Chapter 6: Do It Tonight
My attorney's name was Patricia Welles.
I had called her from the parking garage before the car had finished pulling out.
She answered on the second ring, which told me she had been waiting.
"He made a move," I said.
"Tell me."
"He has a letter from a physician.
He said it's enough to request an emergency evaluation.
He said he could ask for Lily to stay with him tonight."
A pause.
Papers shuffling.
"Did he use the letter today?
Did he present it to anyone official?"
"No.
He threatened it."
"Okay.
That's important.
A threat is not a filing." Her voice was steady.
"Where are you now?"
"Leaving the hotel.
My mother is with me."
"Go to your mother's house, not yours.
Don't go back to the marital home tonight.
Is Lily with you?"
"Yes."
"Good.
Don't let her out of your sight.
I'm going to make two calls in the next ten minutes.
One to the family court duty line.
One to the physician licensing board.
If he had a doctor sign a document for the purpose of a custody maneuver, that doctor has a problem."
I watched the hotel entrance disappear in the side mirror.
"He said 'do it tonight,'" I said.
"On the phone.
As I was leaving."
"To whom?"
"I don't know."
Another pause.
"Did you hear anything else?
Any name?
Any context?"
"Nothing."
"All right.
I want you to lock the doors when you get to your mother's.
Don't open the door for anyone you don't know.
If Daniel shows up, don't engage.
Call me first." She paused.
"Jennifer, you did well today.
Everything you did was within the plan.
But the next twelve hours are the window where he's most likely to act impulsively.
We need to be careful."
My mother reached over and put her hand over mine without taking her eyes off the road.
We drove in silence for a few minutes.
Then my phone rang again.
Not Patricia.
Not Daniel.
It was Chloe.
I almost didn't answer.
But something about the timing — the call coming now, minutes after Daniel's voice in the corridor — made me pick up.
"I need to tell you something else," Chloe said.
She was speaking quickly, quietly, like someone in a room where she didn't want to be overheard.
"After I hung up, Daniel called me.
He told me to delete the email.
The one with the lawyer.
He said if I didn't, he would tell people the baby isn't his.
He said he would deny everything.
He said he would make sure I couldn't prove paternity without a court order, and that by the time it was settled, I'd have nothing."
I said nothing.
"I'm not calling because I want anything from you," Chloe said.
"I know I don't have any right to ask you for anything.
I just — I thought you should know what he's doing.
Right now.
While you're driving away from that hotel."
"Did you delete the email?" I asked.
"No," she said.
"I made three copies.
One on a USB drive.
One in a cloud account he doesn't know about.
One I emailed to my sister an hour ago."
I looked out the window at the streetlights beginning to come on.
"Chloe," I said.
"I'm going to give you Patricia Welles's number.
She's my attorney.
Call her tonight.
Tell her everything you just told me.
Tell her about the copies."
A long silence.
"Why are you helping me?" Chloe asked.
"I'm not helping you," I said.
"I'm making sure he can't destroy the evidence.
There's a difference." I paused.
"But call her anyway."
We pulled into my mother's street.
The porch light was already on — my mother must have called ahead, or perhaps she had simply left it on, the way she always did when she was waiting for someone to come home.
I carried Lily inside.
I locked the door.
And at 11:47 that night, my phone lit up with a message from Patricia.
*Emergency filing submitted.
Temporary protective order requested.
Hearing set for 9am.
He won't be able to approach Lily without a court escort until this is resolved.
Get some sleep.*
I set the phone face-down on the nightstand.
Lily was asleep in the center of the bed beside me, her chest rising and falling, her small hand open against the sheet.
May you like
I did not sleep.
But for the first time in four months, I was not afraid.
