Not remorse.
Not fear for me.
Annoyance that I had survived the part of the plan where I was supposed to stay silent.
I pulled my phone from my purse and placed it on the desk.
Adam watched the movement closely.
I opened his message from the hospital.
Mom says you’re being difficult.
Please don’t make this harder than it needs to be.
I turned the screen toward him.
“You sent me this after Joyce told me there was a problem with the documents.”
Adam rubbed a hand over his mouth.
“I didn’t know what the problem was.”
“You never asked.”
“Mom said the realtor was overreacting.”
“And you believed her instead of calling your wife, who was lying in a hospital bed?”
His face went pale.
Judy slapped her palm lightly against the desk.
“Oh, enough.
Adam was trying to keep stress away from you.
You should be grateful.”
“Grateful that he helped you pressure me after you tried to sell my house?”
“I was securing your future.”
“With a signature I didn’t write.”
Judy looked toward the buyers as if searching for an audience more sympathetic than the one she had.
“This family has been dealing with Jacqueline’s health problems for months.
Someone had to think rationally.”
The cruelty of it would once have silenced me.
Judy had spent years turning every boundary into selfishness.
If I said no, I was difficult.
If I asked Adam to stand beside me, I was forcing him to choose.
If I protected something that belonged to me, I was putting property above family.
But Joyce’s folder had done something Judy never anticipated.
It had turned her version of events into evidence.
Joyce pulled another page forward.
“This is the purchase agreement submitted to my office.
Mrs.
Greer represented herself as authorized agent for the owner.
Based on Jacqueline’s dispute, I suspended the transaction before the deed could be transferred or funds released.”
The buyer nearest me exhaled sharply.
“So we don’t own the house.”
“No,” Joyce said.
“The closing did not complete.”
Judy’s head snapped toward her.
“You told me the sale was done.”
“I told you the agreement had been accepted subject to closing requirements.”
“You took their money.”
“Funds connected to the closing have not been released to you.”
For the first time, Judy looked frightened.
It was a small change.
Her jaw loosened.
Her eyes moved quickly from Joyce to the folder and then to me.
“You froze the money?”
Joyce nodded.
“Once Jacqueline denied authorization, I had an obligation to stop the transaction.”
Judy turned on me.
“You did this deliberately.”
