Chapter 113

Mrs. Hampton was a tiny woman and very dignified. She made me think of Cicely Tyson playing Miss Jane Pittman. Gran was genuinely glad to see both of them and apologized for not having contacted them long before.

“When my husband died,” Gran said by way of explanation, “I withdrew from life for a while. Then this young man’s parents were killed and I suddenly had a child to raise once again. After that, the years simply got away from me.”

We were sitting in the library, and Judge Hampton looked up at my grandfather’s portrait and said, “You have nothing for which to apologize, Mrs. Barnett. You know how much that man meant to me, and I’ve never forgotten your many kindnesses back then, either.”

“We appreciate the way you helped us when my nephew and his friends were arrested at the Mall of Georgia,” Philip said.