Chapter 5
Elowen’s trust had never been a secret.
Mara came from a successful real-estate family.
When she died, her estate placed a diversified investment portfolio and a minority interest in several commercial properties into a trust for Elowen.
Alaric did not own the money.
Seraphine certainly did not.
It belonged for Elowen’s benefit.
The trust company approved ordinary expenses conservatively.
School tuition.
Therapy.
Medical care.
Summer programs.
Nothing unusual.
Then Rebecca found a new vendor.
Brightwell Family Strategies.
The trust had paid it almost ninety thousand dollars over eleven months.
Alaric stared at the statements.
“What does Brightwell do?”
“Apparently child-development consulting.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
Neither had Dr. Hart.
The invoices described:
Home behavior assessment.
Family integration planning.
Residential-care research.
Stepparent transition counseling.
Alaric looked at the final category.
“Who attended these sessions?”
Rebecca was already checking.
“No one we can identify.”
Brightwell had been recommended to the trust by Seraphine.
Because Seraphine was Alaric’s wife and lived with Elowen, the trustee treated her as a source of household information.
She could not authorize payments alone.
But she could submit invoices.
The trust company paid them because the descriptions appeared to concern Elowen’s welfare.
Rebecca traced Brightwell’s ownership.
The company belonged to a larger wellness network.
That network had several investors.
Seraphine’s name did not appear.
“Then we don’t have a connection.”
“Not yet.”
Alaric nodded.
He wanted facts.
Not a satisfying accusation.
Elowen’s therapist reviewed the Brightwell reports obtained from the trust.
Her reaction was immediate.
“These are not clinical assessments.”
“What are they?”
“Observational summaries.”
“Meaning?”
“Someone wrote down behavior and used psychological language around it.”
One report described Elowen becoming “dysregulated and oppositional” during a family dinner.
Marjorie remembered the dinner.
Seraphine had refused to let Elowen leave the table after the child became nauseated.
Another report described “possessive fixation on deceased maternal artifacts.”
That referred to Elowen crying when Mara’s clothes were boxed up.
Dr. Hart shook her head.
“Grief is being rewritten as pathology.”
Alaric felt sick.
May you like
For months, ordinary reactions had apparently been converted into evidence.
The question remained why Seraphine needed so much evidence for a school Alaric had never approved.
