The court-appointed auditor worked through everything over six weeks. The total amount Diane stole was $87,000, including the savings bond redeemed before probate, the jewelry sold privately through a dealer, and smaller withdrawals from Ruth’s checking account in her final weeks—the pattern of someone who believed she would never be scrutinized.
Diane was charged with estate fraud and with falsification of financial records—the second count carrying the heavier consequence. Her attorney entered a not guilty plea. Sarah heard this through Sherry and felt nothing. She had expected anger. What arrived instead was a kind of distance, like looking at something through glass.