Chapter 3 - THE MAN JAMES TRUSTED LIKE A BROTHER
Thomas Sloan answered James’s call on the second ring.
“James.”
Not hello.
Not what happened.
Just his name.
James stood alone in his study while Detective Alvarez waited near the door.
“Where are you?”
“At home.”
“I need you here.”
Silence.
“Now?”
“Yes.”
Thomas exhaled.
“James, considering what happened last night, I’m not sure—”
“Come here.”
Another pause.
“Is this about Evelyn?”
James looked at the guardianship file on his desk.
“Yes.”
Thomas arrived forty minutes later.
He wore jeans and a wool coat, not his usual tailored suit.
His dark hair looked uncombed.
He stopped when he saw the police cars outside.
Then he entered.
James waited in the study.
Thomas closed the door.
“Jesus, James.”
His eyes moved to the documents.
Then back.
That movement was enough.
James saw recognition.
“You know what this is.”
Thomas said nothing.
James pushed the folder across the desk.
“Tell me.”
Thomas looked at Detective Alvarez.
“Am I being questioned?”
“You’re being asked a question,” James said.
Thomas’s expression tightened.
“Then I want counsel.”
“You are counsel.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m stupid.”
James stared at him.
Twenty-four years.
They had met at boarding school when James was thirteen.
Thomas had been the first person outside his family to know how badly James’s father drank.
James had paid Thomas’s mother’s medical bills when Thomas was twenty-seven.
Thomas had carried Anna’s casket.
He had held Mia at her mother’s funeral while James could barely stand.
And now his name was on a plan designed to give Evelyn control of Mia.
James’s voice cracked.
“Why?”
Thomas looked away.
Detective Alvarez stepped forward.
“Mr. Sloan, you should understand that there is an active investigation involving attempted unlawful removal of a minor.”
Thomas swallowed.
“I never agreed to that.”
James laughed once.
“You never agreed?”
“No.”
“What did you agree to?”
Thomas rubbed his face.
“Evelyn came to me about six months ago.”
“Before we married.”
“Yes.”
“What did she want?”
“She said she was worried about you.”
“About me?”
“She said you were unstable after Anna.”
James’s expression went blank.
Thomas continued.
“She said you were working too much. Drinking sometimes.”
“I drink wine at dinner.”
“I know.”
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“Then why entertain it?”
Thomas hesitated.
“Because some of what she said was true.”
James’s eyes hardened.
“What?”
“You were barely functioning after Anna died.”
“That was two years ago.”
“You still weren’t sleeping.”
“So?”
“You were making reckless business decisions.”
“Name one.”
Thomas said nothing.
James stepped closer.
“Name one.”
“The Denver acquisition.”
“It made eighty million dollars.”
“After nearly collapsing your credit line.”
“That has nothing to do with my daughter.”
“I know.”
“Then why was my daughter in the file?”
Thomas looked exhausted.
“Evelyn said she wanted protection if something happened to you.”
“She wanted guardianship.”
“She said Mia had no maternal grandparents nearby.”
“She has Claire.”
“I know.”
“Then why Evelyn?”
“Because she was going to be your wife.”
James stared at him.
“And you helped?”
“I drafted preliminary scenarios.”
“Without telling me.”
“Yes.”
The word cut.
James looked down at the papers.
Then he saw something.
“Emergency incapacity provisions.”
Thomas went pale.
James pointed.
“What does that mean?”
Thomas stayed quiet.
“Thomas.”
“If you became incapacitated, Evelyn wanted authority to act quickly.”
“How would I become incapacitated?”
“James.”
“What was discussed?”
“Nothing specific.”
“Lie again and I will personally walk you outside to those detectives.”
Thomas’s jaw flexed.
Finally:
“She asked about psychiatric holds.”
James froze.
Detective Alvarez looked sharply at him.
“What?”
Thomas continued quickly.
“I told her it was almost impossible without medical evidence.”
“And?”
“She asked whether severe grief, insomnia, or work obsession could establish temporary incapacity.”
James’s voice became dangerously soft.
“You helped my wife research how to have me declared mentally incompetent.”
“I gave general legal advice.”
“You were my attorney.”
“Not formally in that matter.”
