PART 3
Daniel brought a friend.
Her name was Ruth Okafor, and she was a family law attorney who had, in a previous career, worked in the state’s child welfare office.
She listened to the whole thing at my kitchen table — Eli’s account, the hospital’s transfer notation, the name Meadowbrook — taking notes, her face getting stiller and stiller.
“Mrs. Bennett,” she said finally. “I need to ask you some hard questions, and I need you to breathe through them.”
“Okay.”
“Was your husband under any financial pressure recently?”
I started to say no.
Then I stopped.
The second mortgage I’d found out about by accident. The “consulting losses” he wouldn’t explain. The way he’d stopped opening the mail in front of me.
“Yes,” I said slowly. “A lot, I think. More than he told me.”
“Does he have any relationship — personal or otherwise — with anyone connected to a placement or adoption service?”
