I agreed to a brief conversation in the common area while I finished collecting belongings, not a private negotiation about Emily or the assets.

She stood at the counter with a folded towel.

“Walter always doubted Richard,” she said.

“Did he create the trust for his first grandchild?”

“He thought Richard was careless.”

“What did the document say?”

She wiped an already clean part of the counter.

“You weren’t there when he made his decisions.”