Hadley & Grace(88)
The story is rehashed again and again, dissected from every possible angle: not only what is happening but everything that led up to it, the last six days analyzed endlessly. They get the details surprisingly right. The only parts they get wrong are not realizing that Grace and Hadley never planned to team up and that Jimmy is now a part of it.
The child psychologist discusses the long-term effects this could have on the kids, which distresses Hadley, especially when the woman talks about trust and abandonment issues.
A slew of lawyers debate the legal trouble she and Grace are in, and all agree that Grace, with her history, is in serious trouble. Her record, combined with her more significant role in the crimes, puts her at much higher risk for a long-term sentence than Hadley, who none of them seem to be able to agree on in terms of what kind of punishment she will face.
At one point, a car expert comes on to discuss the make and model of Tony’s car and to predict how long it will take for it to run out of gas. His estimate is roughly the same as Grace’s. If Jimmy continues to maintain the speed limit and started with a full tank, he will be able to drive approximately seven and a half hours.
An ex-FBI agent has been on several times, and each time he reassures the reporter and audience that the pursuit will continue in the manner it has, the police following at a safe distance and proceeding with extreme caution. The primary objective is to bring the women in safely without anyone getting hurt.
The reporters go back and forth about Hadley and Grace’s motives for not surrendering, the consensus being that they are prolonging the inevitable in order to spend as much time as possible with their kids. They play up the nobility of it, making her and Grace sound heroic.
Each of the reporters goes on and on about what they would do with that precious time if they were in the same position, what they would say, and the wisdom they would impart. They ask callers to call in and contribute, and they do.
It’s all very dramatic and tragic, and Hadley finds herself playing along, thinking about all the things she would like to say to Mattie and the things she still wants to share with Skipper.
A family lawyer discusses what will happen to the kids after the women are arrested. Mattie and Skipper will most likely end up living with Vanessa, Hadley’s only living relative, though it’s possible Frank’s parents could make a case for raising Mattie. The thought is very upsetting. Frank’s parents are not nice people, and Mattie hates them.
Miles, of course, will end up with his dad, Corporal James Herrick, who is currently serving in Afghanistan.
There’s a lot of talk about Jimmy, an outpouring of support for the heroic soldier whose life has been turned upside down by his wife’s recklessness. It’s strange how much support there is for Hadley and the kids and how little there is for Grace.
Hadley has already listened to two women callers phone in and offer to marry Jimmy if Grace doesn’t make it or if he decides to divorce her for what she’s done, which you can hear in their voices is what they think he should do.
Hadley feels bad for how Grace is being portrayed, the blame for anything criminal or unscrupulous put on her because of her past and because they do not like the way she looks. Several times her scowl is mentioned, and once a reporter even commented on the way she walks: “Like she’s cocky or has something to prove.” Hadley hated the woman instantly. None of these people have any idea what they’re talking about.
The way they talk about Hadley is laughable as well. Melissa made the mistake of saying Hadley was trusting, and the press took that and ran with it, making Hadley out to be a gullible victim who got caught up in Grace’s harebrained scheme because she was naive and desperate to escape her abusive marriage.
Of course Frank is the real villain, the sinister monster who tracked down his wife, kidnapped his daughter, and shot down an agent in cold blood amid a crowd of families. An abuser, a wife beater, a devil without a soul, he’s nothing but evil and deserves to be strung up by his toenails and horsewhipped. As she listens, she hopes Mattie is not listening. To some extent we all believe ourselves to be products of our parents, and no one would want to be a part of the person they’re describing.
She waits anxiously for updates on Frank and Tony, knowing they’re still out there. The reporters hypothesize they were making a run for Mexico when Mattie escaped, and they might be right. But she knows Frank will not be heading there now. Cruel as Frank is to Mattie, she is also his progeny, and he won’t leave without her.
She looks again at the gas gauge. The needle hovers halfway between empty and full. Grace and the kids should be in Omaha now and on their way to the post office to retrieve the passports, and in another three hours, they will be in the air and on their way to London, away from the FBI and away from Frank.
Her heart keeps rhythm with the wipers, her hands tight on the wheel and her eyes tight on the road. In the distance, lightning flashes. She drives toward it, hardly paying attention now to the radio as it continues to jabber on about her family, all of it far away, like a distant dream she is chasing that continues to move away and get farther out of reach.
65
GRACE
Grace is at Eppley Airfield with Miles, Mattie, and Skipper, her eyes glued to the television over the bar in the restaurant beside their departure gate. The coverage of the car chase has been nonstop. For two hours, Grace has joined the rest of the world as it watches Jimmy driving, first in Nebraska and now in South Dakota, a battalion of cop cars behind him.