Chapter 10 - The School List
Clara did not go to school.
Mark changed every access code, replaced the security company, and moved Clara's bedroom to a ground-floor guest suite between his room and Elena's.
Victoria still found a way in.
Not physically.
On paper.
At 9:30 the next morning, the family court received an emergency filing accusing Mark of domestic violence, substance abuse, and emotional instability.
Attached were twelve short videos.
In one, Mark shouted in his office.
In another, he stumbled in the kitchen late at night.
A third showed Clara crying while a woman's voice asked, "Are you scared of Daddy?"
The judge scheduled a hearing within forty-eight hours.
Mark watched the clips with his lawyer.
"They're edited," he said.
Daniel nodded. "But they're effective."
Elena recognized the kitchen clip.
"That was the night he had the flu."
"Can we prove it?"
"I called the doctor. I picked up his medicine."
Daniel looked at her. "Find everything. Receipts. messages. pharmacy records."
Mark rubbed both hands over his face.
"She has been building this for months."
Elena remembered Clara saying, Vicky made a movie.
They searched the house again.
In Victoria's dressing room, behind a false panel in the jewelry safe, they found labeled memory cards.
MARK ANGRY.
ELENA CARELESS.
CLARA CRYING.
HOUSE STAFF.
One card was labeled M.M.
Mark inserted it into a laptop.
The video showed his mother, Margaret, sitting with Victoria in the conservatory.
Margaret said, "If Mark ever becomes medically incompetent, the voting proxy activates immediately."
Victoria asked, "How incompetent?"
"A physician's certification and one family trustee."
"And the family trustee could be me?"
Margaret hesitated.
"If you're still his wife."
The video ended.
Mark stared at the screen.
Then Elena noticed another item inside the safe.
A prescription bottle with Mark's name on it.
The label was for a mild sleep medication.
The pills inside were not the same color as the ones Elena had picked up from the pharmacy.
Daniel looked at Mark.
"How long have you been taking these?"
May you like
Mark's face went blank.
"Since Victoria started filling the prescription for me."
