Chapter 6 - Transition
Federal agents searched David’s office.
They found a folder labeled TRANSITION.
Inside was a draft divorce petition.
A draft public statement calling me unstable and overwhelmed.
Custody notes.
A resignation letter for me from Vance Meridian.
Unsigned.
A board memo accusing me of misusing company funds.
Also unsigned.
Then one handwritten note.
IF SHE FIGHTS, LEAK ICU PANIC.
My stomach turned.
He had collected old messages where I worried about headaches, fevers, food allergies, school buses.
Normal parent fear.
He labeled them episodes.
Naomi muttered, “Coward.”
I asked her to repeat it.
She did.
That helped more than legal analysis.
Then Julianne asked for a cooperation meeting.
She admitted David paid for her mother’s cancer surgery with company money.
She admitted accepting the yacht and jewelry.
She denied knowing employee funds were involved.
Ruiz showed her a message.
JULIANNE: Is this employee money?
DAVID: Temporarily.
JULIANNE: That sounds illegal.
DAVID: Stop watching crime shows.
Julianne put her face in her hands.
“I forgot that.”
The transition folder also contained a list of reporters David considered 'friendly.'
Beside one name he had written, MAYA EMOTIONAL ANGLE.
I stared at those three words until Naomi took the page away.
'Stop reading the margins,' she said.
'Why?'
'Because men like him always think the margins make them smarter than everyone else.'
It was not legal advice.
It was excellent advice.
Ruiz answered, “You remembered enough to ask.”
Then Julianne said David had been talking about how “everything would be simpler” when he returned.
She thought he meant divorce.
May you like
She was not sure anymore.
