Custody documents.
A psych evaluation she had commissioned privately — someone she paid to write a report saying you showed signs of instability.
She was building a case.
She was going to use it to petition for guardianship of Noah."
Maya didn't react the way he expected.
She didn't cry.
She didn't raise her voice.
She said, "Guardianship.
Not custody for you.
Guardianship for her."
Ryan stopped.
He hadn't thought about that distinction until this moment.
"She wasn't doing this for me," he said slowly.
"No." Maya looked back at him.
"She was doing this for herself.
She wanted Noah.
Not for you to have him.
For her to have him."
Ryan sat with that.
The room was very quiet.
"There's something else," he said.
"The bedroom camera.
There's footage of her at my desk.
Going through files.
My laptop."
Maya's eyes sharpened.
"Which files?"
"I don't know yet.
The police are pulling everything."
"Ryan." Maya leaned forward slightly.
"Your father's estate documents are on that laptop.
The trust.
The accounts.
Everything your father left that she's been contesting for two years."
Ryan went very still.
"She's been contesting the trust because she says your father wasn't in his right mind when he changed it," Maya said.
"She's been saying for two years that someone influenced him.
That someone manipulated him." She paused.
"She was looking for something to use."
Ryan stood up.
"I need to call the attorney."
---
Daniel Marsh had been the family's estate attorney for eleven years.
He picked up on the second ring.
"Ryan.
I've been expecting your call.
I saw the police report come through."
"The bedroom camera," Ryan said.
"She had access to my laptop.
The trust documents."
A pause.
"How long?"
"Four to six months."
Another pause.
Longer this time.
"Ryan, I need you to listen to me carefully.
Three months ago, a filing was submitted to the probate court.
A supplemental petition.
It included what appeared to be a private correspondence — an email — allegedly from your father, written two weeks before he changed the trust.
The email suggested he was confused.