie She Built for the Fall
Ruth set her legal pad down on the windowsill.
"What evidence?" she said.
"Her attorney didn't specify," Grant said.
"Philip says they submitted a written statement.
They're claiming Claire had a relationship with another man during the marriage.
They say they have correspondence."
Eleanor's hand stilled against the baby's palm.
"More fabricated messages," I said.
"Almost certainly," Ruth said.
"But we have to treat it seriously until we see what they've submitted." She looked at me.
"Is there anything — anything at all — she could have found or constructed that would appear credible?"
"No."
"Any communication with anyone during the marriage that could be taken out of context?"
"Ruth, I was barely leaving the apartment by the end.
Sienna made sure of that."
Ruth nodded slowly.
"Then she is buying time.
She knows the forged signature is the most damaging piece.
If she can introduce enough noise around the paternity question, she slows the DA's process.
She creates doubt.
She makes this look like a dispute between two women over one man instead of a fraud case."
"Can she do that?" Grant said.
"She can try," Ruth said.
"We will counter with the paternity results.
Two independent lab verifications.
That's not a document she can argue against easily."
"She'll argue the labs were compromised," Eleanor said quietly.
Everyone looked at her.
"That is what she will say.
That Claire arranged it.
That the results were manipulated." She paused.
"I know how she thinks.
I spent two years watching her work a room."
"Then we move faster than she does," Ruth said.
She picked up her legal pad.
"I want a third lab verification.
Independent.
Court-appointed if possible.
I want it requested today so the timeline is on record before her statement gets any traction."
Grant looked at me.
"Claire.
I'm sorry."
"Don't," I said.
"I need to say it."
"Then say it once," I said.
"And then help Ruth move faster than Sienna does."
Something shifted in his face.
He turned to Ruth.
"What do you need from me?"
"A formal statement.
Today.
Confirming you did not authorize the trust petition, did not authorize the transfers, and did not provide verbal permission for any restructuring.
Signed and notarized."
"Done."
"I also need you to think carefully," Ruth said.
"Anyone who saw you and Sienna together during the marriage.
Anyone she spoke to.
Anyone who might have witnessed her behavior and said nothing."
Grant was quiet for a moment.
"Her assistant," he said.
"A woman named Petra.
She left Sienna's employment about four months ago.
I don't know why."
Ruth wrote the name down.
"Do you have contact information?"
"I can find it."
"Find it today."
Grant nodded and stepped toward the door.
He stopped with his hand on the frame and looked back at the bassinet.
"I'll be back," he said.
It was directed at the baby, not at me.
He left.
The door swung softly behind him.
Eleanor was still sitting beside the bassinet.
She had not moved since the news about Sienna's counter-statement.
"She won't stop," Eleanor said.
Not to anyone in particular.
"Even now.
Even with the signature on record.
She won't stop."
"No," Ruth said.
"She won't."
"Then neither will we," Eleanor said.
The baby woke then, quietly, without crying.
She opened her eyes and looked up at the ceiling with the unfocused gaze of the very new.
Eleanor watched her.
"She needs a name," Eleanor said.
"I know," I said.
"What were you thinking?"
I had been thinking about it since before she was born.
I had been thinking about it during the months I spent alone, building the folder, waiting for Sienna to take the final step.
"Nora," I said.
"I was thinking Nora."
Eleanor looked at me.
Her eyes were bright.
"That was Grant's grandmother's name," she said.
"I know," I said.
"She was kind to me.
She was the only one who called me after the divorce was filed."
Eleanor looked back at the baby.
"Nora," she said softly.
The baby's eyes moved toward the sound of her voice.
Ruth's phone rang.
She stepped into the corner, listened for thirty seconds, and turned back to us.
May you like
"Petra agreed to speak with us," she said.
"She's been waiting for someone to call."
