Chapter 8 - The Savannah Hearing
The Chatham County Courthouse in Savannah smelled of floor wax, old legal briefs, and rain-dampened wool.
Forty-eight hours after Garrett’s breakdown on Queen Street, we were gathered in the third-floor chambers of Judge Eleanor Vance-Riddick (no relation to Chloe) for an emergency hearing on our motion for injunctive relief and the return of escrow funds.
The room was small, suffocating, and charged with the high-voltage hum of an impending execution.
I sat at the petitioner’s table between Vivian Cross and Marcus Diaz. Across the aisle sat Garrett and Douglas Miller, his Columbia attorney. Miller was a large, florid man with a seersucker suit that looked like it had survived three rounds of bourbon before lunch; he smelled of menthol cigarettes and nervous sweat. Garrett was wearing an ill-fitting navy blazer that looked borrowed, sitting with his shoulders hunched, staring resolutely at the mahogany tabletop, refusing to meet my gaze.
In the second row of the gallery sat Chloe Vance, accompanied by her own attorney, an earnest young woman from the Savannah Legal Aid Society. Chloe was dressed in a dark, modest dress, her hair pulled back into a simple clip, her hands clutching her purse like a shield.
“Mr. Miller,” Judge Vance-Riddick said, her spectacles perched on the tip of her patrician nose as she reviewed the thick binder before her. “Your client’s position appears to be that the seventy-eight thousand dollars currently sitting in the escrow account of Chatham Title represents marital assets subject to the jurisdiction of the South Carolina family court, and therefore cannot be disbursed without a final settlement decree. Is that correct?”
“That is our contention, Your Honor,” Miller boomed, rising to his feet and hitching his trousers. “Under South Carolina law, funds accumulated during the course of the marriage are presumed to be marital property. Mrs. Bellamy cannot simply reach across state lines and unilaterally claw back funds that were transferred pursuant to an ongoing business negotiation conducted by her husband.”
“An ongoing business negotiation?” Vivian Cross rose smoothly to her feet. She didn't raise her voice; she didn't need to. Her tone had the quiet, terrifying precision of a scalpel. “Your Honor, Mr. Miller is playing a parlor game with this court.”
She stepped forward, placing a slim blue folder on the clerk’s desk.
“This folder contains three exhibits,” Vivian said, turning toward the bench. “Exhibit A: The sworn affidavit of Miss Chloe Vance, confirming that twenty thousand dollars of the escrow balance was obtained from her personal savings account under the false, fraudulent pretense that Mr. Bellamy was an unmarried man who had secured a final decree of divorce in Beaufort County. Accompanied by the forged decree bearing the forged signature of Judge Arthur Middleton.”
Miller flinched. He glared at Garrett, whose head sank lower between his shoulders.
“Exhibit B,” Vivian continued, “is the forensic accounting report of Marcus Diaz, former special agent with the IRS, tracing the fifty-eight thousand dollars directly from Mrs. Bellamy’s non-marital inherited trust distribution account, accessed unlawfully via an IP address belonging to the marital residence during hours when Mrs. Bellamy was asleep.”
“And Exhibit C?” the judge asked, her eyes narrowing behind her glasses.
“Exhibit C is the formal notice from the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina, confirming that Mr. Garrett Bellamy is the target of an active federal criminal investigation for wire fraud and interstate transportation of stolen funds.”
Vivian paused, letting the words hang in the heavy air of the courtroom.
“To allow Chatham Escrow to hold these funds under the guise of ‘marital property’ is to permit an escrow agent to serve as a depository for the proceeds of an active federal wire fraud predicate. We request the immediate, unconditional release of the twenty thousand dollars to Miss Vance, the immediate return of the fifty-eight thousand dollars to Mrs. Bellamy’s trust account, and an award of ten thousand dollars in attorney’s fees against Mr. Bellamy personally.”
Judge Vance-Riddick looked over the top of her glasses at Douglas Miller.
“Mr. Miller,” the judge said, her voice dropping into a register that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. “Do you have an affidavit from your client swearing under penalty of perjury that he did not forge Judge Middleton’s signature on a Beaufort County divorce decree?”
Miller opened his mouth. He looked down at Garrett.
Garrett didn't move. He kept his eyes fixed on the grain of the wood, his hands trembling violently beneath the table.
“Your Honor,” Miller mumbled, his bluster completely collapsing. “We… we are prepared to concede that the escrow funds may be returned to their originating accounts pending the outcome of the South Carolina proceedings.”
“Concede?” Judge Vance-Riddick let out a dry, dismissive snort. “You aren't conceding anything, Mr. Miller. You are being ordered.”
She brought her wooden gavel down with a sharp, decisive *crack* that echoed through the small courtroom.
“The motion for emergency injunctive relief is granted in its entirety. Chatham Escrow & Title is ordered to disburse twenty thousand dollars to Chloe Vance and fifty-eight thousand dollars to Reese Montgomery Bellamy within twenty-four hours of this order. Mr. Bellamy is assessed seven thousand five hundred dollars in reasonable attorney’s fees for bad-faith litigation.”
The judge looked directly at Garrett.
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“And Mr. Bellamy? If I ever see you in Chatham County again attempting to purchase real estate with other people's money, I will personally hold you in criminal contempt and have the bailiff take your belt and your shoelaces before you can reach the elevator. We are adjourned.”
***
