Chapter 5 - The Trap is Set
Over the next three weeks, the battle shifted from emotional confrontations to legal warfare.
Knowing that Vanessa had allies within the local police precinct, I avoided using the standard local court channels.
Instead, I took the evidence directly to the State Prosecutor's Office, filing a grand jury indictment for financial elder abuse, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and grand larceny.
However, legal cases take time, and Vanessa was moving fast.
Through her attorney, she served my mother with an eviction notice, demanding she vacate her home within seven days since the deed was now registered under Vanguard Holdings.
Furthermore, Vanessa filed an emergency petition for temporary guardianship over my mother, claiming Eleanor was incapable of making her own decisions.
If the judge granted that guardianship, Vanessa would have total authority to withdraw the criminal charges against herself and commit my mother to a facility indefinitely.
The court hearing for the emergency guardianship was set for Friday morning.
I spent three sleepless nights in my office, surrounded by stacks of financial statements, medical affidavits, and legal precedents.
On Thursday evening, my phone rang. It was an unknown number.
"Claire?" a timid voice whispered on the other end.
It was Sarah, Vanessa’s personal assistant whom she had hired six months ago.
"Sarah? Why are you calling me from an unknown number?"
"I... I can't do this anymore," Sarah wept into the phone. "Vanessa fired me tonight because I refused to shred some documents. She's crazy, Claire. She... she recorded everything."
My heart skipped a beat. "What do you mean she recorded everything?"
"Vanessa installed security cameras all over your mother's house months ago. She said it was to monitor your mother's 'dementia,' but she actually used them to track her movements and plan the theft."
"The night of the assault..." I gasped. "Is there video of the assault?"
"Yes," Sarah sobbed. "The cloud drive automatically backed it up before Vanessa tried to delete it. I have the login credentials. I saved a copy on a flash drive before I left her office."
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"Where are you right now?" I demanded, already grabbing my coat and car keys.
"I'm at the diner on 4th Street," Sarah said. "Please hurry. She knows I took it."
