Mary Jane's Grave Read Online Free PDF

around a telephone pole. The kid who survived claimed that an old woman in white was standing in the middle of the road and the driver swerved to miss her. He claimed he was the only one who hadn’t pissed on the grave.”
    “You said that was a highway patrol case?”
    “Yup.”
    “Well, stories like that have been all over the Internet for years, Coop.”
    “Not fifteen years ago, they weren’t.”
    I thought about it for a minute and realized he was right. I loved Coop to death, but hated it when he got one over on me.
    I decided to look at the file, even though I couldn’t imagine that the highway patrol kept fatal crash cases that far back, given how many there were each year. If all else failed, I could always get the name of the survivor from Coop and go talk to him myself.
    After I finished my paperwork, which included the interviews, I saw it was getting late. However, I still had time to take care of something I’d been meaning to do for a long time. For some reason, I felt like doing it today.
    Michael had been pressuring me to set a date for our wedding. I thought I would surprise him by getting the marriage license and bringing it home. I only had half an hour or so, since the courthouse closed at five.
    I was whistling when I walked up the steps to the courthouse, thinking how good my life was and how happy I was. But these thoughts quickly faded when I told the clerk my name and Social Security number to obtain the license. She looked confused when she pulled my information up on the computer screen.
    “Ms. Gallagher,” she said, looking at me with an odd expression on her face, “our computer is showing you’re still married to one Eric Schroeder.”
    “That can’t be,” I protested. “We’ve been divorced for six months.” My heart pounded in my chest as I struggled to breathe.
    She gave me another look before walking away. I saw her go into an office and speak to a woman seated behind a desk, probably a supervisor. Good, I thought. Let’s get this straightened out. Dumb civil servants, couldn’t they keep track of recent records?
    The woman behind the desk turned to her computer and typed something in, then spoke to the clerk, who finally came back out to talk to me. By this time, I had chewed my fingernails to the quick and almost lit a cigarette right then and there, wondering what the hell was going on.
    “Ms. Gallagher, our records show where the request for the final hearing was entered, but no final divorce decree was ever filed. Did you attend a final hearing?”
    “Of course I did!” I cried, my voice rising an octave. “I heard the judge say ‘divorce granted’ loud and clear.” I was now on the verge of panic.
    “Ms. Gallagher, that very well may be, but apparently someone dropped the ball. The final divorce decree was never filed with the courts. That was your attorney’s responsibility. Therefore, you are still legally married and can’t apply for a marriage license.”
    I was numb, sick and confused, my stomach now in knots, my happiness a distant memory.
    “How could this happen?” I shouted. People stopped their chatter and looked at me, but I couldn’t have cared less.
    “Ms. Gallagher, I assure you that my supervisor checked to make sure it wasn’t our mistake. I suggest you contact your attorney and inform him what happened. He should take it from there.”
    I didn’t even answer. Instead I walked away, dazed. How on earth could I explain this to Michael, let alone tell Eric we were still married? I prayed it was all a mistake and tried to tell myself this wasn’t really happening. Too bad Eric hadn’t stepped up to the plate and married Jordan yet. We could have resolved this much sooner.
    Michael and I had been through more rough patches than any two people deserved in a lifetime. It just wasn’t fair!
    On my way home I called Bill Warren, my attorney. His secretary began to tell me he was in a meeting, but I cut her off and demanded that she put him