Chapter 16 - What My Mother Signed

"That can't be right," I said.

Celia's eyes filled. "I'm sorry. I didn't know how to tell you."

The paper was eleven years old. It stated that Florence Bennett accepted a modest settlement, acknowledged her own negligence, and released the hotel from any further liability. My mother's name ran across the bottom in shaky blue ink.

I recognized the handwriting. It was hers.

I had spent years telling myself that Mom had been cheated by people with expensive lawyers. Now it looked as though she'd signed the story they'd used against her.

Dana took a photograph of the document. "A signature doesn't tell us whether she understood the terms or whether pressure was applied. We need to talk to Florence."

I called my mother.

She answered from the little house we'd bought her in Milwaukee. The television was on in the background, turned up too loud. She still refused to call it her house, even after six years.

"Nora? Honey, are you okay?"

"I'm wet, bruised, and surrounded by people in expensive clothes. So about average for my new job."

"Don't joke like that."

I told her what I'd found. I could hear her breathing change.

"Mom, you signed something after the accident. Did you know what it said?"

A long silence followed.

"They brought it to the hospital," she whispered. "Your dad had just been laid off. We had bills. A man told me if I signed, they would release the money for surgery."

"Did they tell you it blamed you?"

"Not in words I understood. I was on pain medication. They said it was routine. I asked to call you, but they said the offer expired that day."

My throat burned. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you were sleeping three hours a night and selling everything you owned to help me. I thought I had already taken too much from you."

"You didn't take anything."

She started crying. So did I.

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Then she said something that changed the case.

"Nora, I kept the voicemail from the supervisor who told us the exit was broken. I never deleted it. I didn't know it mattered until now."