Chapter 5

Anne looked from Rudy to Lorna.

"Explain that."

Rudy pointed to the green folder.

"I keep the monthly expense sheets."

Lorna stood.

"You enter numbers."

"And send them to the trust accountant."

The deputy moved away from the door.

He didn't touch Lorna.

He left himself between her and Rudy.

Anne asked who owned the records.

"They're the farm's working copies," Rudy said.

"The accountant sends them here."

Lorna reached for the folder.

Rudy left it on the shelf.

Anne stopped both of them.

"We're not searching your office."

She turned to Garrett.

"Does your lawyer have the trust papers?"

Garrett took out his phone.

"He got copies when he filed."

He called the lawyer back.

The call went on speaker with permission.

The lawyer confirmed he had already been speaking with Anne's supervisor.

He could send the filed documents.

He could also request emergency relief based on tonight's statements.

He couldn't promise what the judge would do.

Lorna sat again.

The desk clock ticked through the pause.

Cole had moved his chair near the office doorway.

Del sat beside him.

Garrett stayed within reach, but not touching.

The lawyer's email arrived.

Anne opened the documents on her phone.

Then Rudy offered the accounting folder again.

This time Lorna slid it onto the desk herself.

"There's nothing stolen in there."

Anne didn't argue.

She compared the trust copy with the lawyer's attachment.

Marnie had left the horse farm in trust for Cole.

Not to Lorna.

Not to Garrett.

The guardian could run the farm while Cole lived there.

Approved farm and household expenses came from its income.

A separate accountant reviewed the spending.

Garrett rubbed his thumb along his wedding ring.

"She wanted him to keep the horses."

Lorna looked at the wall above him.

Anne read the section about a guardian's removal.

Another manager would take over if the arrangement ended.

Lorna's house expenses would no longer be covered automatically.

Neither would her pay for managing the property.

The documents didn't prove she had stolen money.

They showed what she stood to lose.

Anne said that clearly.

The deputy wrote it down.

Then Anne asked Lorna about the letters again.

"If he came here, he could take Cole home."

"He could try."

"And your role here could end."

"I worked this place."

Rudy looked down at the expense sheets.

Nobody had disputed that.

Garrett set the birthday card beside the trust.

"He's not payment for the work."

Lorna pushed the card away with two fingers.

Del rose from his chair.

Anne asked him to finish his statement.

This time she needed the details he had seen himself.

The September bruise wasn't enough.

The photographs couldn't name the person who caused every mark.

Del put his cap on the desk.

He described an evening in November.

Lorna had dragged Cole into the mudroom.

Del had followed.

She had shoved the boy against the coat hooks.

He had seen Cole cover his head.

He had stepped between them.

Lorna had told him to get outside.

Anne asked why that account wasn't in his first report.

"It happened after the first one."

"And the second?"

"I told them."

He pointed to the intake number.

Then he looked toward Cole.

"I let her tell me she was done."

Lorna's chair scraped the floor.

"You needed that trailer."

Del didn't deny it.

"I did."

"You still do."

Anne stopped writing.

Del's eyes went to his cap.

For a moment, he kept his hand beside it.

Then he faced the deputy.

"Put down what I saw."

Lorna folded her arms.

"Your things can be off the property tomorrow."

Garrett started to speak.

Del raised one hand.

He gave Anne the remaining dates.

He signed beneath the statement.

Then he placed the notebook and photographs beside it.

He didn't keep a page back.

Anne sent the sworn account to her supervisor.

The lawyer called again.

An emergency request was going to a judge.

The existing guardianship would not shield Lorna from the child-safety investigation.

Until there was a decision, Cole would remain apart from her.

Lorna turned toward the kitchen chair.

"Cole, tell them you want to stay."

He gripped the chair's wooden seat.

Del moved so she couldn't stand over him.

Anne told her not to question him.

Lorna looked past Del anyway.

"After everything I've done."

Cole's voice barely reached the desk.

"Why didn't you let Dad call?"

She stared at him.

Then her eyes moved to Marnie's trust papers.

Her mouth tightened.

"Your mother got everything, and I got the leftovers."