Catherine: Robert, do something! Call the chief of police! Call the mayor!
Robert: The chief of police can't override a probate court deed, Catherine.
Catherine: You are a coward! A spineless, weak coward!
Clara: Save your energy, Catherine. You'll need it when you pack your suitcases.
Catherine rushed over to the side sideboard, grabbing a heavy silver pitcher as if she intended to throw it across the room.
Clara: Put that down. That pitcher was a wedding gift from my grandfather to my mother.
Catherine: I bought this pitcher at an auction five years ago!
Clara: You bought it using my mother's private checking account, which you illegally accessed through forged power-of-attorney papers.
Robert raised his head, his face full of sudden terror.
Robert: How do you know about the power-of-attorney papers?
Clara: Mr. Vance found the original documents inside the iron vault yesterday. The signature on page four was written in Catherine's handwriting.
Catherine dropped her hands, letting the silver pitcher rest back on the mahogany surface with a dull thud.
Catherine: That was fifteen years ago! The statute of limitations has passed!
Clara: Fraud involving estate inheritance and forged state documents has no statute of limitations in this state, Catherine.
Robert: Clara... please. Don't press criminal charges against your own father.
Clara: You aren't my father, Robert. You are just the man who broke my mother's heart and stole her life work.
Catherine: What about my daughter, Julianna?! She grew up in this house! This is her home!
Clara: Julianna is currently in Paris spending twenty thousand dollars a month from my educational trust fund.
Catherine: She is a student! She deserves an education!
Clara: She isn't taking classes, Catherine. She is buying designer handbags while I was scrubbed your kitchen floors on my knees.
Catherine stepped toward Clara, her fists clenched tight at her sides.
Catherine: You sneaked into my house like a thief!
Clara: I came into my own house to collect the evidence needed to put you both behind bars.
Robert stood up slowly, leaning heavily against the table as if his legs could no longer support his weight.
Robert: The state auditors... they're coming with the sheriff, aren't they?
Clara: They have been auditing the family accounts for three weeks, Robert. Every shell company you set up in Delaware has been frozen.
Catherine: Frozen?! All our bank accounts are frozen?!
Clara: Every single one. Including the credit cards you used to buy that dress.
Catherine reached into her handbag, pulling out a sleek black card and staring at it in total panic.
Catherine: My card... my card was declined at the salon yesterday morning...
Clara: Because the court receiver took control of the accounts at midnight.
Robert let out a broken groan, sinking back down into his seat as tears finally began to well in his gray eyes.
Robert: I lost everything... everything Grace built...
Clara: You didn't lose it, Robert. It was returned to its rightful owner.
The sound of heavy vehicle tires crunching over the gravel driveway outside reached the dining room windows.
Clara: That will be Sheriff Miller. He is very punctual.