Chapter 8 - Harold’s Lawyer
Sarah Whitcomb looked personally offended.
“Martin Sloan never represented Harold on estate matters.”
Peter shook his head on the screen.
“Not estate matters.”
“Then what?”
“Internal investigation.”
Silence.
Emily leaned forward.
“My father hired Rebecca’s lawyer to investigate Rebecca?”
“He wasn’t Rebecca’s lawyer then.”
That changed the timeline.
Eighteen months earlier, three months before Harold died, Sloan had been hired quietly by Harold to examine Hale Equestrian transfers and Carter Agricultural Finance fees.
“What did he find?” Daniel asked.
Peter looked uncomfortable.
“I never saw full report.”
“Did Harold?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“He fired Sloan.”
Sarah frowned.
“Why?”
“Harold said Sloan had gone beyond the assignment.”
Emily asked, “Meaning?”
Peter shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
After Harold’s death, Sloan began representing Rebecca.
Then Carter Agricultural Finance.
Daniel stared.
“He switched sides.”
Sarah said, “Possibly with waivers, but timing is extraordinary.”
They tracked Sloan’s firm.
He declined voluntary interview.
Through counsel, he claimed all work was properly authorized and confidential.
That made him more suspicious, not less.
Emily wanted to confront Rebecca.
Sarah refused to facilitate it.
“You have a no-contact order for a reason.”
“I want answers.”
“You want safety more.”
Emily looked annoyed.
Daniel did not intervene.
Her decision.
Sarah filed for emergency trust accounting and temporary suspension of Rebecca’s unilateral financial authority.
The hearing was scheduled in five days.
Rebecca opposed.
Her filing accused Emily of emotional instability, erratic management interest, and “recent confrontational behavior toward farm personnel.”
Attached were written statements.
Three employees.
Emily stared at the names.
“I know them.”
Luke recognized two.
“They work for Rebecca’s horse operation.”
The third was assistant farm manager Kyle Preston.
Daniel frowned.
“Kyle likes Emily.”
Emily shook her head.
“He needs his job.”
Again, fear.
The statements described Emily shouting.
Slamming a binder.
Walking out of a meeting.
One alleged Emily threatened to “destroy Rebecca.”
Emily remembered the sentence.
“I said, ‘If Dad’s records show you stole money, it will destroy you.’”
Sarah nodded.
“Context matters.”
Rebecca’s filing also referenced an “incident” at the north barn.
Without video, Rebecca’s version might have been useful.
With video, it looked disastrous.
Sarah smiled grimly.
“She overplayed.”
Then the court filing revealed another document.
A psychological-fitness letter.
Not diagnosis.
Not medical record.
A letter from family therapist Dr. Allan Pierce, whom Emily had seen twice after Harold died.
It stated:
Emily Carter presented with intense grief, anger, sleep disturbance, and difficulty regulating emotional responses during family conflict.
Emily went white.
“That was confidential.”
Sarah’s face changed.
“How did Rebecca get it?”
Emily remembered signing consent for estate mediation eighteen months ago.
Rebecca and Emily had attended one joint session.
“Maybe I signed release.”
Sarah obtained release.
It authorized Dr. Pierce to share information with Martin Sloan for limited family mediation purposes.
Sloan had the letter.
Now Rebecca had it.
Daniel felt rage.
“They’re turning grief into incapacity.”
Sarah nodded.
“They are trying.”
Emily stood.
“I want every document Sloan received under that release.”
“You’ll get them.”
“And I want Dr. Pierce to know how his letter is being used.”
“Yes.”
Emily paced slowly.
The baby shifted.
She touched her belly.
Daniel watched but did not tell her to sit.
She noticed.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Not treating pregnancy like a leash.”
Daniel felt shame.
He had done that before.
He nodded.
That evening Dr. Pierce called voluntarily after receiving Sarah’s notice.
“I am horrified.”
Emily listened.
“My letter was written for mediation.”
“Did you think I was incapable of managing property?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Did I threaten Rebecca?”
“You expressed anger. You did not threaten physical harm.”
“Did Sloan ask whether I could be declared incapacitated?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
Emily stared.
During pregnancy.
“What did you say?”
“That I had no basis to offer such an opinion and would not.”
“Did he ask anyone else?”
“I don’t know.”
Dr. Pierce agreed to provide clarification.
That weakened Rebecca’s case.
Then he added something.
“Sloan also asked whether pregnancy-related stress could worsen grief reactions.”
Emily laughed bitterly.
“Convenient.”
“I told him pregnancy alone says nothing about capacity.”
Sarah asked, “Did he mention the trust?”
“Yes.”
Everyone became still.
“What exactly?”
“He said a family trust might require temporary continuity if Emily became unable to serve.”
The plan existed six months ago.
Long before the barn.
Long before open conflict.
Emily whispered, “They were waiting for something to use.”
Daniel thought of all the times Emily cried after Harold died.
All the moments Thomas or Rebecca might have observed and converted grief into evidence.
Then Detective Lee called.
Police had finished reviewing north barn footage.
One clip had been missed.
Three weeks earlier.
After Thomas left the barn, Rebecca remained with Sloan.
His face was clearly visible.
Audio partially recorded.
Rebecca said:
“Thomas thinks Daniel’s signature is enough.”
Sloan answered:
“It isn’t. We need Emily unable to take the trustee seat.”
Rebecca:
“She won’t sign anything.”
Sloan:
“Then she needs to look like she shouldn’t.”
Emily stared.
Daniel felt fury.
But Sloan continued:
“No one hurts her. Especially pregnant. We document volatility. That’s all.”
Rebecca answered something too quiet to hear.
Then:
“What if she still takes control?”
Sloan looked directly toward where the supposedly dead camera sat.
“Then the audit finds what Harold found.”
Rebecca whispered:
“And we all lose.”
Not I lose.
We all lose.
Daniel looked at Sarah.
“How many people are in this?”
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Sarah answered:
“That is now the central question.”
