Chapter 11 - MAISY'S MEMORY
Maisy did not become the case.
Rachel insisted.
But one thing she said mattered.
“Grandpa gets mad when Uncle Nathan comes.”
Why?
“They talk about the trees.”
Then:
“Grandpa says no houses.”
Rachel froze.
“How many times did you hear that?”
Maisy shrugged.
“A lot.”
Again:
child memory.
Not formal proof.
But it matched years of Curtis’s stated preference.
Neighbors testified:
Curtis repeatedly said he would never sell the woods.
Then one neighbor recalled a conversation two months before signing.
Curtis said:
“Nathan keeps telling me I’m sitting on money.”
Another:
“He says Rachel will put me in a home if I don’t get my affairs straight.”
Rachel went cold.
She had never threatened that.
Nathan denied saying it.
No recording.
Credibility dispute.
Then Curtis remembered one argument.
“Nathan said you were too busy to help.”
Rachel looked at him.
“He wasn’t wrong about busy.”
Curtis nodded.
May you like
“But he made it sound like you didn’t want me.”
That was different.
