Chương 10
“I wasn’t trying to remove you.”
“You were preparing to benefit if someone else did.”
“That isn’t fair.”
“No. It isn’t.”
She ended the call.
Daniel looked at him.
“Bad?”
“She’s meeting a lawyer.”
“Good.”
Adrian stared at the dark phone screen.
Daniel stood.
“Go home. Change clothes. Talk to your daughter.”
“I have work.”
“So do I.”
“You can’t handle the client alone.”
“I have handled clients alone since you were still drawing impossible staircases.”
Adrian looked at the yellow notebook.
Daniel picked it up.
“This stays here?”
“No.”
“Then take it to your attorney.”
“My attorney represents the trust.”
“Not anymore.”
Eleanor’s attorney was named Denise Porter. She had represented Eleanor on charitable boards and a dispute involving the town house’s neighboring property. She wore red glasses and kept wrapped peppermints in a bowl shaped like a fish.
Rosa waited outside the conference room while Eleanor met with her.
Forty minutes later, Denise opened the door.
“Ms. Bell, Mrs. Vale would like you present.”
Rosa entered.
Eleanor sat at the table with the trust document in front of her. She looked tired, but her voice was clear.
“I need you to tell Denise what you found.”
Rosa described the notebook, the altered place card, and the capacity paper.
Denise took notes.
“Did you observe Ms. Wynn placing the handbag in the refrigerator?” she asked.
“No.”
“The stove?”
“I found the burner on. Mrs. Vale was alone in the house.”
“Any missing money?”
“Not that I know.”
“Changes to medication?”
Rosa hesitated.
Eleanor looked at her.
“There was one incident,” Rosa said.
“What incident?” Denise asked.
“Mrs. Vale became dizzy after lunch three weeks ago. Her blood-pressure medication had already been placed in the morning pill box, but the evening section was open.”
Eleanor frowned. “You said I took it twice.”
“I thought you had.”
“Did you see me?”
“No.”
“Did Celeste?”
“She said she saw the evening section empty.”
Denise tapped her pen against the pad.
“Where was the pill box kept?”
“In the kitchen when Mrs. Vale stayed at the mansion.”
“Who had access?”
“Everyone in the house.”
“Was Ms. Wynn present?”
“Yes.”
Eleanor leaned back.
The color drained slowly from her face.
Rosa added, “It may have been an accident.”
“Whose?” Eleanor asked.
“I don’t know.”
Denise removed her red glasses and cleaned them with a cloth.
“We need to separate three questions,” she said. “First, whether Mrs. Vale is experiencing cognitive changes. Second, whether Ms. Wynn manipulated events or evidence. Third, whether anyone intended to use a capacity determination for financial benefit.”
Eleanor stared at the pill box note Rosa had written on the legal pad.
“What do we do?” she asked.
“We preserve documents. We obtain the medical referral. We review access to your accounts and email. We change passwords. We notify the trust’s institutional custodian that no transactions should occur without direct confirmation from you and independent counsel.”
“And Adrian?”
Denise put her glasses back on.
“Adrian is both your son and the successor trustee. Those roles are now in conflict.”
Eleanor’s mouth tightened.
“I want him removed.”
Rosa looked at her.
Denise did not react. “Permanently?”
“I don’t know.”
“That matters.”
“I said I want him removed.”
“I heard you. I am asking whether you want to make a permanent decision today while angry and frightened.”
Eleanor stood.
Then she stopped, looked down at herself, and deliberately placed one hand on the table.
“I know I am standing,” she said.
Denise’s expression softened.
“I know.”
Eleanor sat again.
“Temporarily,” she said. “Suspend his successor authority until we know more.”
Denise nodded.
Rosa watched Eleanor sign the instruction.
Her signature remained elegant, though the final letter trembled upward.
That afternoon, Adrian returned to the mansion and found the locks unchanged but the atmosphere altered.
Rosa had removed Celeste’s flowers from the front hall because they had begun dropping white petals on the marble. Eleanor’s overnight bag rested beside the stairs. Ivy was at the kitchen table building a house from sugar packets Rosa had collected at the grocery store.
“You came back,” Ivy said.
“I said I would.”
“You said five minutes yesterday.”
“I was late.”
“By a lot.”
“Yes.”
She added a pink packet to the roof.
Eleanor entered from the pantry carrying a jar of peanut butter.
Adrian stood.
“I thought you hated peanut butter.”
“I do. Ivy wanted it.”
“I didn’t,” Ivy said.
Eleanor looked at the jar.
“I asked for honey.”
For a second, no one moved.
Then Eleanor placed the peanut butter on the counter.
“There,” she said. “A documented incident.”
Adrian felt the reflex to reassure her.
He stopped himself.
“Do you want help finding the honey?”
“No.”
Ivy pointed toward the cabinet beside the refrigerator. “Top shelf.”
Eleanor stared at the cabinet.
“That is where the tea is.”
“The tea moved,” Rosa said from the sink. “I moved it this morning.”
Eleanor looked at her.
Rosa dried her hands. “The shelf bracket was loose.”
A silence passed.
Then Eleanor opened the correct cabinet and found the honey.
Adrian sat at the table.
“I spoke to Daniel,” he said.
His mother spread honey on a piece of toast for Ivy.
“Congratulations.”
“I need to tell you about the firm.”
“You should have told me months ago.”
“Yes.”
Eleanor put the knife down.
The admission interrupted whatever answer she had prepared.
Adrian continued, “The museum project may lose financing. Celeste and I reviewed ways to cover the gap. One involved the trust.”
“One involved my house.”
“Yes.”
“And if I were declared incompetent, you could approve it.”
“Yes.”
Ivy looked between them.
Rosa placed a cup of milk in front of her. “Take your snack to the garden room.”
Ivy did not argue this time. She carried the plate with both hands and left.
Adrian waited until the door closed.
“I did not plan to remove you,” he said.
“You allowed the possibility to remain useful.”
He nodded.
May you like
Eleanor stared at him.
“You are supposed to deny that.”
