Chapter 9 - The Price of a Mother
Harbor Care Consulting claimed to provide household management and senior-care coordination. Its address was a rented mailbox. The invoices June obtained described services Mom had never received.
"Look," Mom said, pointing to one entry. "Transportation to medical appointments. They wouldn't even drive me to the pharmacy."
Another billed eight hundred dollars for a weekend safety assessment. Mom had spent that weekend locked out of her own bedroom because Daphne said the carpet was being cleaned.
At the bank, an investigator named Mr. Price took our report. He listened without interrupting, made copies of the revocation, and explained which transactions were being disputed and what might take weeks to resolve.
"Can you stop them spending more?" Mom asked.
"We can place safeguards on the accounts you control and review the other activity," he said. "I won't tell you all the money comes back tomorrow."
It was the first honest answer anyone had given her in months.
June contacted the listing agent, Louise Ames, with proof that Mom contested the sale and had revoked Nico's authority. Louise put the parties in touch with the title company and said no closing would proceed while the authority dispute remained unresolved.
I felt myself breathe for the first time since Sunday.
Then a certified envelope arrived at my apartment. Inside were the papers supporting Daphne and Nico's guardianship petition: photographs of cluttered rooms, statements that Mom forgot meals, and a doctor's brief note raising concerns about her memory.
The photographs showed Mom's bedroom after Daphne had stripped the sheets. The clutter came from bags they'd piled there.
"They're making their own evidence," I said.
Mom turned the doctor's note over. "I met him once. Daphne answered all his questions for me."
A hearing was scheduled for Thursday. June warned that the judge would have to weigh competing accounts.
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At the bottom of the packet lay a sworn statement from Nico.
He claimed Mom had begged him to find her a permanent care facility.
