Chapter 4 - THE WIFE HE HAD DOCUMENTED
Beckett filed for an emergency protective order against Margaret.
He included a photograph of his reddened cheek, the clipped recording of her threat, and a declaration describing her as a disgraced former investigator obsessed with the Hale family. His lawyer discovered Margaret's disciplinary record within hours.
At Claire's own protection-order hearing, Paul Grayson presented twelve months of psychiatric notes. Dr. Stephen Laird had written that Claire displayed “persecutory beliefs focused on her spouse” and sometimes misremembered ordinary disagreements as threats.
Claire's lawyer, Naomi Brooks, asked who scheduled each appointment.
“My husband,” Claire said.
“Who attended?”
“My husband.”
“Who paid Dr. Laird?”
“Hale Alpine's executive health program.”
The arrangement was troubling, not proof of falsification.
Beckett also produced exterior footage showing Claire walk out of their home at 1:18 a.m. She appeared unsteady. The clip ended before the door locked behind her.
“She left after drinking,” he testified. “I followed because I was afraid she'd hurt herself.”
Claire denied drinking. Her hospital blood test supported her, but Grayson argued the alcohol could have metabolized during the hour before testing.
Naomi then asked for the complete recording.
Forty-seven minutes were missing.
The smart-home provider confirmed the deletion had occurred at 3:09 a.m., after Claire reached Margaret's house. The user account requesting deletion belonged to Claire.
Beckett looked genuinely saddened.
“She destroys evidence and then accuses me of doing it.”
The judge granted Claire a temporary no-contact order based on the hospital injuries and her expressed fear. But she also ordered Margaret to remain twenty feet from Beckett and scheduled a separate hearing on the slap. Neither side received the sweeping victory it requested.
Outside court, reporters surrounded Margaret with questions about her old federal case. Beckett had released the disciplinary summary.
Claire watched strangers turn her mother's worst decision into evidence that no Vale woman could be trusted.
That afternoon, a digital-forensics examiner retained jointly by Claire's lawyer and the court reviewed the deletion request. It had come from Claire's account, authenticated with her password.
But the access token had not been issued to her phone.
It had been issued to the Hale residence's central home hub—a device Beckett administered.
Before Naomi could subpoena the hub, Beckett reported it destroyed by a power surge during the storm.
Then Claire received a copy of a different document from Grayson.
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It was a Hale Alpine compliance certificate approving transfers to North Crown.
At the bottom was Claire's handwritten signature.
