Chapter 10 - The Lie About Amy
Detective Ramirez met us at the station.
Gloria sat in another interview room.
Her wrists were bruised.
Her confidence was gone.
She admitted helping Teresa create Bradley Family Management LLC.
She also admitted receiving some of the stolen money.
But when Ramirez asked what Leonard and Teresa had discussed about Amy, Gloria looked genuinely frightened.
“They wanted to discredit her.”
“How?”
Gloria looked at Amy.
“I’m sorry.”
Amy did not react.
“Tell us.”
Gloria explained that Teresa had secretly recorded arguments with Amy.
Some recordings had been edited.
Words removed.
Sentences rearranged.
The goal was to make Amy sound unstable.
There were also photographs.
Amy sleeping on the couch.
Amy crying.
Amy holding a glass of wine at a family dinner months before Frederick’s birth.
Ordinary moments turned into evidence of supposed neglect.
My mother planned to use them if Amy fought for custody.
I stared at Gloria.
“Custody?”
“Teresa thought if Connor became legally incapacitated, she could petition for temporary guardianship.”
Amy went pale.
“She wanted my baby.”
Gloria nodded.
“She said Frederick belonged with the Bradley family.”
Amy stood.
I thought she might scream.
Instead, she spoke with terrifying calm.
“My son is not property.”
Gloria began crying.
“I know.”
“No.”
Amy looked directly at her.
“You knew enough to help.”
Silence filled the room.
Later, police recovered the edited recordings from Gloria’s laptop.
They were exactly as she described.
One recording made Amy appear to say,
“Sometimes I wish Frederick had never been born.”
The original recording revealed the full sentence.
“Sometimes, when I hear stories about children getting sick, I wish Frederick had never been born into a world where parents have to fear losing them.”
Teresa had cut away everything except the most damaging words.
Another recording made Amy sound as though she planned to leave me.
The full conversation had been about taking Frederick to visit her sister for two days.
My mother had manufactured an entire false version of my wife.
And she had almost succeeded in making me believe parts of it.
That realization was unbearable.
That evening, I sat beside Amy on our porch.
“I failed you.”
She looked at me.
“You trusted your mother.”
“I trusted her more than I listened to you.”
Amy said nothing.
I continued.
“I can’t undo that.”
“But I can make sure it never happens again.”
She finally took my hand.
Then my phone rang.
Daniel.
His voice sounded urgent.
“Connor, we have a major problem.”
“What happened?”
“Leonard filed another document before he disappeared.”
My stomach tightened.
“What document?”
“A lien against your construction company shares.”
“That’s impossible.”
“He used the same power-of-attorney package.”
“But it was forged.”
“Yes.”
“The problem is that the lien has already been sold.”
“To who?”
Daniel paused.
“A company registered three days ago.”
“And guess who owns it?”
I waited.
May you like
He answered.
“Aunt Betsy.”
