Chapter 9 - Why Grace came back
Warren died in December.
Grace learned from the news.
She did not return because he was dead alone.
She returned because of a letter mailed three weeks after his funeral.
Sender:
Marian Bell.
Former paralegal to Paul Hensley.
Marian was seventy.
Retired.
She had kept a copy of one memo because it had bothered her for years.
The memo concerned:
Grace Mercer Resolution.
It contained instructions from Warren to Hensley.
“Ensure N believes departure voluntary.”
“N” was me.
“Keep pregnancy allegation unconfirmed unless required.”
Then:
“G must understand custody exposure if she remains.”
G.
Grace.
Marian wrote:
I should have said something. I was junior enough to tell myself I did not understand. I understood enough.
She included a copy.
Grace sat with the letter for two months.
Then called the Cole household staffing agency.
Why the agency instead of me?
Fear.
And strategy.
“I needed access to the house.”
“For what?”
“Your father kept personal files there.”
“You came to search?”
“Yes.”
That answer hurt.
“What did you plan to take?”
“Nothing at first.”
“At first?”
Grace looked away.
“There was supposed to be a blue archive box in the lower study. Marian said Warren kept the signed separation originals there.”
“Did you find it?”
“No.”
“Why not call a lawyer?”
“I did.”
Her legal-aid attorney told her the memo alone was useful but not enough to prove all the verbal threats.
He also told her to contact me through counsel.
Grace ignored that advice.
Her mistake.
“I wanted evidence before I gave you another chance to believe your family instead of me.”
There.
Fair emotionally.
Poor legally.
May you like
Both.
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