“How much?”
Priya looked at Samuel.
He answered.
“Possibly nine hundred thousand dollars.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Clara swore under her breath.
I looked at the numbers again.
Nine hundred thousand.
For seven years, I had lived carefully. I repaired old clothes. I delayed replacing equipment. I refused vacations because I believed the farm could not afford them.
Meanwhile, Victor had been draining my accounts.
“Why did he need Marcus?” I asked.
Priya folded her hands.
“Victor could access some funds, but not the farm sale proceeds. Your new attorney changed the transfer procedures.”
Samuel nodded.
“When Evelyn hired me, I terminated Victor’s authority and moved the closing into a protected escrow account.”
“Victor must have panicked,” Priya continued. “He appears to have contacted Marcus shortly afterward.”
I thought back to the previous month.
Marcus had visited unexpectedly, carrying flowers and a bottle of wine. He asked whether I trusted Samuel. He suggested that older people were often deceived by new advisers.
