Chapter 3 - WHY NORA HAD CONFRONTED JUDITH
The family dinner had not been meant to expose anyone.
Nora had gone intending to ask one question.
She worked as controller for a medical-equipment distributor in Blue Ash, which meant numbers tended to bother her when they stopped behaving like numbers.
Three weeks earlier, Charles had asked her to visit him without Graham.
That alone was unusual.
Nora found him in the assisted-living courtyard wearing a cardigan despite the June heat.
He seemed clearer than he had in months.
“Judith thinks I don’t know what’s happening,” he said.
Nora sat beside him.
“With what?”
“The company.”
Charles still owned fifty-eight percent of Holloway Architectural Millwork.
After his fall, Graham became interim president, but Charles’s voting control remained significant unless a properly authorized representative acted for him.
Judith held a durable financial power of attorney signed years earlier.
At least, Nora thought she did.
Charles looked toward the building.
“I signed a limited one.”
“What do you mean?”
“She keeps telling everybody she can do anything.”
Nora felt uncomfortable.
“This is probably something you should discuss with your attorney.”
“I tried.”
He looked ashamed.
“Judith canceled the appointment.”
That was the first alarm.
The second came two days later when Charles asked Nora to retrieve a company tax packet Graham had dropped off.
Nora did not open private documents intentionally.
The folder had already split along one side.
A bank covenant report slid onto the floor.
Nora recognized enough to see that the company had refinanced a large credit facility after Charles’s fall.
Judith had signed several shareholder consents as Charles’s attorney-in-fact.
Nora mentioned it to Graham.
He became defensive.
“Dad wasn’t capable of dealing with it.”
“Who decided?”
“His doctors said he had delirium.”
“During the infection.”
“It wasn’t that simple.”
Nora asked to see the power of attorney.
Graham refused.
That was when she stopped believing the family was merely disorganized.
She contacted Charles’s longtime estate attorney, Samuel Greene—not asking for confidential documents, only telling him Charles wanted to speak with him.
Samuel arranged his own private visit.
Three days later, Graham confronted Nora.
“You went around us.”
“I helped your father call his lawyer.”
“You made Mom think you’re accusing her of stealing.”
“Is she?”
Graham walked out.
At dinner the following Sunday, Nora intended to tell Judith only this:
Charles had the right to meet privately with his attorney.
No one needed permission from Judith.
Judith heard something else.
She heard threat.
The argument moved from the dining room to the staircase landing.
Judith accused Nora of trying to turn Graham against her.
Nora said:
“No. I’m trying to stop you from treating Charles like he disappeared because he got sick.”
Judith grabbed her shoulder.
Nora pulled away.
Judith grabbed again.
Then shoved.
Now, from the hospital bed, Nora understood what Graham had been trying to prevent when he whispered, Keep this inside the family.
May you like
Not embarrassment.
The fall threatened to reopen every decision made after Charles’s own fall.
