The court commissioner was a woman named Patricia Lin. She looked at the petition. She looked at Dr. Ruiz’s report. She looked at the revocation of David’s power of attorney, and my new documents, and a declaration from Kayla, the nurse, about what my children said when they left.
Then she looked at Bradley Voss, the attorney from Bellevue, who looked very uncomfortable in his expensive suit.
“Mr. Voss,” she said. “Does your client wish to proceed with this petition?”
Bradley Voss turned around and whispered something to David.
David was sitting in the courtroom alone. Sarah and Michael weren’t with him. I found out later that Sarah had called Bradley Voss’s office on Wednesday afternoon and withdrawn her name from the petition. Michael had done the same an hour later.
David sat there for a long moment. I watched him on the little laptop screen. He looked so much like his father. Frank used to sit like that, with his elbows on his knees, when he’d lost something and didn’t know how to find it.
