Chapter 24
At nine o'clock that evening, my phone rang. It was an unlisted number from a private legal firm based in downtown Boston.
"Clara Blackwood?" a sharp, professional voice spoke into the receiver. "My name is Marcus Croft. I am the senior defense counsel representing your brother, Julian Blackwood."
I stepped out onto the cold wooden deck of the Rockport house, closing the heavy sliding glass door behind me to keep the wind out. "I have nothing to say to you, Mr. Croft. Speak to Arthur Sterling."
"I strongly suggest you listen to me for sixty seconds, Ms. Blackwood," Croft replied, his tone smooth, cold, and entirely devoid of emotion. "Your brother was released on two million dollars bail three hours ago by order of the Superior Court Magistrate."
I froze, the freezing sea wind cutting through my sweater like glass needles. "Bail? He was arrested for domestic imprisonment, assault, and tax fraud."
"Allegations made by a woman with a documented history of severe psychological disturbance," Croft said smoothly. "The district attorney’s office has no physical evidence connecting Julian to the room in the cellar. The leather ledgers you provided contain hand-written entries by Eleanor Vance, which our psychiatric expert will testify were generated during manic episodes. As for the hidden audio recorder, digital files are easily fabricated in modern forensic environments."
"He forced her to write those books!" I shouted into the phone, my voice echoing over the roaring Atlantic waves below. "We have the birth certificate! We have our father's letter!"
"Your father's letter is ten years old and holds zero standing in a corporate probate court," Croft countered smoothly. "Julian has requested a private family conference tomorrow morning at ten o'clock at the main estate. If you and Eleanor Vance do not attend, we will file immediate emergency custody petitions for Maya Blackwood on the grounds of maternal abandonment and severe emotional endangerment."
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"He won't touch Maya," I growled, my hand shaking around the phone.
"He is her legal father, Ms. Blackwood," Croft said, his tone dropping into a chillingly pleasant register. "Under Massachusetts family law, unless a court revokes his parental rights—which takes months—he has full authority to take her back to the estate tomorrow afternoon. See you at ten o'clock."
