Chapter 14 - THE HEARING MARTIN TRIED TO STEAL
Martin struck back through lawyers before police found him.
A petition appeared in probate court claiming Florence was mentally incompetent and that her charitable trust had been altered under “undue influence” from shelter administrators.
The petition asked the court to freeze all distributions.
The attorney filing it claimed he represented “interested beneficiaries.”
He refused to name them publicly.
It was Martin’s work.
I could smell it even before Ruiz confirmed the filing lawyer had shared office space with one of Martin’s companies.
Florence laughed when I told her.
A dry, painful laugh.
“He always did prefer paperwork to guns.”
“You need to rest.”
“I need to stay alive until Tuesday.”
Tuesday was the emergency hearing.
Her doctors hated the idea.
Florence insisted on appearing by video.
The judge asked her whether she understood the trust.
“Yes.”
Whether she understood how much money it contained.
“Yes.”
Whether anyone had pressured her to leave most of it to shelters.
Florence looked directly into the camera.
“Yes.”
My heart stopped.
The opposing lawyer sat up.
Then Florence continued.
“My late husband pressured me for forty years to stop being cheap about charity. He is dead, so I assume that pressure is no longer legally actionable.”
Even the judge smiled.
Florence explained the trust was intentional.
She had no desire to leave me the entire fortune.
“I gave Edward an education, a home, and enough emotional problems to keep a therapist employed. He will survive.”
I covered my face.
Victoria, seated behind her attorney, made a tiny choking sound that might have been a laugh.
Then the opposing lawyer introduced a signed statement allegedly from Florence saying she intended to revoke the shelter bequest.
My mother went silent.
I recognized the page.
It was one of the documents Victoria had brought to the house.
But this one had Florence’s signature.
Victoria stood halfway out of her chair.
“I never got her signature.”
The judge slammed his gavel.
The lawyer protested.
Ruiz leaned toward me.
“If Victoria is telling the truth, someone forged your mother’s name after the arrest.”
And there were only three people who had possessed copies of those documents.
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