Chapter 9: The Ruling
Grace filed the supplemental submission that evening.
She included the notebook entries, the transfer of the cassette recording, Carol's signed statement, and Pauline's signed statement.
She attached a summary of Dr.
Mercer's license revocation and the 2001 closure investigation.
She noted the restricted access flags on both Emily's and Pauline's files, both placed by Merritt and Cole in 2019.
She noted the settlement offers and the clause prohibiting contact with other former residents.
The submission was forty-one pages.
The judge's clerk called Grace's office the following morning.
The hearing was scheduled for forty-eight hours later.
Emily, Grace, Pauline, and Carol sat on one side of the courtroom.
Richard sat on the other side with two attorneys and a woman Emily didn't recognize who kept a leather portfolio on her lap and took notes throughout.
Richard's lead attorney argued patient privacy.
He argued that the records were sealed for the protection of all former residents, not just Emily.
He argued that the court filing itself was an attempt to relitigate decisions made by licensed medical professionals thirty years ago.
Grace stood up.
She played forty-seven seconds of the audio from Carol's cassette tape.
Dr.
Mercer's voice, thin and slightly distorted by age and format transfer, filled the courtroom.
*Richard needs the numbers above thirty.
If we drop below, the whole arrangement gets reviewed.
So we document accordingly.*
The judge asked Richard's attorney to respond.
The attorney asked for a recess.
The judge denied it.
The ruling came the same afternoon.
The restricted access flags were lifted.
The county health archive was ordered to release the complete admission files for all former residents of the Hale Family Care Home who had filed requests.
A separate order was issued for an independent review of the Hale Foundation's current youth programs, pending the outcome of any subsequent legal proceedings.
Grace walked out of the courtroom and called Emily, who had stepped into the hallway with Daniel when the wait became too long.
"It's done," Grace said.
Emily leaned against the wall.
Daniel put his hand on her shoulder.
"The files?" Emily asked.
"Released.
All of them.
We'll have copies by end of week."
"And the foundation?"
"Under review.
He can't make placements or referrals while the review is active." Grace paused.
"Emily, his attorney approached me in the hallway afterward.
Richard wants a meeting.
In person.
No lawyers."
"No," Emily said.
"I told them that would be your answer.
They said he has something he wants to give you directly.
Something that isn't in any file."
Emily looked at Daniel.
He shook his head slightly.
"Tell them he can put it in writing," Emily said.
"Through you.
Whatever he wants to say, he can say it on paper, with his signature on it."
"I'll tell them."
Emily ended the call.
She and Daniel walked out of the courthouse into the afternoon light.
Pauline and Carol were waiting on the steps.
Pauline hugged Emily before either of them had said a word.
Carol stood a little apart, the way she always did, and watched.
Then she said: "What happens now?"
"Now we read the files," Emily said.
"And then we decide together what to do with what's in them."
Carol nodded.
Pauline pulled back and looked at Emily.
Her eyes were wet.
"I didn't think this day would actually come."
"Neither did I," Emily said honestly.
They stood on the steps for a moment, the four of them, in the ordinary afternoon light.
Then Grace's phone buzzed.
She looked at the screen.
"Richard sent something," she said.
"Through his attorney.
Written.
Signed." She looked up.
"He wants to meet with Diana.
Not with us.
With Diana.
Alone."
Emily looked at Grace.
May you like
"He's trying to get to her before we do," Emily said.
Grace was already dialing.
