Chapter 6: The Deal Behind the Closed Door
I called Noah, but Lauren answered.
“He won’t be speaking to you again,” she said.
“Where is he?”
“With his mother.”
“Let me hear his voice.”
“You’re in no position to demand anything.”
A man spoke behind her.
“End the call, Lauren.”
“Is Bell there?”
Mr.
Bell took the phone.
“Bring the recorder to my office by noon, Mr.
Mercer.”
“I heard your voice on it.”
“You heard an edited file created by a troubled boy.”
“Noah recorded exactly what you said.”
“Then you won’t mind letting an expert examine the device.”
“You mean erase it.”
Bell lowered his voice.
“You have one hour.
After that, I file a motion alleging that you manipulated three children to support your story.”
The line went silent.
Claire took my car keys.
“You are not going alone.”
At Bell’s office, Helen waited near reception with a court officer.
Lauren sat beside Bell, one hand resting on Noah’s shoulder.
Noah would not look at me.
“Where is Sophie?” I asked.
“With my mother,” Lauren said.
“Did you take Noah’s phone?”
“He does not need one.”
The court officer held out a sealed evidence bag.
I placed the recorder inside it.
Bell smiled.
“Now we can discuss a sensible resolution.”
“There is nothing sensible about forcing a child from her home.”
“You have an emotional interpretation of events,” he said.
“The court will see documents.”
Lauren slid a folder across the table.
“Sign temporary occupancy of the house over to me,” she said.
“Maya stays with Claire, and I’ll tell Helen the situation has calmed down.”
Helen’s chair scraped back.
“You cannot bargain over a child while I’m sitting here.”
Lauren folded her arms.
“I’m trying to protect my children.”
“No,” I said.
“You are using all three of them.”
Noah suddenly lifted his head.
A red mark crossed his wrist where Lauren had been holding him.
Helen saw it too.
“Mrs.
Mercer, remove your hand.”
Lauren released him.
“He runs away when he’s upset.”
“Noah,” Helen said, “did anyone tell you what to say today?”
Bell stood.
“Do not question him without his parent’s consent.”
“I am conducting a child welfare inquiry.”
“He is represented.”
“No,” a voice said from the doorway.
“He’s represented by me.”
A tall man entered beside a gray-haired woman carrying a laptop.
Noah sprang from his chair.
“Dad!”
His father, Marcus Reed, caught him and held him tightly.
Lauren went white.
“You have no right to be here.”
“I have joint custody,” Marcus said.
“A right you concealed by giving Child and Family Services an old address for me.”
The gray-haired woman placed her laptop on the table.
“My name is Paula Grant,” she said.
“I was Mr.
Bell’s office manager until yesterday.”
Bell’s smile vanished.
“Anything you took from this office is confidential.”
“I didn’t take anything.
Your automatic server backup sent me the same administrative archive it has sent me every Friday for nine years.”
She opened a folder containing scanned letters, invoices, and audio files.
Lauren pushed back her chair.
“This meeting is over.”
Marcus blocked the door.
“No,” Helen said.
“It has just become official.”
Paula played an audio file dated two months earlier.
Bell’s voice came through the laptop.
“We need Daniel’s signature on the statement.”
Lauren answered, “I can copy it from the school medical form.”
Bell said, “Then make sure the copied signature survives comparison.”
The court officer reached for his phone.
Bell pointed at Paula.
“You altered that recording.”
Paula opened another file.
“Then perhaps you’d like to explain this invoice.”
Across the screen were the words: Preparation of simulated parental consent.
Beneath them was Lauren’s name—and a payment made from an account I had never seen.
May you like
Paula enlarged the account holder’s details.
The money had come from a savings account opened in Maya’s name.
