Chapter 8 - THE NEIGHBOR
The old neighborhood gave them the next piece.
Marjorie Wells lived across from the Carters for twenty-five years.
She remembered Laura.
Not perfectly.
But enough.
She told Grace:
“I heard arguments.”
“Did you see violence?”
“Once.”
When?
Two years before Laura died.
Marjorie saw Robert holding Laura by both wrists near the driveway.
Laura pulled away.
Robert released her when he noticed Marjorie.
Marjorie never reported it.
Why?
“Laura told me it was fine.”
Then:
“I believed her because believing her meant I didn’t have to do anything.”
That line devastated Claire.
Marjorie also remembered the night of the fatal fall.
She saw Robert outside.
Not before the ambulance.
After.
He stood in the driveway while paramedics worked.
Nothing suspicious.
No hidden witness.
No dramatic proof.
May you like
Again, the mystery resisted becoming murder.
But the abuse pattern grew harder to deny.