“You were my friend.”
Thomas looked down.
That hurt more.
James’s phone buzzed.
Claire.
He almost ignored it.
Then he saw the message.
COME UPSTAIRS. NOW.
His stomach dropped.
He ran.
Mia was sitting on her bed with Claire beside her.
“What happened?”
Claire held something small in her hand.
A silver medical-alert bracelet.
“I found this in Mia’s winter coat.”
James frowned.
“I’ve never seen it.”
Claire turned it over.
Engraved on the back:
MIA CARTER
SEVERE SEIZURE DISORDER
EMERGENCY MEDICATION REQUIRED
James went cold.
“Mia doesn’t have seizures.”
“I know.”
Mia looked confused.
“Miss Evelyn said I had to wear it when we went on airplane.”
James stared at her.
“When did she tell you that?”
“Yesterday.”
“Did she give you medicine?”
Mia thought.
“She had pink sleepy juice.”
His heart nearly stopped.
“Did you drink any?”
“No. I said it tasted yucky.”
James closed his eyes.
Thank God.
Detective Alvarez had followed him upstairs.
She took the bracelet carefully.
“This could explain travel.”
James looked at her.
“How?”
“A medical condition could be used to justify carrying medication, requesting special boarding, avoiding delays.”
Claire whispered, “Or making a sedated child look medically fragile.”
Nobody answered.
They did not have to.
Mia reached for James.
He picked her up.
Her arms went around his neck.
“Daddy, did I do bad?”
The question broke him.
“No.”
His voice came out too fast.
“No, sweetheart.”
“But Miss Evelyn got mad.”
“That was not because you did anything wrong.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
She touched his cheek.
“You’re sad.”
“I am.”
“Because Miss Evelyn?”
James looked at his daughter.
“No.”
That surprised even him.
“I’m sad because I didn’t listen carefully enough when you were scared.”
Mia rested her head against him.
“You came.”
James closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
But coming at the end did not erase failing to see the beginning.
Downstairs, Thomas was preparing to leave when James returned.
“You’re not going anywhere.”
Thomas turned.
“I’m done speaking without counsel.”
“Fine.”
James placed the bracelet on the desk.
Thomas stared at it.
His face changed.
“You’ve seen this before.”
Thomas shook his head.
Too quickly.
James stepped forward.
“Thomas.”
“I haven’t.”
“You knew something.”
Thomas looked toward Detective Alvarez.
“Evelyn asked me whether a child’s medical diagnosis could affect international custody jurisdiction.”
Silence.
James felt the floor disappear beneath him.
“When?”
“Two months ago.”
“And you never told me.”
“I thought it was theoretical.”
“She asked how to take my daughter overseas.”
“She said you were considering relocating.”
“I was not.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“You could have called.”
Thomas’s eyes filled.
“I know.”
James laughed bitterly.
Everyone knew after.
No one knew when it mattered.
Detective Alvarez asked, “Did Mrs. Carter mention Switzerland?”
Thomas hesitated.
“Yes.”
James stared.
“She asked about Swiss residency laws.”
“Why?”
“She said her family had property there.”
James knew about no property.
Alvarez wrote something down.
Thomas’s phone suddenly rang.
He looked at the screen.
His face drained.
James noticed.
“Who is it?”
Thomas declined the call.
“Nobody.”
The phone rang again.
Same number.
Alvarez held out her hand.
“May I?”
Thomas backed away.
“No.”
James understood.
“It’s Evelyn.”
Thomas looked at him.
“No.”
“Show me.”
“James.”
“Show me.”
Finally, Thomas turned the screen.
CALLER: VICTOR HARRINGTON.
James stopped.
He knew that name too.
Everyone in New York finance did.
Victor Harrington had once tried to acquire Carter Logistics.
James had defeated him publicly.
Victor had never forgiven it.
And Victor Harrington was Evelyn’s uncle.
The man who introduced them.
James stared at Thomas.
“You’ve been talking to Victor?”
Thomas’s silence answered.
James’s stomach twisted.
This was not a jealous wife trying to leave with a child.
This had been planned.
Carefully.
Legally.
May you like
Financially.
And possibly for much longer than James wanted to believe.
