Chapter 6 - THE CAREGIVER LOGS
The logs looked professional.
Dates.
Times.
Symptoms.
Medication availability.
Caregiver response.
Outcome.
Six incidents.
Three at Orson’s home.
Two at Tabitha’s condo.
One during a family weekend at a lake rental.
Each listed:
Rescue inhaler unavailable or empty at start of symptoms.
Parent absent.
Family caregiver required to obtain replacement medication or urgent care.
My name appeared under:
Parent notified.
Sometimes:
Delayed response.
I stared.
“Who created these?”
Rachel said:
“Tabitha says contemporaneous caregiver notes.”
“Did Dad write any?”
“We asked.”
He admitted writing one.
Only one.
The other five used similar formatting but were typed later.
Private consultant, Dr. Pamela Greer—not a physician, a licensed clinical social worker who specialized in family safety assessments—had never met Juniper.
She reviewed what Tabitha sent.
Her declaration said:
If accurate, the pattern may indicate inadequate medication planning.
If accurate.
Tabitha’s filing quoted only:
Pattern may indicate inadequate medication planning.
Omitted qualifier.
Again.
Curation.
Pamela contacted the court herself after learning about the inhaler video.
Good.
She withdrew her declaration pending investigation.
“I was not told the aunt had removed medication,” she said through counsel.
No conspiracy.
No bought expert.
A professional misled by incomplete data.
Then we reconstructed each incident.
Incident One:
Easter.
Inhaler unavailable because Tabitha had placed it in her purse.
Willa video.
Incident Two:
Memorial Day.
Orson remembered seeing Tabitha move Juniper’s pouch from kitchen counter to upstairs closet “so she’d stop checking it.”
Medication technically still in house.
Unavailable to caregiver at symptom onset.
Incident Three:
Urgent-care visit while I was in Phoenix.
Juniper’s inhaler was empty.
I had checked it two days earlier.
Could it have run out normally?
Maybe.
Pharmacy fill history showed a replacement picked up by Tabitha the morning before the urgent-care visit.
She did not bring it to Orson.
Why?
Unknown.
Incident Four:
Tabitha’s condo.
I had left Juniper for three hours during a funeral.
Tabitha reported no inhaler in bag.
I remembered putting one there.
No independent evidence.
Incident Five:
Lake rental.
Juniper developed wheeze near campfire smoke.
Inhaler “couldn’t be found” for fifteen minutes.
Orson recalled Tabitha eventually finding it in her own tote.
Incident Six:
Last month.
Pouch contained spacer but no inhaler.
Willa remembered Tabitha repacking Juniper’s bag earlier.
No video.
Pattern.
Not proof of every act.
Enough to worry.
Then pharmacy records.
Tabitha picked up two inhalers.
One had lot number documented on dispensing label.
Police found an inhaler with same pharmacy label in Tabitha’s bathroom cabinet after she consented to limited search? Her lawyer likely would not consent. Search warrant based on evidence later. Let's say warrant obtained after affidavit from pharmacy, Willa, Juniper, videos.
The inhaler was unopened.
Dispensed three months earlier.
During the urgent-care incident.
My daughter had gone to urgent care because her rescue inhaler was empty while a fresh replacement sat in Tabitha’s cabinet.
My hands shook.
Rowan said:
“We still need to prove why it was there.”
Tabitha’s explanation:
She picked up an extra to keep as backup.
Then forgot to bring it.
Possible.
Negligent.
Not necessarily intentional.
But paired with videos—
ugly.
Then family court hearing.
Judge Evelyn Marlow? Avoid Evelyn. Judge Susan Hale.
Tabitha sat across from us.
Her cheek bruise from my slap had faded.
My assault citation had arrived that morning.
Simple battery review.
I told Rachel:
“I’m accepting whatever process comes.”
Good.
The judge reviewed:
Original petition.
Video.
Pediatric notes.
Consultant withdrawal.
Pharmacy records.
Juniper interview summary.
She denied Tabitha’s emergency petition.
Immediately.
No surprise.
Then:
“The court is deeply concerned petitioner may have contributed to circumstances she presented as parental neglect.”
Referral to authorities.
Tabitha’s visitation prohibited pending further order.
Orson also prohibited from unsupervised contact temporarily because he admitted knowledge.
My custody remained.
But the judge ordered an independent family assessment because allegations had existed for months.
Fair.
I did not get to declare victory.
Then Tabitha’s lawyer made a statement.
“My client’s actions were motivated by genuine concern that Mr. Voss intended to remove Juniper from her established support system while continuing significant travel.”
Judge Hale looked over glasses.
“Genuine concern does not authorize withholding medication.”
No one answered.
After hearing, Tabitha passed me in hallway.
She whispered:
“You don’t know what Raleigh will do to her.”
I stopped.
“What?”
“You think this is about me?”
My anger rose.
Then she said:
“Mara asked me to protect her.”
My dead wife’s name.
I went cold.
“What did you say?”
Tabitha kept walking.
Rachel touched my arm.
“Not here.”
Mara had died two and a half years earlier.
She could not have asked Tabitha to sabotage medication.
But maybe there had been a conversation.
A promise.
A message.
May you like
Something Tabitha had turned into authority.
For the first time, her motive had a ghost behind it.
