Chapter 18 - Evelyn Speaks for Herself
The emergency trust hearing took place the following week.
Celeste's counsel challenged the recordings, questioned Naomi's motives, and argued that the financial transaction was a legitimate attempt to rescue a struggling endowment.
June answered with records, not outrage.
She presented meeting notices that had never been sent, a certification claiming a vote that never happened, and signatures Adrian and Naomi denied making. The document examiner identified strong indications of copied signature images.
Then Evelyn entered the hearing room with her walker.
Adrian reached to help her, but she shook her head.
"I can get to the table."
The judge asked if she understood the proceeding.
"Yes," Evelyn said. "Someone tried to take my vote away because I wouldn't give her my money. Except it wasn't my money to give. It belongs to the people the trust serves."
Celeste looked down.
"Were you confused when you refused the transaction?" the judge asked.
"No. I was frightened. There's a difference."
Evelyn described the pressure, the medicine she hadn't requested, and the days she was kept from speaking privately with her son. She did not claim to know things she hadn't seen.
Naomi testified next. When Celeste's lawyer suggested she had invented the allegations to obtain a payout, Naomi placed her pay records before the court.
"I've never seen that account," she said. "I didn't sign those papers. And I didn't attack Mrs. Vale. I asked Celeste to let her go."
The judge kept the financial protections and ordered an independent accounting. The criminal investigation would proceed separately.
Outside, Adrian reached for Naomi's hand, then stopped to ask if that was all right.
She shook it once.
June approached with a bank update.
Most of the missing $8.6 million had been traced and frozen, but a portion remained beyond immediate reach.
May you like
"How much?" Adrian asked.
"One point seven million," June said. "And the clinics can't wait forever."
