Chapter 8 - WHAT HAPPENED WHEN JASON WAS NINE
Jason refused to answer my question.
Rebecca asked through his attorney whether Diane had physically abused him as a child.
Martin Cole called the inquiry irrelevant and inflammatory.
Rebecca requested Jason’s childhood medical records.
The motion was opposed.
Then Marisol contacted us again.
“There is someone you should meet,” she said.
Her name was Helen Carter.
She had worked as Jason and Brooke’s nanny for four years during the 1990s.
Helen was seventy-one and lived in Evanston.
She greeted us in a small house filled with family photographs.
The moment she saw Jason’s picture, sadness crossed her face.
“He was a gentle little boy,” she said.
“What happened when he was nine?” I asked.
Helen looked toward Rebecca.
“Am I going to be sued?”
“Tell the truth and preserve anything you have,” Rebecca answered.
Helen disappeared into another room.
She returned with a faded notebook.
“I kept daily records because Diane blamed me for everything.”
The pages contained dates, meals, school assignments, illnesses, and injuries.
One entry was underlined twice.
October 14.
Jason dropped a crystal candy dish.
Diane struck him repeatedly with a wooden spoon.
Bruising on upper arms and back.
She ordered me to tell Robert he fell down the stairs.
“Robert was Jason’s father?” I asked.
Helen nodded.
“He traveled constantly.”
“Did he know?”
“I tried to tell him.”
“What happened?”
“Diane fired me.”
The next entry was written three days later.
Jason came to my apartment with Brooke.
He begged me not to call the police because Diane said their father would leave forever if anyone found out.
Helen wiped her eyes.
“I was afraid.”
“So you stayed silent,” I said.
“Yes.”
There was no judgment in my voice.
I understood silence better than most people.
Rebecca photographed every page.
“Would you testify?”
Helen looked at Jason’s childhood picture.
“Yes.”
When Jason learned about the notebook, he called me directly.
I answered with Rebecca listening.
“You found Helen.”
“Yes.”
“She’s confused.”
“Her records are detailed.”
“My mother disciplined us.”
“Your mother beat you.”
“Do not use that word.”
“What word should I use?”
He breathed heavily.
“You have no idea what our family was like.”
“Then tell me.”
“My father abandoned us.”
“According to Helen, Diane told you he would.”
“He left when I was ten.”
“Why?”
Silence filled the call.
“Jason?”
“He found out.”
“About the abuse?”
Another silence.
Then Jason spoke so quietly I almost missed it.
“He tried to take us.”
“What happened?”
“My mother told the court he was violent.”
The pieces fell into place.
Diane had done this before.
She had transformed the protector into the threat.
“Did she have evidence?” I asked.
“She had photographs.”
“Of what?”
“Bruises.”
“Bruises she caused?”
Jason ended the call.
An hour later, Rebecca located the old custody file.
Several pages were missing.
But one document remained.
A sworn statement from nine-year-old Jason claiming his father had beaten him.
At the bottom was Jason’s signature.
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The handwriting did not belong to a child.
It belonged to Diane.
