Chapter 1 - The Woman With the Broken Teacup
"NAOMI ATTACKED YOUR MOTHER!"
Celeste Vale screamed before Adrian could take a second step into the bedroom.
Naomi Carter stood beside the overturned tea tray. Porcelain glittered at her feet. Evelyn Vale, seventy-six, lay against her pillows, clutching a wrist already turning red.
Five seconds earlier, Naomi had watched Celeste twist that wrist and hiss, "Sign the papers or I'll have you declared incompetent."
Now Celeste was crying.
"She came at Evelyn with the tray," she told Adrian. "I barely stopped her."
"That's a lie," Naomi said.
Adrian looked from his fiancée to his mother's longtime maid.
"Nobody moves," he said. "Mom, are you hurt?"
Evelyn opened her mouth. Only a ragged breath came out.
Celeste reached toward the nightstand. Naomi moved first and placed her palm over a cream-colored document.
"Don't touch that," Celeste snapped.
"Why?" Naomi asked. "Because Mrs. Vale refused to sign the rest?"
"She's confused. She's been confused all week."
Adrian pulled the paper free. Its title read TEMPORARY DELEGATION OF TRUSTEE AUTHORITY. Below Evelyn's shaky signature was a printed date.
Tomorrow.
"It's Thursday," Naomi said. "Why is this signed for Friday?"
Celeste's tears stopped.
"A clerical mistake," she said. "Adrian, please. Naomi is upsetting her."
"Then why did you take the label off her medicine?"
A small bottle sat by the lamp. Its sides were blank except for a strip of torn adhesive.
Adrian stared at it.
"Celeste?"
"The old label was peeling."
"And you kept it in here instead of asking the nurse?"
Evelyn gripped Naomi's sleeve. She seemed to be fighting for each word.
"Don't," she whispered.
Adrian leaned close. "Don't what, Mom?"
Evelyn's eyes fixed on Celeste.
"Don't let her bring the doctor she chose."
May you like
From the hallway came the sound of an unfamiliar man's voice.
"I'm here to evaluate Mrs. Vale," he called. "Celeste asked me to come."
