Hail?”
“I didn’t prepare the trust.”
“Were you present when it was created or amended?”
“No.”
“Did you take your grandfather to meetings concerning it?”
“No.”
Victoria interrupted.
“She was always with him.”
I looked at her.
“I visited him.”
“You were positioning yourself.”
The judge struck the bench lightly with his gavel.
“Enough.”
Victoria stopped.
The trustee’s representative requested permission to clarify.
The judge granted it.
He explained that the trustee’s records included independent documentation regarding Grandpa’s instructions and capacity at the time relevant decisions were made.
The trust process had not depended on me, Victoria, or either of our parents approving those decisions.
The more he spoke, the more Victoria’s accusation collapsed.
There were records.
There were independent professionals.
There were dates.
There were instructions.
Properly means with receipts.
Grandpa had left receipts.
Victoria’s face flushed.
My father was still holding the deputy’s papers.
The judge finally turned back to that issue.
“Mr.
Hail, is the separate service you received related in any way to the decedent’s finances?”
Dad looked toward the deputy.
The deputy said nothing.
My father’s attorney was not present because, until ten minutes earlier, he apparently had not believed he needed one.
Dad answered carefully.
“It concerns a records matter.”
The judge’s expression hardened.
“What kind of records matter?”
Dad hesitated.
The trustee’s representative did not intervene.
He didn’t need to.
My father looked at the packet again.
“It’s a demand connected to financial documents I maintained for my father.”
Victoria stared at him.
“You told me everything was clean.”
Her attorney shut his eyes for one second.
Dad snapped, “Do not talk.”
The judge heard that too.
Victoria stood again.
“No.
You told me to file this.”
My mother whispered, “Victoria.”
“You said if I became personal representative, we could straighten everything out afterward.”
Her lawyer took one step away from her.
It was almost imperceptible.
But everyone noticed.
Dad’s face darkened.
