Chapter 24 - Patricia’s Journal
The evidence log showed the journal had been collected from Patricia’s bedroom.
Two days later, it was marked as “misidentified personal property” and released to her attorney’s assistant.
The assistant denied receiving it.
Security footage from the sheriff’s evidence lobby showed a woman collecting the box.
She wore a hat and sunglasses, but Marissa recognized her.
Patricia’s younger sister, Diane.
Diane lived outside Olympia and had avoided every investigator’s call.
Deputies found her preparing to burn documents in a backyard fire pit.
The journal was recovered with only the outer cover damaged.
Inside, Patricia had documented everything.
She wrote about her hatred of me.
She described Emma as “the obstacle that makes Claire obedient.”
She recorded payments from Malcolm and celebrated each time Blake lied to me.
One entry read:
Once Claire breaks, Blake will finally understand that his mother is the only woman who never leaves him.
Patricia had not acted from confusion.
She had acted from obsession and control.
At the competency hearing, her attorney described her as a vulnerable elderly woman manipulated by powerful men.
Then the prosecutor read her journal aloud.
Patricia’s performance collapsed.
She stood and shouted, “I built my son! Claire stole him from me!”
The courtroom froze.
Her attorney tried to silence her.
Patricia pointed directly at me.
“That house should have been mine. That company should have been his. She had everything without earning it!”
The judge denied the incompetency motion.
Patricia was ordered to stand trial.
Outside court, reporters surrounded me.
I did not insult her.
I said only, “Age does not turn cruelty into innocence.”
That evening, prosecutors offered Patricia a plea agreement carrying twelve years in prison.
She rejected it.
“I want a jury to hear what Claire did to my family.”
The prosecutor looked at me.
May you like
“She still believes she can win.”
👉 Patricia had lost every legal advantage, but her refusal to accept reality promised one final public confrontation.
