Chapter 4 - THE PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR
The $75,000 had not gone to a family member.
It went to a law firm.
That firm paid a private investigator.
His name was Curtis Hall.
When Grace contacted him, he initially refused to discuss his work.
Then the trust’s attorney produced the invoices.
Subject of investigation:
Natalie Morgan.
Me.
Secondary subject:
Chloe Bennett Morgan.
My daughter.
I read the words twice.
Then Caleb took the invoice out of my hand because my fingers had started trembling.
“What was she investigating?”
Grace turned the page.
Financial history.
Prior marriage.
Custody records.
Employment.
Medical debt.
My late husband’s family.
School information.
Even whether Chloe had behavioral issues.
I felt physically violated.
Beatrice had spent trust money investigating a seven-year-old.
“Why?” I whispered.
Curtis eventually agreed to speak after receiving proper authorization from his own counsel.
He remembered Beatrice clearly.
“She wanted to know whether the adoption could be challenged.”
Caleb went completely still.
“Challenged how?”
“I told her I’m not a lawyer.”
“What did she ask you to find?”
“Anything showing the child wasn’t stable in the home.”
The child.
Not Chloe.
Never Chloe.
Curtis continued.
Beatrice seemed especially interested in whether Chloe’s biological paternal relatives might object to Caleb’s adoption.
There was one problem with that.
Chloe’s biological father, Daniel, died when she was two.
His parents had not been involved in her life for years.
Still, Beatrice wanted contact information.
“Did you give it to her?” I asked.
“Yes.”
My stomach dropped.
Caleb stood so abruptly his chair rolled backward.
“Mom contacted them?”
We didn’t know.
Not yet.
That afternoon, my phone rang from an unfamiliar Wisconsin number.
A woman spoke.
“My name is Margaret Bennett.”
I stopped breathing.
Daniel’s mother.
Chloe’s biological grandmother.
I had not spoken to her in four years.
She sounded nervous.
“I think we need to talk.”
We met in a café the next day.
Margaret looked older.
Ashamed.
She placed a folder on the table.
“Mrs. Morgan contacted me in July.”
Beatrice.
“What did she want?”
“She said Caleb was trying to erase Daniel.”
My eyes filled immediately.
Caleb had never done that.
We kept Daniel’s photographs.
Chloe knew her first father had loved her.
Caleb never asked her to stop calling Daniel “Daddy Daniel.”
Margaret continued.
“Beatrice offered to pay my legal costs if I challenged the adoption.”
Caleb’s jaw tightened.
“Did you?”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“I told her Daniel would have wanted Chloe loved.”
That almost broke me.
Then Margaret pushed the folder forward.
Inside were emails from Beatrice.
One sentence appeared repeatedly:
If the adoption stands, the trust changes.
Not:
My son is making a mistake.
Not:
Daniel’s memory matters.
The trust.
Money.
That was when we finally understood why Beatrice’s cruelty toward Chloe had become so much worse after June.
Before the adoption, Chloe was merely someone Beatrice disliked.
May you like
After the adoption—
Chloe became someone who legally changed Beatrice’s control over millions of dollars.
