Rose closed her eyes, a single tear escaping and running down her lined cheek.

“I knew it,” she said. “I knew the judge wouldn’t just take her away like that.”

“He had help,” I said. “He had connections. But this paper is the proof.”

Claire slid the folder closer to Rose.

“He was going to destroy it,” Claire said. “But we got it first.”

Rose opened the folder with trembling fingers.

She stared at the forged signatures, the fake seal, and the dates that marked the end of her old life.

“This is custodial interference,” I said, recalling the legal terms I had frantically searched online.

“And forgery of state documents,” Claire added.

“If we take this to the local police, Richard will get tipped off,” I said to Rose.

“Yes,” Rose agreed, her voice raspy. “Chief Higgins is a close friend of his. They go hunting together.”

“That’s why we are going to the state police barracks in Montgomery,” I said.

“That’s forty miles away,” Rose said.

“It doesn’t matter,” Claire said. “They have jurisdiction. They won’t care who Richard is.”