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“Yes. I’m going to give Daddy a call, and I’m going to record our conversation. He’s a lawyer and he’s smart, but he won’t expect me to do that. No wonder they’ve been fighting my finding Justine.”
“Let’s do it at the office so you won’t be interrupted. I’m sorry about this.” And Iwassorry for her. All the lies and mystery were fresh for me with my own family. But at least nobody had died.
“No, I want the truth. I’ve had a feeling something wasn’t right for years.”
“Are you okay to go back in and hear what else Marie might have to say?”
Lisa nodded and stood, but she still seemed a bit shaky.
As we entered the room, Marie’s eyes were wide with concern. “I knew this would cause some big trouble. I don’t know who Justine was seeing, but I’d gotten the feeling it was Arthur Keller.” Hearing Judge Keller’s name again associated with another pregnancy of another young woman triggered something in me. A burning anger with men who used women and discarded them as if they were nothing once they became inconvenient.
“Can you think of anything else Justine told you? Did she say how the father reacted when she told him about her pregnancy?”
“She wouldn’t talk any more about it. Said it wouldn’t change anything. That it wasn’t my business and that it was her life if I didn’t have to pay for anything.” Marie stopped talking for a second then and her eyes became sad. “It wasn’t like Justine to tell me something wasn’t any of my business. We were close…always.”
“I’m so sorry, Marie. Just a few more questions. Did Justine say anything else about why she wouldn’t need any help to pay for having a baby?”
“No, but I got the impression from the way she said it that someone had promised to help her that way.”
“Okay. Why do you think people went to all this trouble to lock you away? Who threatened you?”
These were the questions we’d all been waiting to get the answers to.
Marie frowned. “Why, Carson Carmichael and Judge Keller, of course. When I married Jay, Carson paid us a visit. Gave Jay money and told him bad things would happen if he didn’t keep me quiet. And when Jay died, Carson warned me that if I kept carrying on about Justine and asking so many questions about what happened to her, he’d tell everyone I was crazy and have me locked up. Then nobody would believe a word I said ever again.”
“Is that what happened? He warned you and you didn’t do what he said?” Tanner asked.
“I wasdonelistening to his threats. I wanted to find out what happened to my baby girl. I still do. But he really did do it. Carson got with that doctor—Dr. Miller, his name was. Made me say all kinds of things and then they declared me incompetent, and Judge Keller made Carson my legal guardian. The three of them ganged up on me and called themselves a panel. Took my cell phone away and threw me in that place.”
“What do you think happened to Justine, Marie?” Tanner asked.
“I don’t know exactly. I never talked to her again after she called to tell me she’d had the baby and it was a girl. Said it was healthy and that one day soon she would come home and introduce my grandbaby to me. Of course, I had a million questions, but she said she had to go and to be patient. You know, her daddy died right after that in the oil field and things went sideways for me. I lost everything all at once. I tried to find Justine, but when I went to New Orleans, there wasn’t a record of anything. I filed a missing person’s report, but nobody would call me back. I kept calling them and getting nothing.”
I could feel Marie’s pain and anxiety coming off her in waves as she relived the trauma of her past. “We’re going to find out what happened to Justine, Marie.”
“You know, I even contacted Carson and Arthur back then and they pretended to not know a thing about Justine or the baby.”
I could feel my burning anger coming back with a vengeance. What they’d put Marie through was nothing short of a killing offense in my book.
“I’m here. I’ll be here for you.” Lisa moved over and took Marie’s hand in hers. There were tears on Lisa’s cheeks.
“I’m so happy you’re alive and well, my dear. I didn’t know if you’d come to a bad end too.” Marie cried then. A sad, sobbing cry. “Nobody ever believed me or listened to me.”
“We believe you and we’re going to make sure that those who are responsible for what happened to Justine and to you are brought to justice.” Tanner clicked off the recorder. “I’m saving a copy of this and sending one to the district attorney. It should be enough to get Carson and Judge Keller brought in for questioning.”
Lisa cleared her throat. “Um, I want to speak with my parents first and document the conversation. We might find out more from them about Justine that way. You know, before they bring in their lawyers to defend them all. Now that I know they were somehow involved in all this, I don’t see how they could pretend otherwise.”
Tanner nodded. “Okay. Let’s start there. I’ll call Alan Litrell and fill him in on our plans. He might need to do something procedural now that this has gone farther.” Procedural, meaning filing charges or getting search warrants so we could further investigate what happened all those years ago.
Jake entered the hospital room then. “Hello, all. I thought you might want to know that Marie has been cleared to leave the hospital with Lisa.” Jake looked down at his tablet where Marie’s information was stored. He then turned his attention to Marie. “You’re a little dehydrated still and we’ll want you to continue with lots of fluids. Also, we noticed your blood pressure is slightly elevated. It might be all the excitement, or you could have a little hypertension going on that needs treating. We’ll wait a week or so until things calm down and re-evaluate it.”
“So, I can go? Just walk right out?” Marie seemed wary of Jake’s permission to vacate.
“Yes, if Lisa signs off on it. Hopefully, that won’t be for long. As far as the doctors are concerned, you are mentally fit to look after yourself. The courts will want to have a hearing before rescinding custody.”
“I promise not to be too much of a drag.” Lisa smiled at Marie.
“I’d rather be under your thumb than those awful men who call me crazy.” Marie’s expression was fierce.
