“He’s been hiding about a hundred and forty thousand dollars a year in commissions,” she said. “Paid into a separate business account. Not reported anywhere in your divorce.”
She tapped the paper.
“He told the court he made forty-two thousand,” she said. “He made more than a hundred and eighty.”
The new child support order was eleven times what Grant had been paying. The back support, calculated from the date he left, came to just over thirty-eight thousand dollars.
The judge also ordered Grant to pay all of my legal costs and to reimburse me for the income I’d lost from the cleaning contract.
The District Attorney’s office charged Grant with fabricating evidence and solicitation of false statements. Clay Whitmore, the building manager, was charged too. Mr. Pruitt, our landlord, was charged with filing a false report. He moved to Georgia two weeks later.
The cleaning company called and offered me my contract back. They apologized. They said they’d reviewed the complaint again and found that it had been submitted without a single witness or piece of evidence.
I said thank you. Then I told them I’d think about it.
Grant’s girlfriend, Tessa, called me in February.
I almost didn’t answer. But I did.
“Laurel,” she said, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know any of it. I didn’t know why he wanted the shirt left dirty. He told me you’d make a big deal about laundry and it would be funny.”
She started crying.
“I moved out,” she said. “I just wanted you to know. And I want to tell Nolan I’m sorry about the spaghetti.”
“I’ll tell him,” I said.
