“What about Ethan?”
“He receives no direct beneficial interest.”
I felt sick.
“What about her children?”
“None.”
“That cannot be right.”
“It is.”
I stood.
“No.”
“Mrs. Bennett—”
“They’re going to think I manipulated her.”
“I know.”
“They’ll think I kept her away from them.”
“I know.”
“They’ll say she was confused.”
Gideon slid another binder toward me.
“That is why Margaret made me document everything.”
Inside were medical competency evaluations.
Meeting notes.
Letters from two independent attorneys who reviewed the arrangement.
Video transcripts.
Dates.
Signatures.
One recording had been made almost four years before her death.
Another eighteen months later.
Margaret had planned for the accusation before anyone made it.
I stared at the file.
“Why me?”
Gideon looked at me for a long moment.
“She answered that too.”
He opened a sealed envelope.
This one was addressed to me.
I read it alone.
Margaret did not insult her children.
