Chapter 15 - THE RECORDING DEAN COULD NOT EXPLAIN
The most damaging evidence came from an audio file nobody noticed initially.
The prepaid phone had automatically recorded short voice clips whenever Dean activated a particular note application.
One recording was eight months old.
Dean and Victor sat inside a car.
Victor said.
“You need Laura to look careless.”
Dean answered.
“She is careless.”
“Not enough for emergency custody.”
Silence.
Then Dean.
“She panics when Ava gets hurt.”
Victor replied.
“Most mothers do.”
Dean laughed.
“Exactly.”
“If I control what doctors hear first, the record becomes mine.”
The courtroom went silent.
Then another part.
Victor.
“And the trust?”
Dean.
“Once I’m custodial parent, I petition for successor authority.”
“She’ll fight.”
Dean answered.
“Then she’ll look like she cares more about money than Ava.”
Laura closed her eyes.
There it was.
The entire strategy.
If she surrendered the trust, Dean gained control.
If she fought, he called her greedy.
May you like
Every path had been designed to make him look reasonable.
Until Ava put the phone in her boot.
