The days ahead for Penny were a monumental struggle. This marriage had lasted only eight months but left her life in ruins. She had to wonder if she would ever get her son back from this monster. She didn’t know if she would be able to gather up the broken pieces of her life. She had no way of knowing if she could repair the damage to her reputation, to her family, to her concept of self. She didn’t know if her children would heal from the assault by this monstrous human being, or if they’d ever get their little brother back. She had a divorce pending and no funds for legal counsel. She was squeezed dry, and withered, and had no place to turn. She was fighting a calculating evil, and the system didn’t seem to want to help her.
Two months after Marvin and Penny separated; I received a call from Marvin asking me to be a character witness for him at Nick’s custody hearing. I was nauseated by the request, and very nearly vomited. For the first time, I shook off the lethargy that I thought had protected me, and that I often hid behind. I didn’t fold and look away from danger. I told him he should be ashamed, trying to take a little boy from his mother. I asked him how he would feel if someone tried to do that to him. His answer was a furious, spitting, surge of anger. “That bitch is trying to put me in jail!” Nothing more. No rational explanation. No attempt to sway me with facts. Just, “that bitch is trying to put me in jail.” “Good,” I thought to myself, but only told him I wouldn’t help. Finally I had faced Marvin. Finally I had mustered the courage to deny him something he wanted. A rush of satisfaction flowed through me and painted my cheeks and made me catch my breath. Finally!
As soon as Marvin had assumed custody of Nick, Penny’s father requested a meeting. He begged Marvin to return his grandson to his daughter. He confronted Marvin about selling all of Penny’s possessions and spending the money on himself. Marvin held the meeting in his kitchen, and prepared for it by placing a tape recorder behind the refrigerator to record what was said. He wanted to catch the old man in an impropriety, something he could use against him if he needed. He didn’t find anything, but he later related that he listened to the recording often, laughing at the old man begging for the return of his grandson.
I don’t understand the why’s and wherefore’s, but Marvin managed to have his marriage to Penny annulled. It meant no child support, no alimony, and Penny remained broke while Marvin’s financial future was unscathed. He and his lawyer convinced the court that the child molestation charges were the fantasy of a woman scorned, and were not valid. Marvin told us that the molestation charges were dropped because he demanded to take a polygraph, and the results showed that he was telling the truth, that he was not abusing children. I strongly suspect that this polygraph test never happened. I have heard that there are sociopaths who have such perfect control over their reactions that they can pass a polygraph test in spite of being guilty. How can this be? It’s simple enough. Sociopaths are so bereft of conscience that emotions are not a factor. They see whatever they do as right and proper. Their pulse and blood pressure will not rise in the absence of guilt.
Marvin further insinuated that the reason Nick was remanded to his mother’s care was that his lawyer was dyslexic, had trouble with paperwork, and was late in filing a key document. Marvin claimed he was incompetent. He complained that he had paid some $30,000 in legal fees in a custody case that had gone against him, and now the lawyer “owes me big time.”
Martin in fact had used Penny's money to fight her in Nick's custody battle. He had opened a secret bank account while still married, where he deposited some of his takings from her. He used this money to try to take Nick from Penny.
Penny’s father was worried about his daughter, and tried to file a civil suit to regain some of his daughter’s stolen finances. Marvin got more credit cards, maxed them out buying and borrowing as much as he could with them, and then filed bankruptcy. He was able to keep $90,000 in newly purchased assets. He hired an accountant to repair his credit scores, and was able to obtain a new stack of credit cards. Nothing was left for Penny. The civil suit was dropped.