Grace Sullivan | fromthedeskofgrace

GRACE SULLIVAN, THE HIGHLIGHTS

The Early Years

Born in Virginia, 1899, to parents Thomas (d. 1916) and Susan.
She learned, only after his death, that her father Thomas and Susan’s brother (her uncle) James (aka, Uncle Jimmie, aka Slick Jimmie) were in an organized crime group based one town over from her childhood home.
She’s told her father wasn’t always so inclined, but fell upon hard times. So, to take care of his family, Uncle Jimmie offered him a job – the kind you never leave.
Grace never knew the truth of the “family business”, although she did find it strange when her father insisted she learn to shoot a pistol at the age of thirteen. But, time with her father was scarce, and she took to it like a natural. And so it became a usual Saturday morning father-daughter activity.
Grace got along with her mother well enough, ‘though they were never close. That was, until her father’s death. When the messy details came out about that awful night, she blamed her mother for all of it and quickly moved out of the house to stay with a friend. Publicly, friends and family all accepted it as grief, and assumed she’d grow out of it in time.

Love and Loss

Grace had always been bright, and so she found her way into an early graduation and acceptance to college, where she studied to become a nurse. It was there at school that she met, fell for, and married Frank Sullivan.
It was the most impulsive thing she’d ever done, usually being the cool and calculating, planning sort. But Frank was full of life and love and energy, and gave her hope of a beautiful future, and a new family.
They were both students, he was also studying medicine. But Frank’s father, George Sullivan, worked for the FBI, and Frank hoped to follow in his footsteps. So, he also studied law and every science the school would let him try, whatever his father recommended.
When America joined the war, Frank was eager to sign up – both out of patriotism, and the hope it would reflect well on his future career choice. George had agreed at the time, and Grace knows how much he later regretted it.
Frank was in the army less than a year, before they buried him in France. At Meuse-Argonne, she was told, along with several thousand other Americans who would never return home.

Life as a Widow

Grace and George grew close throughout their mutual mourning for Frank. They both battled with guilt alongside their grief, but helped each other through the tough times with a dose of Frank’s optimism.
As they were coming out the other side, George conceived a project – to take Grace under his wing, and give her the chance Frank never had. A career in the FBI. Which would be all the more difficult considering her gender.
The pension Grace received as a war widow paid for her schooling, but she needed some direction for her life. The challenge George presented sounded like just the sort of mountain she’d like to climb. So, George gave her unending advice on what to study, with whom, and in what order. He helped her acquire internships, but it was her own intelligence and determination which cinched her accomplishments.
In time, although she never quite forgave her mother, the loss of her own husband reminded her of her mother’s own grief. They never again spoke in person, but began exchanging a few cards a year – nothing heavy, just some greetings and affection, and a bit of news. Grace did take particular pride in sending along a photograph of herself the first day she embarked on her new career - as a government coroner (the final career step before she’d join the FBI.)

Frank Sullivan

George Sullivan

A Career Woman

George came though, and after only five years as a coroner, she became the third woman to join The Bureau. George became her official mentor, then, and she learned everything there was to learn from him – his knowledge, the tricks of his trade, his connections. All of which she now uses as the Public Forensic Specialist.
She took on the job not long ago, when George retired and recommended her for the position. Most of her colleagues are happy working away in the newly opened Crime Lab, which was rather state of the art! Grace, too, worked in the Lab. But she was also the spokesperson and trial expert for big, public cases. Most of them agreed her poise and “grace” under the pressure of the public eye made her well-suited to the job.
There are one or two she suspects who might grumble about their seniority, and have some right to do so. But none have done so yet in her presence, or made her feel unwelcome. Which surprised her, really – she expects they’re merely hiding it well.

Family Ties

Unfortunately, her mother wasn’t the only one to see the photo, or read the letter describing her new career and the direction she was taking. Uncle Jimmie decided it would be useful to bring Grace back into the family fold. She shirked his first few attempts at contact, but eventually he found his way in: her mother.
Uncle Jimmie needed a job done, here and there, to cover up a bit of sloppy business. So long as Grace cooperated, letting slip a fingerprint here or there, everything would be fine. If she didn’t cooperate, however, Uncle Jimmie threatened to send her mother “up the creek”, or worse. He implied it would be no trouble at all for her to be implicated in one of the family’s past transgressions, and Grace had no choice but to believe him.
Fortunately, Uncle Jimmie’s gang (he was the right hand man of the boss – whoever that was) had gotten pretty good at covering for themselves, so he only showed upon once every few years. But, there it was. She had no choice really, not if she wanted to spare her mother, estranged though they might be.
In exchange for her (unwilling) assistance, Jimmie always offered her a favor. It was important to folk like him, that slates be kept even, and was rather insistent. He took it upon himself once to buy her a car. Just the kind she’d been longing for, although she couldn’t remember telling him that. She sold it and gave the money to charity, which only made him laugh.
To date, she’s owed two favors from Uncle Jimmie… ‘though she swears she’ll never collect. She last saw him two years ago, and hopes he isn’t due for a visit. To be fair, if it weren’t for his illicit dealings, the blackmail over her mother, and his involvement in her father’s death, she might just like the guy. She liked him as a child, he’s an amiable sort who pays real attention and is genuinely sincere.

A Friend on the Inside

Grace has made one good friend within the FBI, outside of George of course. Mary Porter is a specialist librarian, who has done some research for Grace in the past. They worked together before either of them joined the FBI (and were even at school together, but had only had a few classes in common).

Mary Porter

Occasionally, Grace comes across “ritual” deaths – some suicides, some murders, and some between them yet undetermined. Whenever Grace comes across strange symbols or unusual circumstances of a death, Mary is her first stop (usually with photographs in hand);
Mary and Grace have lunch when they can, although their work keeps them both quite busy. (The challenge never ends when you’re a woman in a man’s world.) Mary never married, and is proud of her spinster-status; she lives with an older spinster aunt and quite happy about it.
Grace enjoys being sociable, getting out for suppers or Sunday brunches with a few local girlfriends and neighbor couple, but isn’t particularly close with any of them. She does well at society or work functions, and always puts on a good face for the FBI. Grace is proud of what she does, and enjoys talking about the science of her industry among her peers.

Recent Past

Grace hasn’t been around the Crime Lab much of late, just coming off a six-month long high-profile trial. The process was grueling, but the good guys won in the end.
Eerily, however, Grace yesterday received a note in her private mail, stamped and metered locally, with just two words handwritten inside “You’re Welcome.”
Could it be from Uncle Jimmie? Had he somehow manipulated the outcome of the trial, or some bit of evidence? Was this him “repaying” one of her supposed favors? Or, if it wasn’t from Uncle Jimmie, then who might it have been from, and what did it mean?

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