Part 5 (2/2)
”She called in. A flat tire. She'll be late.”
Meredith nodded. Becky, too, was a jewel. She had been one of Meredith's first clients and had testified against her boss. She'd lost her job, and Meredith had s.n.a.t.c.hed her up. They were both very happy with the arrangement.
”The favor?” Sarah prompted.
Meredith didn't answer directly. ”Any calls this morning?”
”Nothing urgent. You have the women's shelter this afternoon. I cancelled everything but that.”
Meredith nodded. The shelter was a commitment she intended to keep. ”And you?”
”Mrs. Evans's will. I wanted it ready for you to look at, then we can call her in. I'll work with Mrs. Abbot on compiling a list of marital a.s.sets. She believes her husband is hiding some. Mary Golden called to say she won't press charges against her husband. And we need more information on the wife in the Keyeses' custody battle. Want to call Doug in?”
Doug Evers was an investigator they used now and then. He was a former cop who was competent enough, though she continually had to warn him not to use illegal means in her cases. He'd never learned to recognize the line he shouldn't cross.
”I'll talk to Robert Keyes and see if he can afford it,” Meredith said.
She hesitated, then added, ”The favor... it's a personal matter.”
Sarah waited.
Meredith started hesitantly, ”Before she lapsed into a coma yesterday, my mother told me that she'd had another child. A girl. She was born in Memphis in February 1970. She asked me to find her.”
”My G.o.d,” Sarah said. ”You didn't know?”
”I had no idea.”
”But why now?”
”She wants the two of us to share the trust.”
”Wow. That must have been a blow.”
”Not the way you think. I inherited my house from my grandmother and I have a fairly good income from this practice. The blow came in discovering that she cared so much ... and never let me know. I could have helped her then. Now there is so little information.”
”What are you going to do?”
”Try to find her.”
A pause. Then, ”What can I do to help?”
”Search for a birth certificate for a daughter born of Marguerite Thibadeau.”
”The father?”
”I don't know,” Meredith admitted. ”I'm hoping this will be easy and something helpful might be on the birth certificate. Try to find any records of an adoption. If you can't locate any, give me a list of adoption agencies in and around Memphis as well as attorneys who were known to handle private adoptions.”
”I can do that,” Sarah said.
”I know you can,” Meredith said, looking down at her hands. They were clenched. She hoped Sarah didn't notice. ”You're a treasure.”
Sarah grinned. ”You pay me to be a treasure. What does your dad know about the baby?” Sarah asked, suddenly changing the subject.
”He says I shouldn't 'rummage around in the past' and destroy my mother's reputation. He also says it's none of my business, that I should let it go. He thought I should worry about my own inheritance.”
”Most people would,” Sarah said.
”I would rather have a sister.”
”So you think we can eliminate your father as the father of the child?” Sarah said.
”Most definitely.”
”But he knows something about it.”
”Yes.”
”Would your grandfather have been involved?”
”Most certainly. She was only seventeen. She said she was sent somewhere in Memphis.”
”Do you have any relatives in that area?”
”A great-aunt used to live there. She died three years ago.”
”Was she married?”
”Yes, but I think her husband died before her.”
”Do you have an address?”
”I can probably find it in my mother's address book or ... somewhere.” She stopped suddenly, realizing that she had no idea how her mother kept that kind of information. ”The name was Warren, I think. Sylvia Warren. I think her husband's name was Bob.”
”Probably Robert then. What did he do?”
”I think he was a builder. I never met him. I met my aunt when she came to my grandmother's funeral.”
”That's a little strange, don't you think? That you didn't see more of her. New Orleans isn't that far from Memphis.”
”I never really thought of it. I remember hiking her when I met her, but I never questioned why we didn't see her again. It was my mother's aunt and I had the impression my father didn't care for her. In any event, he was never strong on family or sentimentality.”
Sarah nodded. She knew Charles Rawson's reputation. And her employer's reticence on the subject spoke volumes.
”Did they have children? If so, they might remember something if your mother did stay with her aunt.”
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