Chapter 3 - Before Friday
I called the police.
I also called an ambulance.
Mom protested until I told her I was no longer asking permission.
At the hospital, doctors documented dehydration, weight loss, bruising, and an untreated wrist injury that Mom admitted had happened when Chloe shoved her against a pantry door.
Maya needed four stitches above her eyebrow.
While they were being treated, I sat alone in the waiting room listening to the recordings.
Each one was worse than the last.
Chloe mocked Mom.
Threatened to send her away.
Withheld her medication.
Caleb coached Chloe on what behaviors to describe as dementia symptoms.
Forgetfulness.
Aggression.
Paranoia.
Refusal to eat.
The horrifying part was that many of those symptoms could also be caused by dehydration and improper medication.
They weren’t simply abusing my mother.
They were creating evidence that the abuse itself had caused.
At 6:12 p.m., Detective Laura Bennett sat across from me.
“Mr. Whitmore, we’ve located your wife.”
“Where?”
“She’s with counsel.”
“Caleb Voss?”
“No.”
That surprised me.
“Her attorney is Rebecca Shaw.”
Detective Bennett placed a paper on the table.
“Your wife filed a domestic violence complaint against you.”
I stared at her.
“She says you trapped her inside the house, threatened her, and attempted to take control of her financial accounts.”
I almost laughed.
Then I realized the detective wasn’t joking.
“She also claims Maya Torres assaulted her.”
“Maya was protecting my mother.”
“I’m telling you what was filed.”
I showed Bennett the video.
Then the audio.
Her expression tightened.
“This changes things.”
“Is Chloe being arrested?”
“We need to verify the recordings and interview everyone.”
“What happens Friday?”
She frowned.
“What do you mean?”
I played Caleb’s words.
We don’t need Ethan’s signature after Friday.
Bennett listened twice.
“I don’t know.”
I opened the guardianship petition again.
There was no hearing date.
But tucked inside the second envelope was a letter from a private medical facility.
Silver Pines Memory Residence.
Admission authorized for Friday at 9:00 a.m.
Patient.
Helen Whitmore.
Authorized representative.
Chloe Whitmore.
I stood up.
“She was planning to move my mother tomorrow.”
Detective Bennett took the letter.
“Your wife has no authority to do that right now.”
“Maybe she thought she would.”
The detective’s phone rang.
She answered and listened.
Then her face changed.
“When?”
She looked at me.
“Mr. Whitmore, do you know a Dr. Samuel Keene?”
“No.”
“He filed an emergency cognitive evaluation on your mother this afternoon.”
My stomach dropped.
“What does it say?”
Bennett turned the screen toward me.
The report stated that Dr. Keene had examined Helen Whitmore twice.
It declared her mentally incompetent.
And beneath his signature was a notarized statement.
May you like
Witnessed by Caleb Voss.
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