Chapter 7: The Truth Judy Buried
The officer met us outside Douglas’s house with a revised order.
She knocked while I stood behind her with Helen, Colin, and Evelyn.
Douglas opened the door.
“You brought an audience.”
“We brought witnesses,” Helen said.
The officer held up the order.
“Temporary custody is suspended pending this morning’s hearing.
Bring Bruce to the door.”
“He’s my biological son.”
“And the court has reviewed the recording from his watch.”
Douglas looked at me.
“You recorded me in my own home?”
“Bruce’s watch recorded you frightening him.”
“I was looking for property Judy stole.”
Bruce appeared behind him.
“Auntie!”
Douglas caught his shoulder.
“The silver key first.”
The officer stepped forward.
“Release the child.”
Douglas tightened his grip.
“If they take that key, they destroy the only proof Judy was involved.”
“Douglas,” Evelyn said, “let him go.”
“You don’t get to order me around after stealing my records.”
“I gave them back to the person you stole from.”
Douglas pushed Bruce toward the officer and threw the silver key onto the floor.
“Take him.
He’ll learn what his mother really was soon enough.”
Bruce ran into my arms.
Two hours later, we stood before the judge.
Douglas’s attorney displayed Judy’s first withdrawal.
“Ms.
Ward admits Judy authorized a payment to my client,” he said.
“Every accusation rests on documents controlled by people who dislike him.”
Douglas looked at me and smiled.
The judge turned to Helen.
“Why did your client transfer twenty thousand dollars?”
“Because Mr.
Mercer threatened a custody fight.”
“Do you have proof?”
“Not of that conversation.”
Douglas’s smile widened.
His attorney lifted the trust statements.
“Then we have a voluntary payment followed by disputed copies.
We ask the court to restore temporary custody.”
Bruce squeezed my hand under the table.
Colin stood.
“I have messages describing Mr.
Mercer’s plan to marry her and obtain the trust.”
The attorney shook his head.
“Messages can be altered.”
Evelyn placed her notary stamp on the evidence table.
“I watched my son forge the forms.”
“You depended on him financially,” the attorney said.
“You’re angry because he stopped paying.”
“No,” Evelyn replied.
“I’m angry because I learned whose money he used.”
Helen connected Judy’s flash drive to the courtroom screen.
A video appeared.
Judy sat at her kitchen table with the silver key in front of her.
“If you’re watching this,” she said, “Douglas found a way back into Bruce’s life.”
Douglas stood abruptly.
“That video is inadmissible.”
“Sit down,” the judge ordered.
Judy held up the first withdrawal form.
“I paid him once because he threatened to take Bruce.
I copied every mark he made on the form.
If another withdrawal appears, compare the pen pressure beside my signature.”
The bank examiner stepped forward.
“We did.
The later forms were traced from this document.”
Douglas’s attorney slowly moved away from him.
The judge closed the file.
“Mr.
Mercer, your custody petition is denied.
The trust matter is being referred for crjminal investigation.”
Douglas turned to me.
“You think you won?”
“You lost Bruce before you ever walked into that church.”
An investigator approached him.
Douglas pointed at Helen.
“She knew about the first payment.
Charge her too.”
Helen met his stare.
“I already disclosed my part.”
The investigator asked Douglas to come with him.
At the doorway, Douglas looked back.
“Ask your precious sister why she named someone else on Bruce’s original birth record.”
Helen’s face changed.
I held up the silver key.
“Where does this lead?”
She stared at Judy’s frozen image on the screen.
“To the one secret Judy was most afraid to tell you.”
