“Capacity. That’s it. That’s the whole thing.” She held up the page. “This list is the correct and compassionate response to a person who has lost capacity, and it is elder abuse when applied to a person who has not.

The steps are identical. The paperwork is identical. Half the time the motives are identical — Richard genuinely believed he was protecting Evelyn’s money, and he was also protecting his inheritance, and he never sat down and worked out which one he was doing.

“The difference is that your grandmother had two evaluations saying she was fine, and your father is going to have two saying he isn’t. That’s not a small difference.

In law it’s the entire difference.”

“And outside of law?”

Patricia looked at me over her glasses, which is a thing she has done to more powerful people than me.