Chapter 9 - HER MOTHER'S NAME
The charity had been founded by Wade years earlier to support technical education in rural Illinois.
It had offered scholarships for apprentices whose families could not afford the tools of their trade.
Eliza remembered visiting award ceremonies with her mother as a child.
"She would have loved Owen," Eliza said.
Wade nodded but found he could not speak.
The organization's accounts were separate from the family trust, and its board had expected a large donation from Calder Advisory Services.
The donation appeared on paper.
The actual bank transfer had been routed through an intermediary and returned to another Grant-controlled entity within days.
The pattern raised questions about false reporting and potential misuse of charitable funds.
Wade wanted Grant arrested immediately.
Naomi reminded him that prosecutors, not family patriarchs, made those decisions.
"Then give them the evidence," Eliza said.
No one argued.
Grant learned about the inquiry from a former colleague who still felt sorry for him.
He drove toward Galena before sunrise, believing that an appeal to Wade's memories might succeed where threats failed.
At the gate of Wade's modest house, he found a new security camera and no cars.
He knocked anyway.
An elderly neighbor approached from the next driveway.
"He's not home," she said.
Grant tried a smile.
"Family emergency."
"I heard about your family emergency," she replied.
He left before she could say more.
In his car, he called his mother.
She suggested that Eliza would eventually forgive him if he could get Owen alone long enough to remind the boy who his father was.
Grant gripped the steering wheel.
"I don't need anyone's permission to see my child."
His lawyer had already told him exactly why that statement was wrong while proceedings were pending.
Grant ignored the warning.
That afternoon he arrived outside Owen's preschool, where staff had been instructed to follow the current pickup authorization and any applicable court orders.
He insisted that a father could not be denied.
The director asked him to wait while she confirmed the documents.
By the time the attorney returned the call, Grant had begun pounding on the glass entrance.
A parent filmed him.
The video reached his lawyer before it reached Eliza.
"Go home," the lawyer said.
Grant looked through the glass at the small coats hanging on pegs.
One was Owen's yellow raincoat.
Then he saw a child's face appear in the hallway.
Not Owen's.
May you like
But for an instant he had already raised his voice to shout a name.
