Chapter 10 - Patricia’s Meltdown
At 8:30 PM, the front door opened again. It was Detective Miller, his tie loosened, accompanied by a woman in a sharp dark pantsuit who introduced herself as Special Agent Katherine Vance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
"Mrs. Cole, Daniel," Agent Vance said, showing her credentials before sitting at the edge of the dining room table. "I’m sorry to intrude on what should have been a celebration, but we need to verify a few financial documents before the federal magistrate signs off on the formal detention orders."
Daniel nodded numbly. "Anything you need."
"Your mother just gave a full sworn statement at the county jail," Vance said, pulling a digital recorder from her briefcase. "Her attorney tried to stop her, but once she realized she was facing twenty years for federal kidnapping conspiracy, she completely turned on your father and Marcus."
I pulled Noah tighter against me as he slept peacefully against my shoulder, worn out from the day's chaos. "What did she say?"
"She confirmed the entire timeline," Vance said, checking her notes. "Marcus drew up the fraudulent power-of-attorney documents three months ago. He used an old signature sample from Daniel’s college loan co-signing paperwork to forge his name, and they hired a professional document fabricator in Chicago to recreate Emily’s signature on the custody petition."
"And the sedative?" my voice shook as I asked. "The medicine in her purse?"
Agent Vance’s face turned grim. "Patricia admitted under caution that Richard purchased liquid midazolam through an illicit online pharmacy. The plan was to spike your wine glass during the cake cutting. When you passed out from what everyone would assume was exhaustion or heatstroke, Patricia would offer to take Noah back to Cleveland for the night so Daniel could care for you and take you to the hospital. By the time you woke up tomorrow morning, Richard and Noah would have cleared customs in Frankfurt en route to Zurich."
Daniel let out a low, gut-wrenching groan and drove his fists into the sofa cushions. The sheer calculating brutality of it was almost impossible to process. His own mother had sat in our living room, smiled in our faces, eaten our food, and planned to chemically incapacitate me to kidnap our child.
"There's something else," Agent Vance added, looking directly at me. "Something your mother-in-law was particularly hysterical about."
"What?" I asked.
May you like
"The seven-million-dollar trust itself," Vance replied, a faint, ironic smile touching her lips. "It appears Richard and Marcus didn't read the entirety of Arthur Cole's testamentary paperwork as thoroughly as they thought."
***
