Chapter 5
Roman moved Nora and Sophie into a guesthouse on the estate.
Nora resisted.
“I don’t want your mother thinking I came here for money.”
Roman looked at her.
“My mother’s opinion has cost us enough.”
“That doesn’t mean I want to depend on you.”
“You don’t.”
She folded her arms.
“We are standing inside your house.”
“Temporarily.”
“And then?”
Roman stopped.
That question reached beyond the investigation.
He answered only what he could promise.
“Then we make decisions about Sophie with facts instead of lies.”
Nora accepted that.
Barely.
Sophie adapted faster.
By the second morning, she had discovered the estate kitchen, befriended two housekeepers, and informed Roman that his house was “too big for three people.”
Roman did not tell her how many people actually lived or worked there.
He spent breakfast repairing the strap on her little backpack.
Sophie watched him.
“Grandma coming?”
“No.”
“She mad?”
“Probably.”
Sophie considered this.
Then ate another strawberry.
Children survived adult tension by refusing to give it the importance adults expected.
Roman envied her.
That afternoon, the private investigator Helena used agreed to provide records through counsel.
His reports covered Nora for almost three years.
Addresses.
Jobs.
Vehicles.
Financial distress.
Who picked Sophie up from daycare.
Whether Nora had romantic partners.
Whether she drank.
Whether police came to the home.
Roman’s hands tightened as he read.
“This is surveillance.”
“Yes,” Rebecca said.
One section appeared repeatedly.
Child welfare indicators.
Nora stared at the phrase.
“What does that mean?”
Rebecca read the categories.
Housing instability.
Food insecurity.
Employment instability.
Inconsistent transportation.
Medical debt.
Roman felt sick.
Every one of those conditions had been made worse because Nora never received the money he sent.
Then the investigator’s reports noted something else.
Despite the hardship:
No substance abuse.
No neglect findings.
No criminal arrests.
Sophie attended medical appointments.
Sophie attended preschool when Nora could afford it.
Neighbors consistently described Nora as attentive.
The reports were trying to document an unfit mother.
They kept failing.
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Second clue.
Someone had created hardship, then hired a professional to record whether that hardship made Nora fail as a parent.
