Chapter 5 - THE DOCTOR WHO NEVER EXAMINED ME
Dr. Lawrence Phelps was a geriatric psychiatrist.
I had never met him.
He had never examined me.
Yet Vanessa had paid him to discuss “standards for determining diminished executive capacity in elderly trustees.”
I was sixty-four.
I still did my own taxes.
I still maintained two acres of orchard without hired help.
But in Vanessa’s business plan, apparently grief had turned me ancient.
Dr. Phelps’s attorney cooperated quickly once Evelyn explained the circumstances.
He had not diagnosed me.
He had not issued a letter.
He had simply given Vanessa general information during a private consultation, believing she was asking about an aging relative who had begun showing cognitive problems.
The deception was Vanessa’s.
Then Maya found drafts.
A file on Daniel and Vanessa’s shared cloud drive titled:
TRUSTEE TRANSITION
Inside were talking points.
Ruth forgetting dates.
Ruth becoming emotional.
Ruth struggling with property management.
Ruth needing Daniel to assume responsibilities.
None of those claims had supporting documentation.
One line was highlighted:
Need resignation before bank closes.
I read it twice.
Thomas’s trust allowed a successor trustee if I resigned, died, or became legally incapable of serving.
Daniel was named successor.
That explained why Vanessa needed me diminished.
But it didn’t explain the stolen final page.
When I asked Daniel again, he said nothing.
“Either you tell me,” I said, “or I assume you took it to help her.”
His face tightened.
“I didn’t take it for her.”
“Then why is it gone?”
“I can’t answer yet.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because if I tell you now, she’ll know.”
“Vanessa isn’t here.”
He looked toward my kitchen doorway.
“No. But someone keeps telling her what happens in this house.”
That sounded paranoid.
Then Evelyn showed me the call log.
After the bank meeting, two details known only to the four of us appeared in an email from Vanessa’s lawyer less than an hour later.
May you like
Someone had leaked them.
My family problem had just acquired another unknown participant.
