“I sure can.”
Chapter 12
Maylee
Annabelle leads Mr. Grosvenor into the office and I give him a small smile. “Please take a seat Mr. Grosvenor.”
“Thank you,” he responds politely.
Annabelle closes the door as she leaves, and I open the file on my desk. Then give the man my attention once more.
“I’ve looked through the files, and for some reason the foster parents gave me an odd feeling. I’m having them checked out because the way they are trying to adopt Katherine isn’t how it would be done under normal circumstances.”
Mr. Grosvenor sits straighter in his seat. “Please call me Kyle, and yes I think there is something suspect about them.”
“What has your radar pinging?” I ask because the more information I can get that will help me clear up this mess the better.
“They are being difficult when it’s time for me to see Katherine. The woman who is in charge of Katherine’s case laid out times I could visit, and Mr. and Mrs. Philipson are giving excuses. They are shopping and forgot my visitation time. They were taking Katherine to get her hair cut. Any excuse for me not to see her. I’m worried about Katherine. We were always close before my wife died, and I know my daughter would want to see me.”
It is easy to see how upset this father is, and I’m going to do what I can to sort out this mess.
“Okay, I want you to go home. Take time to write every appointment date, time, etc. Then I want you to send that to me because they are breaking the rules. I’m going to dig into what is going on.” I pick up my pen and jot down notes but stop writing and look at Kyle with a frown.
“I think they found out about Katherine’s inheritance…”
Oh, you can bet your life I interrupt. “What inheritance, and how would they find out?”
“My wife had made a will, alongside my own. You know we wanted things covered in case anything happened to both of us. My wife left a significant amount to Katherine. It was something she inherited herself from her father. We neverused any of that inheritance as we both worked right up to Katherine being born, and we liked our lives as they were.” Taking a deep breath and getting himself calmed, Kyle continues. “The inheritance is in a trust fund which Katherine gets when she is twenty-one years old. It is around three quarters of a million at this point I believe. It grows with interest and investments.”
“You think the foster parents want control of Katherine so they can get their hands on this money?” I mutter, more to myself, as I can feel the skullduggery of this.
“Yes, and I think the social worker is involved as she has this information from Katherine’s file. How else would the foster parents know about it? Katherine doesn’t know. She’s only eight years old.”
“I agree. Give me all the information that you have on these visitation appointments. I’ll dig into the social worker and the foster parents. Make an appointment for next week. But, if anything new comes up get in touch, and I will do the same.” I stand and hold my hand out to shake Kyle’s hand. “Know I’m going to be on this, Kyle.”
“Thank you.” Kyle leaves my office, and I retake my seat. This all smells fishy to me, and I’m going to get to the bottom of it.
I make my way to Mr. Wallis’ office, and seeing his secretary walking out I ask if he’s free.
“Go in. He’ll see you I’m sure,” Amela smiles.
Tapping lightly, I push the door open. “Do you have a minute where I could speak to you about a case.”
“Yes, come on in, close the door.” Mr. Wallis sits with his elbows on the desk and links his fingers, calmly waiting for me to speak.
Oh, I speak all right. I lay it all out. My suspicions included. I watch the play of emotions cross his face, and I’m sure he’s thinking the same as I am.
“Okay, Maylee. I’m going to speak to the P.I. that I use for hard cases. We’ll find out what is going on with everyone involved in this case, and that includes Kyle Grosvenor. We’ll protect this child no matter who, what or why.”
I nod, giving Mr. Wallis a serious and thankful look. “I really have a bad feeling about this one. Not the father, but the foster parents. It may even be the social worker, too. What a mess.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll get to the root of it. Get all the documentation sorted out. Make sure everything is spotless, no chance of anyone giving us grief on our evidence. I’ll get my P.I. working on them all, and I’ll let you know. I’ll tell him it’s urgent.”
“Thank you. I’ll do that and bring it to you if that is okay, for you to check I have everything perfectly ready for court if necessary.”
“Good. Now, get it done, and Maylee, never worry about bringing something to my attention.”
I give Mr. Wallis a nod and thank him again as I leave the office.
