Chapter 6 - The Custody Battle
The female social worker stepped forward quickly, holding her clipboard like a shield. "Mr. Callaway, I appreciate your good intentions, but that is legally impossible. You are not a relative. You have no legal guardianship status. This child is being entered into the state foster system pending a formal custody hearing."
"Then let's have the hearing right now," William said, reaching into his jacket and pulling out his phone. He pressed a speed-dial button.
"Vance," William spoke into the phone. "I need Judge Sarah Jenkins on a conference call immediately. Tell her it involves an emergency temporary guardianship transfer under Section 5 of the Commonwealth Child Welfare Code. I am standing in a condemned building on Crane Street."
Marcus Miller stepped up to William, poking a dirty, thick finger against William’s chest. "Hey! You can't just buy a kid like he's a used car! He's my sister's boy! I got rights!"
William looked down at the dirty finger on his chest, then up into Marcus’s red-rimmed eyes.
"You don't care about Toby, Marcus," William said, his voice dropping into a low, terrifying whisper. "You care about the three hundred dollar monthly child welfare stipend you've been stealing from his mother's estate to pay for your alcohol."
Marcus flinched, stepping back half a pace. "You don't know nothing about me!"
"I know everything about you," William said coldly. "My security team audited your criminal record three minutes after Father Thomas gave me your address. You have two warrants for unpaid fines in South Boston, a revoked driver's license, and an eviction notice served forty-eight hours ago."
William’s phone chimed. He put it on speaker.
"William?" Judge Sarah Jenkins’ voice boomed clearly through the small apartment speaker. "I have Vance on the line. What is happening down there?"
"Judge Jenkins," William said formally, "I am requesting an emergency court-ordered temporary custody placement for nine-year-old Toby Miller, pursuant to immediate physical endangerment in an unheated, condemned structure."
"Is the social worker present?" Judge Jenkins asked.
The female social worker swallowed hard, stepping closer to the phone. "Yes, Your Honor. Clara Evans, DCF Region 4. The living conditions are indeed unfit, but Mr. Callaway is an unrelated party—"
"Clara," Judge Jenkins interrupted smoothly. "Are you aware that Mr. Callaway recently endowed the Callaway Children's Pavilion at Boston Memorial, and possesses a Class-A foster care certification issued by the state three years ago when he and his late wife considered adoption?"
Clara Evans blinked, her jaw dropping open slightly. "I... I was not aware of that, Your Honor."
"I am issuing an immediate seventy-two-hour temporary custody placement to William Callaway," Judge Jenkins ordered crisply. "Formal hearing in my chambers at nine AM on Monday. Officer, assist Mr. Callaway in removing the child safely."
Marcus Miller opened his mouth to scream an obscenity, but the young police officer immediately stepped between Marcus and William, pointing a firm finger at Marcus’s chest. "Sit down, Miller. Keep your mouth shut."
William turned back to Toby, who was watching the entire scene with wide, disbelieving eyes.
William reached down, picked up Toby’s light blue canvas backpack, and held out his hand.
"Ready to go see Grace, Toby?" William asked gently.
Toby looked at the big, warm hand held out before him. He looked at his uncle cursing quietly at the table, then looked at the cold, dark apartment he had feared for three years.
May you like
Slowly, Toby reached out his small, rough hand and wrapped his fingers tightly around William’s.
"I'm ready," Toby said.
