Chapter 4 - Four O’Clock
Dr. Samuel Voss did not come to our house at four.
Police called him first.
That saved everyone from another scene.
He agreed to speak through his attorney the next morning.
He was sixty one.
Affiliated with St. Catherine.
Private psychiatric practice.
He had treated Marlene for grief and anxiety two years earlier.
“Did you schedule an evaluation of Sarah Carter?”
“No.”
“Did Marlene ask?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Several times.”
“Why?”
“She said Sarah was becoming confused, sleeping during the day, making paranoid accusations, and discussing moving Lily away from family.”
That last part mattered.
Sarah and I had been discussing Denver.
I had an offer from my company’s Colorado office.
Sarah liked the schools.
Nothing decided.
Marlene knew.
“What did you tell her?” Deputy Monroe asked.
“That I could not evaluate an adult third party based on family description.”
“Did she ask you to come to the house?”
“Yes.”
“Did you agree?”
“No.”
“Why was your name on her schedule?”
“I cannot answer that.”
“Did you plan to be anywhere near the Carter house at four?”
Dr. Voss checked his calendar.
He had a telehealth appointment at 3:30 and hospital committee meeting at 4:30.
No.
Marlene had written his name anyway.
Why?
Maybe she intended to call him.
Maybe she planned to tell Sarah he was coming.
Maybe she wanted his name to scare her.
Then Dr. Voss produced emails.
Marlene:
If Sarah becomes too impaired to manage Lily, what happens?
Voss:
That is a legal question.
Marlene:
Can a doctor certify temporary incapacity?
Voss:
Depending on the context, but I will not discuss Sarah specifically without her consent.
Marlene:
What if she refuses evaluation because she lacks insight?
Voss:
Refusal alone does not prove incapacity.
Another email.
Marlene:
Can medication misuse cause temporary incapacity?
Voss:
Yes, depending on severity. Again, I am not evaluating Sarah.
Sarah read the emails later.
“She was building a script.”
“What script?”
“A reason no one would believe me.”
Then the black purse inventory revealed something we had not noticed during the panic.
A folded index card.
Same handwriting.
CLAUSE 9
TWO PHYSICIANS
72 HOURS
SUCCESSOR ACTIVATES
Ethan absent no vote
I looked at Sarah.
“What is Clause 9?”
She knew immediately.
“My father’s trust.”
Sarah’s father, Thomas Brooks, died three years earlier.
He left a trust for Lily.
Not a giant billionaire fortune.
But substantial.
Investments.
Life insurance.
Part of the proceeds from selling his engineering firm.
Current value around $1.4 million.
Education.
Medical needs.
First home support after age twenty five.
Sarah served as trustee.
I did not.
Thomas liked me.
But he wanted administration through his bloodline.
The trust’s old version named Marlene as successor trustee if Sarah became incapacitated.
I stared.
“She wants control of Lily’s trust.”
Sarah shook her head.
“Maybe.”
“What else would Clause 9 mean?”
“Mom has been obsessed with Denver.”
“Why?”
“If we move, the trust administration moves with us.”
“Does that hurt her?”
“Not financially.”
“Then why?”
Sarah looked toward Lily sleeping in the hospital chair.
“Because she thinks Lily belongs near her.”
That sounded emotional.
Not enough to explain drugging.
Then Sarah said:
“There is something you don’t know.”
Six months earlier, Thomas’s former attorney contacted Sarah.
A trust amendment had been found in an old estate file.
“What amendment?”
Sarah had not told me because legal review was ongoing.
Thomas changed the successor trustee provision shortly before death.
Removed Marlene.
Replaced her with Plains National Trust Company.
I stared.
“So Clause 9 would not give her control.”
“Not anymore.”
“Does she know?”
“I told her three weeks ago.”
Three weeks.
Exactly when the episodes began.
That shifted everything.
If Marlene knew she could no longer become trustee, why was she writing:
SUCCESSOR ACTIVATES?
Maybe she believed the old document still controlled.
Or she was using Clause 9 for something else.
Then Sarah added:
“She did not believe the amendment was valid.”
“Why?”
“She said Dad was too sick when he signed.”
Had Marlene planned to challenge it?
Yes.
Her purse contained a business card from attorney David Sloan.
Estate litigation.
Appointment date:
Monday.
May you like
Two days away.
Continue to the next part: Marlene already knew Thomas had removed her as successor trustee, yet she was preparing to challenge the amendment while simultaneously creating evidence that Sarah was medically impaired.
