Judge Mercer leaned back slowly.
Vanessa whispered, “No.”
I almost laughed.
Richard had known.
He had known enough to protect me even if I failed to protect myself.
Then Naomi read the trustee’s name.
“Trustee: Naomi Brooks.”
Vanessa surged to her feet.
“No!”
The deputy moved toward her.
“All of this was for nothing?” she shouted.
There it was.
Not concern.
Not love.
Not fear for an elderly woman’s health.
Money.
Nothing else.
The judge watched her.
Vanessa realized too late what she had just confessed.
She sat down slowly.
But Richard’s letter had one final line.
Naomi’s voice broke as she read it.
“Ellie, if they come for the house, let them come. Sometimes the only way to know who is standing beside you is to give them enough rope to reveal why they are there.”
I laughed through my tears.
“That sounds like him.”
Naomi whispered, “There’s a P.S.”
“Of course there is.”
She read it.
“Please stop hiding cash in the flour tin. Everyone knows.”
For the first time in eleven months, I laughed so hard I had to wipe my eyes.
Even Judge Mercer smiled.
Daniel did not.
Because my husband had protected me from beyond the grave.
