Chapter 8 - WHY SOPHIE WAS CRYING
Sophie finally told me what happened outside the bridal suite.
Not because I interrogated her.
I didn’t.
Grant arranged for a child interviewer to speak with her once.
I watched from behind the glass.
Sophie sat with a stuffed rabbit on her lap.
The interviewer asked simple questions.
Sophie explained that she had gone looking for Amanda because she wanted to show her a picture she had drawn.
She saw Amanda standing near the service stairwell.
Amanda was talking quietly to Howard.
Sophie didn’t understand everything.
But she remembered one sentence.
“After Daddy signs it, I can leave?”
My chest tightened.
The interviewer asked, “Who said that?”
“Amanda.”
“And what did the man say?”
Sophie squeezed the rabbit.
“He said, ‘Not until the little girl is handled.’”
My fingernails dug into my palm.
Sophie continued.
She had hidden behind a flower cart because Howard’s voice frightened her.
Then Amanda said:
“I’m not hurting her.”
Howard answered:
“You don’t have to hurt her. You just have to make sure she isn’t there.”
That changed something.
Amanda had participated.
No question.
But maybe the recording Sophie found meant something different than I first believed.
After the wedding, I’ll send her away.
Was Amanda promising Howard she would remove Sophie?
Or pretending she would?
The interviewer asked how Sophie found the phone.
“Amanda put it under the chair.”
“Did she know you were there?”
Sophie shook her head.
“Then I got it.”
“Why?”
“Because she said my name.”
Later, I confronted Amanda through Grant.
Amanda asked to speak again.
This time she looked terrible.
No makeup.
Hair tied back.
Dark circles under her eyes.
“I was trying to get Sophie out of the house,” she said.
“For them?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“Because two weeks ago, Howard changed the plan.”
I stared at her.
“What plan?”
“The original plan was financial.”
“Original.”
“I know how that sounds.”
“It sounds like you were comfortable stealing from me until they threatened my daughter.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Yes.”
At least she didn’t deny it.
“I deserve whatever happens to me,” she said. “But Sophie doesn’t.”
“What did Howard change?”
“He wanted you declared incompetent eventually.”
I laughed without humor.
“After taking my assets?”
“Yes.”
“And Sophie?”
“They needed a guardian who wouldn’t interfere.”
“Who?”
Amanda looked down.
“Me.”
My blood ran cold.
“They were going to make you Sophie’s guardian?”
“If you signed the estate documents after we married, I could become temporary guardian under certain conditions.”
“You researched this?”
“Howard did.”
“What conditions?”
“A hospitalization. A disappearance. An arrest.”
I stared at her.
Amanda whispered:
“That’s why I was trying to send Sophie to her grandparents before the wedding.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Howard said if I warned you, he’d move to the backup plan.”
“What backup plan?”
Amanda looked at me.
May you like
“The one that didn’t require your signature.”
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