Chapter 15 - Nine in the Morning
Monday arrived with rain hitting the courthouse windows hard enough to drown out the hallway conversations.
Celeste sat across the aisle in a charcoal suit. She did not look at me. Her attorney told the judge that I was confused, influenced by my daughter, and unable to protect the trust's assets.
Sonia stood up.
"We have a sworn statement from Dr. Keene denying that he wrote the medical opinion attached to this petition," she said. "We also have records showing Mr. Ward was in surgery when a key transfer document claims he appeared before a notary."
The judge examined the papers. "Does the petitioner dispute those records?"
Celeste's attorney rose slowly. "We need time to review them."
"Then you should have done that before asking this court to remove a trustee."
The judge declined to suspend me on the evidence presented. She ordered the trust to preserve documents and, in the related emergency civil matter, temporarily prohibited changes to the disputed land interests pending further review. She made clear that neither order decided the final fraud allegations.
I exhaled. It wasn't victory. But it was the first time Celeste couldn't answer for me.
Outside the courtroom, she stepped into my path.
"I took care of you," she said. "When you couldn't stand. When you couldn't sleep. I did everything."
Mara tensed beside me.
"You did some things," I said. "And I thanked you. That wasn't permission to take my life apart."
"You'd have been helpless without me."
"No," Mara said. "He had us. You just made sure he couldn't see us."
Celeste's face hardened, and for one second the pleasant voice disappeared.
"You don't know what I had to do," she said.
Sonia guided us away before anyone answered.
May you like
That afternoon, Rosa called from the marina. She had found an older recording on the same camera, dated two nights before the attack.
Celeste was at the pier after midnight, testing the brakes on an empty wheelchair.
