Twisted

She reached for the power of attorney but he pushed her hand away.
    Ralston shook his head sadly then he paused, frowning. He noticed that the rage on Sandra May’s face had turned to amusement. Then she started laughing.
    “What?” he asked uncertainly.
    She stepped toward him. Ralston grabbed the power of attorney and eased back warily.
    “Oh, relax, I’m not going to slap you upside the head—even though I ought to.” Sandra May leaned past him and pushed the intercom button.
    “Yes?” came the woman’s voice.
    “Loretta, could you come in here, please?”
    “Sure, Mrs. DuMont.”
    Loretta appeared in the doorway. Sandra May’s eyes were still on Ralston’s. She said, “That power of attorney gives you the right to vote all my shares. Right?”
    He glanced at his jacket pocket, where the document now rested. He nodded.
    Sandra May continued, speaking to Loretta. “How many shares in the company do I own?”
    “None, Mrs. DuMont.”
    “What?” Ralston asked.
    Sandra May said, “We thought you were trying to pull something. So we had to test you. I talked to my lawyer. He said I could transfer my shares to somebody I trusted so that I didn’t hold any of them. Then I’d sign the power of attorney, give it to you and see what you did. And I sure learned that fast enough—you planned to rob me blind. It was a test—and you failed, sir.”
    “Goddamn it. You transferred the shares?”
    She laughed and nodded to Loretta. “Yep. To somebody I could trust. I don’t own a bit. That power of attorney is useless. She owns a hundred percent of DuMont Products Inc.”
    But Ralston’s shock vanished. He began to smile.
    The explanation for his good mood came not from him but from Loretta. She said, “Now you listen here. You’ll never guess. Bill and I own a hundred percent of the company. Sorry, honey.” And she walked forward and put her arm around Ralston. “I don’t think we mentioned it but Bill’s my brother.”

    “You were in it together!” Sandra May whispered. “The two of you.”
    “Jim died and didn’t leave me a penny!” Loretta snapped. “You owe me that money.”
    “Why would Jim leave you anything?” SandraMay asked uncertainly. “Why would . . .” But her voice faded as she looked at the knowing smile on the thin woman’s face.
    “You and my husband?” Sandra May gasped. “You were seeing each other?”
    “For the last three years, honey. You never noticed that we were out of town at the same time? That we’d both work late the same nights? Jim was putting money away for me !” Loretta spat out. “He just never had a chance to give it to me before he died.”
    Sandra May stumbled backward, collapsed onto the couch. “The stock . . . Why, I trusted you,” she muttered. “The lawyer asked who could I trust and you were the first person I thought of!”
    “Just like I trusted Jim,” Loretta snapped back. “He kept saying he’d give it to me, he’d open an account for me, I could travel, he’d get me a nice house. . . . But then he died and didn’t leave me a penny. I waited a few months then called Bill up in New York. I told him all about you and the company. I knew you were going to Pine Creek Club on Sunday. We figured he should come on down and introduce himself to the poor widow.”
    “But your last name, it’s different,” she said to Ralston, picking up one of his business cards and glancing at Loretta.
    “Hey, not that hard to figure out,” he said, lifting his palms. “It’s fake.” He laughed. As if this were too obvious to even mention.
    “When we sell the company, honey, you’ll get something, ” Loretta said. “Don’t you fret ’bout that. In recognition of your last six months as president.Now, why don’t you just head on home? Oh, hey, you don’t mind if I don’t call you Mrs. DuMont anymore, do you, Sandy? I really hated—”
    The office door swung open
    “Sandra May . . . you all right?” A large man stood in the doorway. Beau Ogden, the county sheriff. His hand was on his pistol.
    “I’m fine,” she told him.
    He eyed Ralston and Loretta, who stared at him uneasily. “These them?”
    “That’s right.”
    “I come as soon as I got your call.”
    Ralston was frowning. “What call?”
    Ogden warned, “Just keep your hands where I can see them.”
    “What the hell’re you talking about?” Ralston asked.
    “I’d ask you to keep a respectful voice, sir. You don’t want to go making your