Arthur: What is the meaning of all this shouting in the formal foyer[cite: 1]?
Eleanor: Arthur! Thank goodness you arrived early for the gala reception[cite: 1]!
Arthur: Eleanor, why are you standing there in a disheveled gown? And why is Lily crying[cite: 1]?
Eleanor: Clara pushed me down onto the marble, Arthur! She attacked me like a violent lunatic[cite: 1]!
Clara: Look at your niece's face, Uncle Arthur! Look at what Eleanor did before I walked through that door[cite: 1]!
Arthur adjusted his glasses, stepping quickly across the floor and dropping to one knee beside little Lily[cite: 1, 5].
He gently lifted the little girl's chin, his eyes widening in pure horror at the swollen red welt across her cheek[cite: 1, 5].
Arthur: Good Lord... Who struck this child with a diamond ring[cite: 1]?
Lily: Grandma Eleanor did, Uncle Arthur! She slapped me because my shoes were pinching[cite: 1]!
Eleanor: It was an educational discipline, Arthur! The child was behaving like a spoiled brat[cite: 1]!
Arthur: An educational discipline?! On a seven-year-old orphan who lost her father last year[cite: 1]?!
Eleanor: She is an embarrassment to our family name! Look at that cheap green dress she's wearing[cite: 1]!
Clara: That green dress was hand-sewn by Julian's grandmother, Eleanor! The exact dress Julian's sister wore when she was seven[cite: 1]!
Arthur's jaw tightened into iron, his eyes hardening into cold steel as he stood up[cite: 1, 5].
Arthur: That dress belonged to my late daughter, Eleanor. How dare you call it cheap[cite: 1]?
Eleanor: Arthur, you are letting your emotions cloud your business judgment! Clara is trying to seize the family trust[cite: 1]!
Arthur: Clara isn't seizing anything. Clara handed me the state forensic audit thirty minutes ago on my phone[cite: 1]!
Eleanor: You... You were in communication with her behind my back[cite: 1]?
Arthur: I have been working with the Texas Department of Public Safety for six months, Eleanor[cite: 1].
Eleanor: What are you talking about?! I am your brother's widow[cite: 1]!
Arthur: You are the woman who tried to steal sixty million dollars from my brother's rightful granddaughter[cite: 1]!
Eleanor: The board of directors supports my management of the maritime trust! You cannot overrule a board majority[cite: 1]!
Arthur: The board convened an emergency assembly at noon today while you were getting your hair styled, Eleanor[cite: 1].
Eleanor backed away toward the curved staircase, her hand clutching the banister as a cold sweat broke out across her forehead[cite: 1, 5].
Eleanor: An emergency assembly without the surviving matriarch present[cite: 1]?!
Arthur: Under Section Nine of our family charter, any trustee indicted for a felony against an heir is stripped of voting authority immediately[cite: 1].
Eleanor: I haven't been indicted! You have no legal indictment against me[cite: 1]!
Arthur: The grand jury voted twenty-four to zero at one PM today, Eleanor[cite: 1].
Eleanor: On what charges?! You cannot indict an elderly woman for a domestic disagreement[cite: 1]!
Arthur: Felony child abuse with injury, grand corporate wire fraud, and conspiracy to tamper with a deceased veteran's estate[cite: 1].
Eleanor's legs buckled beneath her, her body slumping against the mahogany newel post[cite: 1, 5].
Eleanor: You framed me... You and Clara orchestrated this whole scheme to take my social standing[cite: 1]!
Clara: You framed yourself, Eleanor. Your greed was so loud that everyone in Texas could hear it[cite: 1].
From beyond the high arched entrance windows, the sudden wail of police sirens began to rise over the quiet afternoon air[cite: 1, 5].
Flashing red and blue emergency lights painted the white walls of the grand foyer in rapid, rhythmic strokes[cite: 1, 5].