Chapter 7: The Witness Hale Found
Her name was Carol Simms.
She had worked the night shift on the cardiac ward at Piedmont Atlanta during the final weeks of Robert's last hospital stay.
James found her before Hale could formally retain her — not to pressure her, but simply to ask what she remembered.
She agreed to meet us at a coffee shop near the hospital on a Thursday morning.
She was in her late fifties, small and precise, with the particular calm of someone who had spent decades in rooms where things went wrong.
James sat beside me.
He had a notepad he didn't open.
"I heard Douglas Hale's office called you," James said.
Carol wrapped both hands around her coffee cup.
"They did.
Yesterday."
"What did they ask?"
"They asked if I remembered Mr.
Monroe being disoriented.
Confused about where he was, who he was talking to, what year it was." She looked at me directly.
"I told them I didn't remember that, because it wasn't true."
I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding.
"Mr.
Monroe was one of the sharpest patients I've had," Carol said.
"He knew exactly where he was.
He knew his prognosis.
He asked me questions about his medications that most doctors don't think to ask." A pause.
"He also talked about his family."
"What did he say?" I asked.
Carol looked at her coffee.
"He talked about his son.
He said Grant was a good man who had made choices that were going to cost him more than he understood yet.
He said it without anger.
Just — matter-of-factly, like he was describing the weather."
"Did he mention me?"
"He did." She looked up.
"He said his daughter-in-law had kept his house alive for eight years and that he intended to make sure she wasn't left with nothing when everything settled." She paused.
"He used that phrase specifically.
When everything settles.
Like he knew what was coming."
James made a note.
"Would you be willing to provide a sworn statement to that effect?"
"I already told Hale's office I wouldn't testify to confusion that didn't exist," Carol said.
"I'll say the same thing under oath if I need to." She looked at me again.
"He was a good man, your father-in-law.
He deserved better than what his family gave him at the end."
I didn't trust my voice for a moment.
"Thank you," I said.
We drove back to James's office in near silence.
He pulled into the parking garage and turned off the engine and sat for a moment.
"Hale has nothing," James said.
"The letter is authenticated.
His only witness contradicts his entire argument.
Patricia can continue the motion if she wants, but any competent judge is going to look at this record and see exactly what Robert intended."
"She'll keep pushing," I said.
"Probably." James turned toward me.
"But Allison — she's pushing against a wall now.
At some point, even Patricia Monroe has to accept that."
My phone buzzed on the seat between us.
A text from an unknown number.
*We need to talk.
Not about the house.
May you like
About what Grant hasn't told you yet.
— Serena*
