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“He may have miscalculated on this one,” I say. “His clients can’t have it both ways, claim their daughter was too hopped up on drugs to care for her son, yet have been of sound mind to sign a legal and binding document that would give them custody.”
“I’m with you on that,” she confirms. “I’m having my team work on a response to have the judge toss it.”
“Have you spoken to your clients yet?” I ask about Victor and Isabelle.
“No. Not yet. I was about to call them when you-know-who came crawling out of the woodwork.”
“Jackson of course.”
“None other. He has a copy of the results too and couldn’t wait to use it to his advantage.”
“What does he want this time?”
“A visit alone between his clients and Dwayde.”
“That’s out of the question.”
“That’s exactly what I told him. But heads-up, I expect you’re next on his hit list. Just sent over the lab results.”
“Got them,” I say, opening her email.
“We’ll chat later. Gotta reach my clients and fill them in. Not looking forward to that.”
Neither was I. But because Calista doesn’t know about my personal ties to the Torreses, I bend to protocol and allow her to inform them before I make contact.
“Let me know if you hear from Jackson,” she adds.
“Will do.”
I’ve barely finished reading through the report when he calls, waving his victory flag.
“Yes, Ms. Sanchez informed me,” I acknowledge. “A visit alone with Dwayde is a non-starter. I shouldn’t have to remind you of how badly it went when he saw your clients at their hotel, and I was with him.”
“Precisely. My clients believe it was your presence that brought about his reaction.”
“Excuse me?”
“Nothing personal. Mr. Franklin commended you on being a consummate professional. But a professional nevertheless. It made the situation awkward and fraught with tension. A supervised visit is unwarranted. My clients have done nothing wrong, they don’t need to be chaperoned. It’s insulting.”
“Their sore feelings are not my concern. To Dwayde, they are strangers.”
“They are his grandparents,” he counters. “And as evidenced by the signed document, his rightful guardians.”
“A signature that’s worth less than the paper it’s written on.”
“Yet another point on which we disagree.”
“The only point that matters under State law is that Detective and Ms. Torres are Dwayde’s legal guardians.”
“A mere oversight,” he blusters. “Joyce Franklin abandoned her son, giving the courts latitude to assign guardianship to the Torreses. That would not have occurred had my clients known where their grandson was.”
“But it did occur. Three years ago. And now Dwayde has a happy and stable life here in Chicago.”
“My clients are hisbiologicalrelatives, Ms. Chase. A fact that the judge evinced would be significant in her ruling for custody and I purport would easily extend to visitation.”
“Biology is not the sole consideration in either proceeding and you know it.”
“Oh yes.” His drawl gets under my skin. “Those so-called familial bonds you alluded to.”
