She sat alone at breakfast reading a romance novel while eating oatmeal.
“Any good?” I asked.
She looked over the top of her glasses.
“Terrible.”
Then she smiled.
“I love it.”
I sat across from her.
“I’m Vera.”
“Dorothy.”
She studied me for a few seconds.
“You’re new.”
“Is it that obvious?”
“You still look angry.”
“That gives it away?”
“Most people arrive here looking defeated.”
She closed her book.
“You look like you’re planning something.”
“I might be.”
Dorothy smiled wider.
“Good. Angry women are interesting.”
Over the next several days, she became my guide.
She knew which staff members would bring extra dessert.
Which ones treated residents with genuine kindness.
Which telephone in the lobby offered the most privacy.
She also knew something about the law.
“I worked as a paralegal for thirty years,” she told me one afternoon while we sat in the garden.
When I finally told her the entire story, she listened without interruption.
Then she said exactly what I had been thinking.
“If the authority you signed was strictly medical, he could not simply turn it into broad financial authority.”
“So what do I do?”
“You get the original document.”
“And then?”
“You get a very good lawyer.”
The next morning, I used the lobby telephone.
My first call was to the bank.
My private accounts were untouched.
Dominic had no access.
My second call was to an attorney Dorothy trusted.
“Peterson and Associates,” a receptionist answered.
“I need to speak with someone about possible financial exploitation,” I said. “My son may have used altered legal documents to sell my house without my permission.”
—
Margaret Peterson was exactly the kind of lawyer I needed.
Direct.
Experienced.
Unimpressed by intimidation.
And visibly angry when she heard what had happened.
After reviewing the documents I obtained, she leaned back in her chair.
“Mrs. Mitchell, there are serious irregularities here.”
Dorothy sat beside me.
Margaret placed the original authorization next to the version Dominic had used.
“The document you signed was limited. The version used during the property transaction contains significant changes. We’ll need forensic review, but there is enough here to challenge what happened.”
“Can I get my house back?”
“We have strong grounds to challenge the transaction and seek damages. But because third parties are involved, it may take time to unwind everything properly.”
“How long?”
“Potentially months.”
Months.
I thought of room 207.
The cafeteria.
The shared bathroom.
