Part 5
The deputy removed the batteries and placed the camera in the evidence bag.
“Finding it here helps,” he said. “But we still have to establish who mounted it and who accessed the account.”
Marian nodded. “How long will that take?”
“Longer than you want.”
The answer proved accurate.
Before investigators could obtain the camera records, a certified envelope arrived at Marian’s house. Evan had petitioned the county court for temporary conservatorship, claiming she could no longer manage her property or personal safety.
He cited her refusal to sell the farm, her decision to keep multiple dogs, and what the petition called her “dependence on an unstable former military stranger.”
Nolan read the sentence twice.
Marian watched his face. “That’s why he asked about your service.”
“He wanted something he could use.”
“Will it hurt my case?”
“It might.”
Nolan folded the petition and set it on the table. “Dr. Park can find another foster.”
Marian’s chair scraped against the floor as she stood.
“No.”
“If he makes this about me—”
“He already has.” Her voice remained quiet, but it carried across the kitchen. “My son has spent months making fear sound like concern. I will not help him do it again.”
Sadie rose from beside the puppy basket and went to Marian. She rested her chin against the older woman’s hip.
Nolan looked toward the window. Leaving had always been his preferred way of preventing damage. It was cleaner than asking whether someone wanted him to stay.
Marian seemed to understand.
“I did not give you those dogs because I was confused,” she said. “I gave them to you because you stopped.”
Leah connected Marian with an independent legal-aid attorney who specialized in elder exploitation. The attorney requested an emergency order blocking additional property transfers and demanded the original power-of-attorney document.
Marian found it inside a metal box beneath the floor of her bedroom closet.
The document was limited. Evan could manage utility payments, insurance correspondence, and medical billing. A handwritten amendment specifically prohibited real-estate transfers without Marian’s separate notarized consent.
Inside the box was also an iron key attached to a wooden tag.
SURVEY SHED, Robert Bell had written in faded ink.
Marian turned the key between her fingers. “Evan stored his company files there after his office closed.”
“Where is it?” Leah asked.
“Past the north field. Half a mile into the woods.”
“Still your building?”
“According to the real deed, yes.”
They contacted the sheriff’s office. A deputy agreed to meet them at the property the following morning so Marian could identify any personal documents kept inside.
Sadie became restless before dawn.
She paced between the window and the back door, pausing each time a distant engine carried through the trees. Nolan stepped outside and saw faint light beyond the ridge, where no house stood.
By eight, Marian and Leah had arrived. Nolan loaded Sadie into the truck, and they followed the old logging road toward the shed.
The road narrowed between pines and ended at a clearing hardened by frost.
Evan’s pickup had been backed against the shed door. A second vehicle stood beside it, a white SUV with Granite Harbor’s silver mountain logo on the front doors. The pickup’s engine was still ticking…
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