Chapter 10 - The Lawyer’s Price
Warren Pike had not merely defended Clarke.
He had been there before the case existed.
That created a problem far larger than professional misconduct.
Investigators reviewed every communication they could legally obtain.
Attorney-client privilege protected legitimate legal advice.
It did not protect communications made to plan fraud.
The crime-fraud exception became the center of a new court fight.
Warren fought hard.
He lost.
Emails were produced.
One from Clarke:
Need strategy to establish pattern before filing.
Warren replied:
Document facts. Do not manufacture anything.
That initially helped him.
Then came another.
Mavis:
Hypothetically, if videos already exist, how much pattern is enough?
Warren:
Six months tends to look more persuasive than six weeks.
Not illegal by itself.
Then:
Clarke:
What if some examples are staged but represent real concerns?
Warren:
Do not put that in writing.
That line changed everything.
Rachel read it twice.
“He knew.”
Maybe.
Maybe not completely.
But prosecutors now had grounds to investigate.
The storage-unit recording was worse.
Jonah’s audio clearly captured Warren saying:
“You’re both thinking too small.”
Then:
“You’re focused on the child account. The house matters too.”
My house.
The deed was in both names.
But my grandfather had supplied most of the down payment as a premarital gift documented to me.
Warren apparently believed Clarke could leverage custody, debt, and litigation to force a settlement.
Mavis asked:
“How much?”
Warren replied:
“If she wants her son, she’ll negotiate.”
That sentence ended his role as Clarke’s attorney.
The judge disqualified him.
The state bar opened an investigation.
A criminal inquiry followed.
Clarke hired new counsel.
And for the first time, he tried to contact me directly.
His email contained six words.
Mavis took this too far.
I stared at it.
Not:
I’m sorry.
Not:
I hurt our son.
Not:
I lied.
Just blame.
Rachel advised me not to reply.
So I didn’t.
Then Clarke sent another.
I can explain everything.
Nothing.
Then:
You don’t know what she did to me.
I almost answered that one.
Almost.
But then I remembered Otis whispering:
Daddy told me not to tell you.
Whatever Mavis had done, Clarke had been an adult.
Otis had been four.
There was no equivalence.
The next day, police arrested Mavis.
She had been staying at a motel seventy miles away under her maiden name.
When officers entered the room, they found shredded paperwork in the bathtub.
A burner phone.
$23,000 cash.
And a passport.
She had purchased a plane ticket to Belize.
One-way.
She was brought back in handcuffs.
The woman who had poured my son’s dinner into a trash can and called his fear “manners” now stood before a criminal-court judge.
Charges included violating a protective order, conspiracy to commit fraud, falsification of records, evidence tampering, and child endangerment.
More could follow.
Mavis pleaded not guilty.
She looked at me during the hearing.
No fear.
No shame.
Just hatred.
On the way out, she leaned toward her lawyer and whispered something.
The lawyer immediately approached the prosecutor.
Twenty minutes later Detective Brooks pulled me aside.
“Mavis wants to make a proffer.”
“What does that mean?”
“She’s offering information.”
“About Clarke?”
“Probably.”
I laughed bitterly.
“The family loyalty lasted less than one arraignment.”
Brooks did not smile.
“She says Clarke planned everything.”
“Of course she does.”
“She also says there’s something we haven’t found.”
“The real evidence?”
Brooks nodded.
“Mavis claims Clarke kept a second archive.”
“Where?”
“She won’t say unless prosecutors discuss a deal.”
I crossed my arms.
“Then don’t give her one.”
“Marah.”
“I’m serious.”
“I understand.”
“No. She hurt my son.”
Brooks held my gaze.
“And if her information proves Clarke did more than we currently know, we need it.”
That stopped me.
“What more?”
Brooks hesitated.
“Mavis claims one of the injuries documented by the hospital wasn’t caused by her.”
My stomach dropped.
“Which injury?”
“The older bruise on Otis’s back.”
I stopped breathing.
“She says Clarke caused it.”
The hallway blurred.
May you like
Then Brooks added:
“And she says it happened while he was making one of the videos.”
