Chapter 8 - The Transfer Folder
Naomi received discovery from Stellan’s laptop.
A folder:
BENSON TRANSITION.
Created three months before dinner incident.
Inside:
School notes.
Calendar of Rosalie work hours.
Screenshots of me texting:
Running late. Can you do bath?
Meeting moved. Need pickup.
Normal co-parenting.
Then:
Photos of Benson asleep at Agatha’s.
Meals.
Clean room.
Behavior charts.
One document:
Potential schedule.
Monday–Friday:
Stellan legal residence / Agatha after-school and mornings.
Weekends:
Rosalie alternate plus one weekday dinner.
I stared.
He had planned to ask for primary school-week custody.
Why?
His work began 6:30 a.m.
Who would actually parent mornings?
Agatha.
Then note:
Benefits:
Consistency.
Closer to school.
Less emotional escalation.
Rosalie travel/work unpredictable.
Agatha available.
I worked 8:30 to 5:30.
Hybrid.
Not unpredictable.
I travelled perhaps one night a month.
The document exaggerated.
Then:
Evidence needed:
School behavior.
Meal compliance.
Rosalie undermining.
Emotional episodes after transitions.
Grandmother stability.
I felt sick.
Not necessarily illegal.
Divorce planning can involve evidence.
Then one line:
Need contrast.
What did that mean?
Another note from Agatha:
If he always eats whatever she makes after crying, court won’t see problem.
Stellan responded in comment:
Don’t manufacture.
Agatha:
I’m not manufacturing. I’m stopping rescue.
There.
He knew risk.
Then next:
Stellan:
No lying to school.
Agatha:
Fine.
Yet school believed a developmental specialist existed.
Who said that?
Stellan.
Why?
In deposition later, he admitted:
“I thought if I said I wanted notes for custody, they’d treat me differently.”
So he lied.
Not huge fraud.
But intentional.
Then the folder contained draft email to lawyer.
Never sent:
My mother has been enforcing stricter routine and Benson’s behavior is significantly improved in her care. Rosalie’s constant accommodation appears to cause regression.
No data beyond chart.
Then:
If I file after renovation, I need Benson already used to Mom’s weekday routine.
There.
Transition was literal.
He intended to normalize Benson living under Agatha’s discipline before filing.
I sat back.
“He was preparing to take my son.”
Naomi corrected.
“He was preparing to seek a custody arrangement.”
Important.
Courts decide.
He was not kidnapping.
Still betrayal.
Then:
“Did he plan divorce?”
“Yes.”
“Did he tell me?”
“No legal duty.”
“I know.”
But emotional damage did not need statute.
Then one last spreadsheet.
FOOD / CRYING CORRELATION.
Agatha recorded:
Cried with Rosalie present — 9.
Cried with Rosalie absent — 2.
Compliance difference.
But dates showed several “Rosalie absent” days where Benson had no dinner after crying.
Of course he cried less.
He had learned.
The chart was not neutral observation.
May you like
It measured a child adapting to punishment.
Chapter 10 was coming.
