“Not in the way you might think. I was never under the impression sex was involved. Was Maureen manipulating those kids? Hell yes.”

“She was grooming them,” Becca said. It was the same behavior a pedophile used trying to lure a child into a van.

“Exactly. But this accusation that she was being inappropriate enraged Maureen. Of course she didn’t walk away. That wasn’t her style. She doubled down. She wasn’t even subtle about it, taking the kids to Lakers games, shopping trips to Rodeo, renting them rooms at the Four Seasons. Aura was pissed. Maureen’s disregard for the rules became her hill to die on. She wanted Maureen to admit her wrongdoing and step down. Maureen said no fucking way. It went back and forth. Eventually the board worried that a potential scandal could affect the organization’s fund-raising efforts, and asked for Maureen’s resignation. In exchange they would provide her with a reference. When she refused, they fired her. After that things went downhill fast. She kept going on and on about there being a conspiracy to destroy her and ruin her good name.”

“Clearly at this point, you knew this was some kind of mental health issue?”

“Hell yes. I was aware of that for at least a year before all this went down. I tried to get Maureen to see a therapist, and she turned on me. She said I was like everyone else, I wanted her to fail, I’d turned my back on her and ruined Aidan in the process. Next thing I know she’s moved into the guest room. She started staying up all night, sending threatening e-mails to Aura and the organization. The harassment got so bad, several of her former coworkers called me, insisting if I didn’t stop her, they would go to the police.”

“So Maureen never was never diagnosed with anything?”

“Not that I know of. Maureen’s mother died of cancer when she was nine, and she was raised by her father. Excuse me, raised by her father’s staff of nannies. He was staunchly against psychotherapy. Called it fake science. As far as he was concerned, his daughter could do no wrong, and there was nothing wrong with her. I finally got so desperate I called him…”

Becca was used to skepticism when it came to mental health issues, especially among the megarich and the very poor. “Let me guess, he suggested Maureen needed rest?”