Chapter 10 - THE HEARING
The emergency hearing took place through a secure video connection.
Emily remained in her hospital suite.
Conrad sat with three attorneys inside the Cook County courthouse.
Preston sat behind them, wearing the gray suit Emily had bought him for their fifth anniversary.
He looked exhausted, gentle, and deeply concerned.
It was the face he had worn at her mother’s memorial dinner.
The face that invited people to trust him.
Judge Marissa Cole presided.
She was not related to Mason Cole.
Conrad’s attorneys had likely chosen the emergency calendar hoping the shared name would create confusion.
It did not.
Judge Cole read the filings in silence.
Then she addressed Emily.
“Mrs. Whitmore, are you physically capable of participating?”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“Are you under medication?”
“I am receiving medication to prevent premature contractions.”
“Anything affecting your ability to understand these proceedings?”
“No.”
Conrad’s lead attorney rose.
“We dispute that answer.”
Judge Cole looked at him.
“You may present evidence.”
The attorney began with Emily’s laboratory report.
He displayed the clonazepam result.
He displayed the prescription history.
He displayed witness statements claiming Emily had behaved irrationally.
Then he played an audio recording.
Emily’s voice filled the courtroom.
“I could destroy all of you.”
A second clip followed.
“You have no idea what I’m capable of.”
A third.
“When the baby comes, no Whitmore will ever touch her.”
The statements sounded threatening when separated from their context.
Emily remembered the conversations.
The first had occurred while discussing a charity trivia game.
She had joked that her knowledge of American history could destroy the other team.
The second had been spoken while showing Preston the classroom she renovated herself.
The third had come after Conrad criticized her plan to name the baby Claire.
Each recording had been edited.
Conrad’s attorney looked toward the judge.
“These statements reveal escalating hostility toward the Whitmore family.”
Emily’s attorney, Grace Kim, stood.
“They reveal an escalating commitment to removing surrounding sentences.”
Judge Cole looked over her glasses.
“Do you have the complete recordings?”
“We are recovering them.”
“Then recover them quickly.”
Conrad’s attorney called Owen Briggs.
The pharmacist testified that Emily collected clonazepam personally.
He described her as agitated.
He claimed she demanded the prescription be hidden from Dr. Shaw.
Grace cross-examined him.
“What date did Mrs. Whitmore collect the medication?”
“June fourteenth.”
“What time?”
“Approximately three fifteen.”
Grace displayed Emily’s school attendance record.
“At three fifteen, Mrs. Whitmore was supervising twenty-two children during an end-of-year assembly.”
Owen shifted.
“She may have arrived later.”
“You signed the dispensing record at three seventeen.”
“I do not remember the exact time.”
“Do you remember checking her identification?”
“She was a well-known patient.”
“So you ignored hospital policy?”
“No.”
“Then what identification did she show you?”
Owen could not answer.
Grace displayed parking records.
Emily’s vehicle had not entered the hospital garage that day.
Owen claimed she might have arrived in another car.
Grace displayed security footage from the pharmacy.
The video for that date had been deleted.
The deletion occurred under Owen’s credentials.
Judge Cole looked toward him.
“Mr. Briggs, you are reminded that you are under oath.”
Owen’s face turned red.
He requested a recess to consult an attorney.
The judge excused him temporarily.
Nathan Bell testified next.
He claimed Emily had threatened Preston during the early months of their marriage.
He claimed she once tried to force Preston’s vehicle off the road.
Grace displayed his employment file.
“Mr. Bell, were you fired for driving under the influence?”
“Yes.”
“Did you crash Mrs. Whitmore’s car?”
“It was raining.”
“Did you ask her for fifty thousand dollars in exchange for not selling false stories to the press?”
Nathan’s confidence faded.
“I don’t remember.”
Grace displayed the email.
“You wrote, ‘Pay me or people will hear what kind of woman you really are.’”
“I was angry.”
“Did Northstar Strategic Holdings begin paying you the following month?”
Nathan looked toward Conrad.
Grace repeated the question.
“Yes.”
“For what services?”
“Transportation consulting.”
“Do you own a transportation company?”
“No.”
“Have you performed consulting work?”
“I gave advice.”
“What advice?”
Nathan could not provide a single example.
Judge Cole ordered his financial records preserved.
The hearing paused at noon.
Emily ate two spoonfuls of soup and could not manage more.
Dr. Shaw checked the baby.
The heartbeat remained strong.
Preston requested a private conversation during the recess.
Emily refused.
He sent a message through the court clerk.
PLEASE LET ME EXPLAIN THE MEDICATION.
Emily stared at it.
She agreed to a recorded call with attorneys present.
Preston appeared on the screen from a courthouse consultation room.
His father was not with him.
“Did you put clonazepam in my food?” Emily asked.
“No.”
“Did Vanessa?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Dr. Keller?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then what are you explaining?”
Preston looked down.
“I found the pills in your bathroom.”
“They were planted.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“You told Conrad.”
“Yes.”
“Before or after you signed the guardianship petition?”
“Before.”
“Why didn’t you ask me?”
“I was afraid you would lie.”
“You were already lying to me.”
“I thought the medication explained your behavior.”
“What behavior?”
“You stopped trusting me.”
Emily almost laughed.
“You were sleeping with Vanessa.”
“I made mistakes.”
“You studied me before our first date.”
“My father pushed me toward you.”
“You hid that for eight years.”
“Because I did love you.”
“Did you know he planned to force an early delivery?”
“No.”
“Did you know about the hidden cameras?”
“Not at first.”
“When did you learn?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“You left them in place.”
“I wanted to know what Conrad was doing.”
“You could have warned me.”
“I needed evidence.”
Emily stared at him.
He had begun speaking like Raymond.
Every betrayal became protection.
Every secret became a sacrifice.
“What did you do with the evidence?”
“I copied the server.”
Raymond leaned forward.
“Where is the copy?”
Preston ignored him.
“Emily, I will give it to you.”
“In exchange for what?”
“Meet me without Raymond.”
“No.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain now.”
Preston looked toward the camera.
“My father monitors everything.”
“You are inside a courthouse.”
“He has people here.”
“What is on the server?”
“Recordings.”
“Of whom?”
“Conrad.”
“Talking about my mother?”
Preston’s eyes answered before his mouth.
“Yes.”
Emily felt her pulse rise.
“Send the files.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“The copy is hidden.”
“Where?”
“In the house.”
“Security searched the house.”
“They didn’t find it.”
“Tell me where.”
Preston’s gaze moved away from the camera.
A shadow passed beneath the consultation-room door.
He lowered his voice.
“The tulips.”
Emily frowned.
“What?”
“The place I sent the first white tulips.”
The screen went black.
The connection ended.
Seconds later, shouting erupted outside the courthouse room.
A bailiff found Preston unconscious on the floor.
A needle mark appeared behind his right ear.
The courthouse cameras showed no one entering.
May you like
The only person who had approached the room was Conrad Whitmore.
He had carried a small white flower box.
