Chapter 6 - The Deposition
Two weeks later, the legal battle shifted into a sterile conference room on the twenty-second floor of an office tower in downtown Columbus.
My attorney, a sharp, white-haired family law specialist named Eleanor Vance (no relation to the judge, though her reputation in Franklin County was legendary), sat beside me.
Across the long glass table sat Derek and his newly appointed defense attorney, a sleek young man named Marcus Thorne who looked like he spent more time at the gym than in a law library.
This was a court-ordered deposition prior to the formal custody hearing.
Derek looked awful. The cocky demeanor he had displayed at the funeral was gone. His eyes were bloodshot, his suit was slightly wrinkled, and he kept adjusting his collar as if it were choking him.
"Let the record reflect," Eleanor Vance began, tapping her microphone on the recording device in the center of the table, "that we are present for the deposition of Derek Vance in the matter of Hayes v. Vance, Case No. 24-JU-0882."
Thorne leaned forward. "Before we begin, Mrs. Vance, my client would like to express his sincere desire to reach an amicable settlement. Mr. Vance recognizes that the immediate aftermath of his wife's passing was a period of intense emotional distress. He is prepared to offer generous visitation terms to Mrs. Hayes provided physical custody is restored to him."
Eleanor didn't even look at Thorne. She turned a page of her legal pad.
"We are not here to negotiate visitation, Mr. Thorne," Eleanor said coolly. "We are here to establish your client's fitness as a guardian."
She looked straight at Derek.
"Mr. Vance, under oath, did you on the afternoon of Sunday, October 12th, state in front of multiple witnesses at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church that you intended to surrender your daughters, Nora and Sadie, to Franklin County Children Services?"
Derek swallowed hard. "I... I was overwhelmed. I was in shock."
"Answer the question, Mr. Vance," Eleanor said, her voice like a velvet hammer. "Yes or no?"
"I said things I didn't mean," Derek muttered.
"Did you bring packed suitcases containing the children's clothing to the funeral service?"
"Yes."
"Did you call the Franklin County Children Services Crisis Hotline at 2:14 PM that same afternoon?"
"Yes."
"And did you ask the operator—and I quote from the official transcript logged by the county—'What is the legal process for surrendering parental rights if I cannot afford dependents?'"
Derek’s attorney winced slightly.
"I... I don't remember the exact phrasing," Derek stammered, sweat breaking out on his forehead.
"We have the audio recording, Mr. Vance," Eleanor said smoothly. "Would you like me to play it for the record?"
Derek closed his eyes. "No."
"Moving on," Eleanor continued, pulling a thick stack of paper from her briefcase. "Let's discuss the secondary life insurance policy issued through your employer, Logistics One Corp."
Derek opened his eyes, a sudden flash of panic crossing his face.
"On September 4th—twelve days before your wife passed away while she was in a medically induced coma in the Intensive Care Unit at OSU Medical Center—a digital request was submitted to alter the primary beneficiary of that $500,000 policy from the Nora & Sadie Vance Educational Trust to your personal checking account."
She laid a document on the glass table.
"Is that your digital signature on the authorization form, Mr. Vance?"
Thorne quickly leaned over, looking at the paper. "Objection. This is outside the scope of a custody determination—"
"It goes directly to motive, character, and financial stability, Mr. Thorne," Eleanor countered instantly. "Your client claimed at the church that he was financially unable to raise his children. Yet twelve days prior, he positioned himself to collect half a million dollars from his wife's death while stripping his daughters of their college fund."
Derek looked at his lawyer, his breath coming in short, ragged gasps. "Molly wanted me to have that money... she told me to change it..."
"Molly was in a medically induced coma on September 4th, Mr. Vance," Eleanor said, her voice dropping into a chill that filled the room. "I have the ICU medical logs subpoenaed from OSU Medical Center. She was completely unresponsive."
Derek gripped the edge of the glass table, his knuckles turning white.
"And finally," Eleanor said, pulling out the black binder we had recovered from the rental house. "Let's address the three personal loans totaling $62,000 taken out in Molly's name between May and August of this year."
Thorne stood up. "We are suspending this deposition immediately."
"You can suspend whatever you like, Mr. Thorne," Eleanor replied calmly, closing her folder. "Because two detectives from the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Financial Crimes Unit are currently waiting in the lobby downstairs."
May you like
Derek gasped, his head snapping toward the door.
"You have ten minutes to decide whether your client wants to sign a voluntary relinquishment of parental rights and consent to a permanent guardianship by Mrs. Hayes," Eleanor said, standing up and buttoning her jacket. "Or whether he wants to explain forged signatures and life insurance fraud to a criminal court grand jury."
