Jenna’s voicemail picked up. Frantically, I tried her again, only to get voicemail a second time. Where was Jenna? Where was this photo taken? What in the world is going on?
I sent an email to Dr. Quinlan, attaching the photo. Her reply came in just as I was getting home that evening:Savannah, I think you should contact the police.
I knew she was right.
It was a long night, with very little sleep, but when I finally gave up and got out of bed at first light, that’s exactly where I headed.
The officer’s frown deepened as I explained how Melanie Daniels—if that was even her name—had shown up on my doorstep, claiming to be there on behalf of DCS to investigate me and my pregnancy. I told him I had two witnesses and walked him through the whole story.
He asked if she had given me any contact information. I cringed with embarrassment as I shook my head.Why didn’t I think to ask for her business card?Then I showed him Jenna’s picture of Melanie Daniels at Starbucks.
“This is very serious. Wait here—I want to bring my captain in on this.”
An hour later, I left the police station feeling slightly more optimistic than before. I still hadn’t been able to reach Jenna to find out which Starbucks Melanie worked at, but the captain said they could use the photo’s metadata to find the geolocation. If they found her, she would be arrested and questioned.
Of course, I brought up Madison too, and asked if there was anything that could be done about the harassment. The captain advised me to apply for a restraining order, but he cautioned me that unless a judge determined an emergency protective order was warranted—which he didn’t think would happen, since there hadn’t been any violence—I would have to bring a civil suit and face Madison in court. The idea of going to court was unnerving, but I was ready to do whatever it would take to make this all stop. Thankfully, my meeting with Robert the lawyer was coming up.
The trick, of course, would be proving everything—and even though I’d saved Jamie and Madison’s text history, neither the vandalism to my car nor the hacking and cloning of myphone were mentioned in any of it. So it would all rely on Jamie’s testimony. But would she be willing to give it? Oliver and Connor from the cellular store might be willing to provide testimony about the spy app they’d found on my old phone, but how would I prove it was Madison who’d put it there?
Dinner with Robert the lawyer couldn’t come soon enough.
I walked into the restaurant in Little Italy and immediately spotted Ellie, her parents, and a man I assumed must be Robert, seated around a table near the front windows.
Ellie got up to hug me. “You already know my mom and dad, of course, and this is my—what’s the right term? Second cousin? Twice removed?” Everyone laughed. “Well, either way, this is Robert.”
He stood up and shook my hand. “Pleasure to meet you.” I put him in his early fifties. He had a friendly smile, which helped to put me at ease.
Once we had ordered, and the wine was flowing—for everyone except me, of course—Robert finally broached the topic I’d been waiting for.
“So—Savannah,” he began. “Ellie has told me a bit about your situation with the father of your child and his significant other. First off, let me say—I’m so sorry you’re going through this.”
His concern felt genuine, which was nice. “Thank you.”
I launched into my story. Robert’s eyes widened at several points, as did Ellie’s dad’s, and he shook his head in disbelief when I got to the latest part—learning that Melanie Daniels was a barista, and that my whole DCS investigation may have been a fake.
“Jesus Christ,” he said.
“I told you it was wild,” Ellie said grimly.
“I only have one month left before my due date,” I said, “and now that I know they’re actually married, it seemsMadison is going to be around for good. But I’m not sure what the right approach is. Should I try to get a restraining order? Or … someone mentioned a civil suit? I could really use your advice.”
Our entrees were delivered, and we all began to dig in.
“Well,” said Robert after putting away his first few bites of chicken parmigiana, “this woman, Madison, has committed destruction of property by vandalizing your car. Hacking and cloning your phone is another crime. I think you have a decent chance of getting a judge to grant you a restraining order on grounds of civil harassment, especially if we can get your doctor to back you up that all the stress this is causing is harmful to your baby. If granted, it would prevent her from coming near you or contacting you in any way, including via social media. I’m not sure what a judge would say about the baby, though. They could order that she can only be around the baby with Max present. But at the very least, it would mean all communication about the child has to go through you and Max alone.”
“What about the fact that she uses other people to mess with me?”
“If you can prove it—for example, with the texts you mentioned—then you have a more serious claim on your hands. You can press charges. Let’s hope the police can locate Melanie Daniels—maybe they’ll be willing to offer her a deal in exchange for testifying against Madison. Or what about this woman Jamie, from the doctor’s office? Would she be willing to testify that Madison blackmailed her into accessing your medical records, among other things?”
“I don’t know … I hope so. I can try talking to her about it. So … what should I do?”
“Well, if you like, I can send Madison a certified letter letting her know you have engaged my services, and that if she doesn’t cease all actions, we’ll take her to court. That might be enough to scare her into backing off, and we can avoid court fornow—although I definitely suggest getting a legal custody agreement in place as soon as possible once the baby is born, to protect your rights going forward and lay down some ground rules about Madison.”
“And you could help with the custody agreement?”
“Yes—that’s one of the things we specialize in at my firm.”
“And where are you based out of?”
