Chapter 8: What Gwen Knew
Gwen Lawson arrived at Daniel Holt's Atlanta office on a Wednesday afternoon.
I joined by video from Priya's apartment.
Daniel sat at his desk with a small camera positioned so I could see the room.
A paralegal sat to one side with a recorder running.
Gwen had been informed of the recording before she agreed to come.
She looked different from the last time I had seen her.
The careful makeup was still there, but something underneath it was not.
She sat with her hands folded on the table and did not look directly at the camera for the first few minutes.
Daniel opened it.
"Ms.
Lawson, you contacted Mrs.
Reynolds directly.
Can you tell us what you wanted to say?"
Gwen's hands tightened slightly.
"I want to clarify my role in what happened."
"Go ahead."
"I was following Christopher's instructions.
I want that on record.
The card block, the authorization freeze, the instruction not to interrupt his meetings — all of it came from him.
In writing.
I have the emails."
The room on my screen went very still.
Daniel's voice did not change.
"You have emails from Christopher Reynolds instructing you to block Mrs.
Reynolds's access to emergency medical authorization?"
"Yes." Gwen reached into the bag beside her chair and placed a folder on the table.
"Printed copies.
I also have the originals on a personal drive.
I kept them because I was worried about exactly this situation."
"When did you begin keeping them?"
"About eight months ago.
After he told me to deny a payment for Nora's respiratory equipment.
I asked him if he was sure.
He said yes.
He said Abigail needed to understand that the finances were his to control." She paused.
"I did it.
I'm not saying I didn't.
I'm saying I knew it was wrong and I did it anyway, and I've been living with that."
I watched her on the screen.
"Ms.
Lawson," I said.
She looked up at the camera for the first time.
"You told me," I said carefully, "that maybe Nora's death would stop me from using her to keep Christopher tied to me."
Her face didn't move for a moment.
Then something in it collapsed, just slightly.
"I know," she said.
"Did he tell you to say that?"
A pause.
"No.
That was me." She looked down at her hands.
"I told myself I was protecting the company.
I told myself you were unstable and difficult and that Christopher was right to manage the situation the way he did." She stopped.
"I was wrong.
I knew I was wrong when I said it.
I said it anyway."
The room was quiet.
"Why are you here now?" Daniel asked.
"Because Christopher called me last week and told me to delete everything.
All the emails.
All the records.
He said if I cooperated with the complaint, he would tell the board I had acted without authorization.
He said he would make sure I never worked in corporate administration again." She looked up.
"He said it the same way he says everything.
Like it was already decided."
"And you didn't delete them."
"No."
"Why not?"
Gwen looked at the folder on the table.
"Because Nora came to the office alone that afternoon.
She was on a portable oxygen unit.
She could barely walk from the elevator to the reception desk.
She sat in the lobby for forty minutes waiting to see if anyone would help her." A pause.
"Nobody did.
I watched her leave."
The silence in the room stretched.
"I watched her leave," Gwen said again, more quietly.
"And I went back to my desk.
And I told myself it wasn't my responsibility."
She looked at the camera.
"I'm here because it was my responsibility," she said.
"And because she d:ied.
And because your sister sat in that lobby on a portable oxygen unit and I did nothing, and I need to do something now even if it's too late."
I didn't speak for a moment.
"It's not too late," I said finally.
"Not for what it's meant to do."
Daniel picked up the folder.
"Ms.
Lawson, we'll need you to provide a formal statement and make the original files available.
Are you prepared to do that?"
"Yes."
"You understand that Christopher Reynolds may take legal action against you personally."
"I know." She straightened slightly.
"I have my own attorney.
I spoke to her before I came here."
Daniel nodded.
He looked at the camera.
"Abigail.
Do you have any other questions for Ms.
Lawson?"
I thought about it.
"Just one," I said.
"The day I came to the office.
When I was pregnant and I grabbed your sleeve.
You pulled my hand away and told me being pregnant didn't mean everyone had to run."
Gwen didn't look away.
"I remember," she said.
"Were you afraid of him?"
A long pause.
"Yes," she said.
"I was afraid of him.
I had been afraid of him for a long time.
And I used that fear as a reason to do things I shouldn't have done." She paused.
"I'm not asking you to forgive me.
I just need you to know that I understood, even then, what was happening.
I chose wrong.
I chose it more than once."
I looked at her on the screen for a moment.
"Thank you for coming," I said.
It wasn't forgiveness.
It wasn't absolution.
But it was the truth, and the truth was what Nora had wanted.
After Gwen left, Daniel looked at the camera.
"With her emails," he said, "Christopher's personal liability is no longer arguable.
It's documented."
"How documented?"
"Eighteen months of written instructions.
Specific dates.
Specific amounts.
Specific directives to deny, delay, and restrict." He set the folder down.
"His attorney is going to see this and advise him to settle."
"And if he doesn't?"
Daniel looked at me steadily.
"Then we go to court, and he loses in public."
My phone buzzed on the table beside Priya's laptop.
A message from Christopher.
The first direct contact in over a week.
*I know Gwen went to Holt's office.
She's lying to save herself.
You know that.
You know what she's capable of.
Come home, Abigail.
End this before it gets worse for everyone.*
I read it once.
Then I set the phone face-down and looked at the ceiling.
He still thought I would come back.
Even now.
May you like
Even after everything.
He still believed I would come back.
