Chapter 8: Teresa Fights Back
Calloway called at seven-thirty in the morning.
"Your mother was released on bail at six a.m.," she said.
"Her attorney posted it within an hour of her arraignment.
I wanted you to hear it from me before you saw it anywhere else."
I was standing in the kitchen.
Amy was still asleep.
Frederick had woken twice in the night but the medication was working and his fever was down.
"Who's her attorney?" I asked.
"Daniel Pruitt.
Family law and civil litigation.
He's already filed a motion challenging the validity of the police entry last night, claiming the call to 911 was exaggerated to manufacture grounds for police presence at a private family gathering."
I set my coffee down.
"She's going after the search."
"She's going after everything," Calloway said.
"Pruitt also sent a letter to your bank this morning — I have a copy — claiming that the power of attorney is valid and that any freeze on accounts related to the investigation is unlawful interference with a legally executed document."
"The signatures are forged."
"We know that.
The forensic document examiner confirmed it last night.
But Pruitt is arguing that you authorized the documents verbally and that the written signatures are a formality your mother completed on your behalf with your full knowledge." A pause.
"He's also claiming that Amy has a history of financial misconduct within the marriage and that Teresa was acting to protect you."
The photographs.
The fake emails.
The typed timeline.
Teresa had given Pruitt the backup plan before she was even arraigned.
"She moved fast," I said.
"She had this ready," Calloway said.
"This wasn't assembled overnight.
Pruitt knew what to file before he walked into the arraignment." Another pause.
"Connor, I need you to bring me everything Amy told you about last night.
The envelope.
The note.
All of it.
And I need Amy to come in and give a formal statement today if possible."
"We'll be there at ten," I said.
I hung up and stood at the kitchen window for a moment.
The backyard was quiet.
The chairs from last night's party were still out there, scattered around the tables Teresa had arranged.
A few paper plates had blown into the corner near the fence.
I heard Amy behind me.
"She's out," she said.
It wasn't a question.
"Yes."
Amy came to stand beside me at the window.
She looked at the backyard.
"She's going to use the photographs," Amy said.
"She already has.
Her lawyer filed this morning."
Amy was quiet for a moment.
"Then we need to move faster than she is."
"Calloway wants us at ten."
"I'll call my sister," Amy said.
"She can watch Frederick." She turned from the window.
"I also want to call Betsy."
I looked at her.
"Why Betsy?"
"Because Betsy was there for six months.
She heard things.
Teresa used her as a witness to the spreadsheet — the fake one.
If Betsy gives a statement about how Teresa pressured her into silence, it breaks Teresa's version of events from the inside." Amy looked at me steadily.
"Teresa built this with people she thought she controlled.
We need to talk to every one of them before Pruitt does."
I had married a woman who had spent fourteen months being threatened and had still been paying attention to every detail.
"Call Betsy," I said.
"I'll call Mason."
Mason picked up on the second ring.
He sounded like he hadn't slept.
"She called me," he said before I could speak.
"An hour ago.
She told me Pruitt would take care of everything and I should say I acted under your verbal authorization."
"What did you tell her?"
"I told her I already gave the police the key to the storage unit."
A silence.
"She hung up," Mason said.
"Good," I said.
"Then you're done protecting her.
Come to the police station at ten.
Tell them everything."
Another silence.
Then: "Connor.
I'm sorry.
I know that doesn't fix it."
"No," I said.
"It doesn't.
But it helps."
I hung up.
Amy was already on the phone with Betsy.
I could hear Betsy's voice through the speaker — not the words, just the tone.
May you like
She was crying.
Amy was not.
