Chapter 6 - The Email Folder
Detectives examined Claire’s devices under warrants limited to alleged child abuse, forgery, and trust application.
I did not see everything.
Rachel insisted.
“You are spouse, not investigator.”
“I want to know.”
“You will know legally relevant pieces.”
That saved me from reading material I did not need.
The email folder was named:
LILY CARE.
Inside:
Hospital notes.
Therapy schedules.
Trust documents.
Willow Creek intake.
And a document titled:
Behavior Log.
Claire had recorded incidents for two months.
May 4:
Lily screamed at caregiver and refused meal.
May 7:
Lily claimed she could not walk despite demonstrating ability earlier.
May 11:
Lily fabricated dizziness to avoid schoolwork.
May 16:
Possible hallucination: said room was moving.
The room moving was vertigo.
A known tumor symptom.
May 21:
Lily manipulative with father. Cries when he returns.
May 29:
Threatened caregiver.
What threat?
Lily told interviewer:
“I said I’d tell Daddy.”
Claire had transformed disclosure into aggression.
The log was not sent only to herself.
She emailed selected excerpts to:
A private therapist she had contacted.
Willow Creek intake.
And, most painfully, me.
I found two emails in my archive.
Subject:
Lily concerns.
I had skimmed.
Then replied:
Let’s discuss after surgery. She’s scared.
Claire wrote:
You keep excusing everything because you feel guilty about Anna.
I never answered.
How had I missed?
Because one person told me Lily was unstable.
May you like
Another person, my daughter, became quiet.
And I treated quiet as absence of evidence.
