Chapter 16 - Locating Marianne
The lead on Trevor's mother's whereabouts resurfaced thanks to an anonymous tip called into the switchboard of the domestic violence shelter where Rebecca was staying.
A nurse at a private assisted-living facility located in the Guadarrama mountains claimed to have recognized Marianne Harlan after seeing her photo in the press bulletins covering the judicial process.
Inspector Morris and two Judicial Police officers immediately drove to the center with a search warrant.
Maya Chen and Rebecca waited at the central police station while the operation unfolded.
At five in the afternoon, Inspector Morris called Maya.
"We found her," the inspector said. "She was admitted under a fake name in a restricted-access wing. Her general condition is frail, but she is completely oriented and lucid."
"Has she given a statement?" Maya asked.
"She asked to speak directly with the prosecutor's office. She wants to enter witness protection. Malcolm was at the clinic this morning trying to get her to sign a preventive general power of attorney in favor of Trevor, but she refused to see him."
Two hours later, Marianne arrived at the police station in an official vehicle.
She looked exhausted, her face aged and a thin wool cardigan wrapped around her shoulders, but her eyes held a determination that Rebecca had never seen during her years married to Trevor.
Rebecca approached her in the witness waiting room.
"Marianne," she said softly.
The older woman looked up, and upon seeing Rebecca, her eyes filled with tears. She stood up with difficulty and took both of Rebecca's hands.
"Forgive me," Marianne whispered. "Forgive me for taking thirty years to find the courage that you found in three months."
"You don't have to apologize to me," Rebecca replied, guiding her back down into the armchair. "The important thing is that you're safe."
"Malcolm thought he could lock me away again like he did in '88," Marianne said, looking at Maya and Inspector Morris, who were standing in the doorway. "But this time I heard the nurse talking about you on television. I heard you'd won the first hearing at the Provincial Court. And I told myself that if my daughter-in-law was fighting for my granddaughter, I couldn't keep hiding in a corner."
Marianne opened her small handbag and pulled out a black oilcloth notebook that she had managed to hide among her personal belongings during her forced transfer.
"Here are the names of the shell companies Malcolm used to move the money from your father's business in the nineties," she said, handing the notebook to Maya. "And also the exact dates he forced Trevor to sign the documents for the bank accounts in Luxembourg."
"Did Trevor sign knowing what he was doing?" Rebecca asked.
Marianne lowered her gaze sadly.
"Trevor wanted to please his father. Malcolm told him it was the only way to prove he was a real man, that he wouldn't be bossed around by the Vale name. My son chose the wrong path, Rebecca. And now he has to pay for what he's done."
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Marianne's witness testimony before the investigating judge was scheduled as pre-constituted evidence to prevent any future pressure from invalidating her testimony at the oral trial.
The financial and legal house of cards built by Malcolm Harlan over three decades had just collapsed through the crack he himself had created by trying to silence the women in his family.
