Samuel tapped his silver ballpoint pen once against his leather ledger.

He reached into the steel safe, took out the third blue manila folder, and opened it flat on the dark oak.

“Your father anticipated that argument, Julian,” Samuel said.

“These two medical evaluations prove he was fully competent.”

Samuel pulled two white documents stamped with the Oak Ridge Medical Center seal from the third blue folder and laid them beside the brass key.

“Two independent neurologists evaluated Victor in June and again in July,” Samuel said, choosing his legal phrasing with long, deliberate pauses.