Claire appeared at the top of the cellar steps, silhouetted against the bright light of the foyer.
Claire: What on earth do you think you are doing down there?
Clara: Step down here, Claire. Come down and look at what you did!
Claire slowly descended three steps, holding a pristine leather binder against her cashmere coat.
Claire: Clara, your mother is severely unstable. She wandered into this basement in a state of confusion.
Evelyn: You locked the chain from the outside, Claire! You brought me bread and water like a stray animal!
Claire: You were having a manic episode after Richard's passing. I secured the area for your own medical protection.
Jason: You locked an elderly woman in a dark cellar without her prescribed insulin, Claire. That isn't medical care. That is felony kidnapping.
Claire: Watch your tone with me, Jason. You are an independent auditor, not a magistrate.
Clara: The law doesn't matter to you, does it? You only care about the forty million dollars sitting in probate.
Claire: Your father was a wealthy businessman who chose me to manage his legacy.
Evelyn: Richard never trusted you with the business! He made me the sole trustee of our joint estate!
Claire: That trust agreement was superseded when Richard signed the revised marital prenup and trust transfer.
Claire tapped the thick leather binder resting under her arm.
Claire: Everything is stamped, signed, and witnessed by a certified notary public.
Jason: Show me the signature page, Claire.
Claire: I will show it to the probate judge tomorrow morning at ten o'clock.
Clara: You won't make it to that courthouse tomorrow morning.
Claire: And who is going to stop me? A rebellious daughter who ran away to New York, or an old woman with failing memory?
Evelyn: My memory is clear enough to remember where Richard kept his true emergency records.
Claire paused on the fifth step, her eyes narrowing sharply in the dim yellow light.
Claire: What did you say?
Evelyn: Richard knew what you were doing to his bank accounts while he was sick in bed.
Claire: Richard was heavily medicated for the last six months of his life! He didn't know what day of the week it was!
Evelyn: That's what you told the doctors so you could control his prescriptions.
Clara turned toward her mother, holding her cold, bony fingers tightly.
Clara: Mom, what emergency records? What did Dad hide?
Evelyn: In the old coal cellar behind the main furnace. The false brick with the cross carved into the mortar.
Claire's face drained of color as she gripped the handrail with white knuckles.
Claire: There is nothing behind those bricks! It's just solid limestone foundation!
Jason: We will see about that.
Jason moved quickly past the cot, heading toward the shadowy alcove behind the massive iron furnace.
Claire: Jason, do not touch that wall! I will have the security guard come down here and remove you by force!
Clara: Let him try! I already called the county sheriff's department from the top of the stairs!
Claire froze, her polished veneer cracking into pure panic as distant sirens began to echo down the long rural driveway.