Chapter 22: The Bill

The custody hearing was on Friday, in a courtroom with every bench full.

Word had gone around Dayton.

There were drivers in the back rows in their good jackets, and a woman from the church brunch, and three reporters with notepads.

Dean sat at the petitioner's table with his lawyer.

The young man with the expensive haircut had been replaced by an older one with a gray tie and a very tired face.

Kelsey sat behind me in the first row, in a gray blazer, with her folder on her knees.

She had asked to come, and she had asked to be sworn.

Phyllis sat across the aisle, alone, in her good coat.

The judge was a woman in her sixties with reading glasses on a beaded chain.

She looked at Dean for a long time before she looked at anything else.

"Mr. Harlan," she said. "You were given two hours with your daughter. You took her overnight to an unheated cabin without a crib."

"Your Honor, I can explain."

"I read the deputy's report. You may explain after I've heard from the others."

My lawyer stood and called Kelsey Roan.

Kelsey walked to the stand with her back straight and put her hand on the book.

"Ms. Roan, you drafted a nine-page household agreement for Mr. Harlan."

"I did."

"When?"

"The first draft was June twenty-second. I had the second on June thirtieth."

She opened the folder and took out a printed sheet.

"This is the file's history. It shows who changed what and when.

"The clause about later deposits was added on his laptop, on June thirtieth, at 6:41 in the evening."

Dean's lawyer rose.

"Objection. Ms. Roan is a former employee with a grievance."

"I do," Kelsey said. "He stood there and let his boss fire me, and he said nothing. That's why I'm here."

"Overruled," said the judge.

"He said it was for the baby," Kelsey said.

"He said his wife's grandfather was a rich man who had left her something, and his mother had found out in June.

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