Marilyn Warluski

Marilyn Warluski is Tommy Tuttle and Tammy Tuttle’s cousin, a survivor of their manipulation, and an important source of family history in the investigation of Moses Grace. Her memories supply a possible link between Grace and the Tuttles: the name Malcolm Gilliam, which she recalls hearing in connection with Tammy and their grandfather.

Family Background and Place in the Investigation

Investigators learn that Marilyn owns a barn beside Plum River, the connection through which MAX found the Tuttles. Sherlock describes her as not criminal, but vulnerable and easily influenced; her cousins had used and manipulated her, and may have worn her down. Despite that treatment, Marilyn survived. The agents hope she might know something about Tommy and help establish Moses Grace’s real identity.

Savich recalls asking Marilyn about Tommy and Tammy’s parents. She had said their mother was dead and that she did not know who their father was. He had not pursued the subject at the time, when other matters were pressing. In retrospect, he considers whether Grace could be the twins’ grandfather, a possibility that makes Marilyn’s recollections newly important.

Reunion with the Agents

When Savich and Sherlock visit, Marilyn is no longer the defeated, frightened young woman they remember. She appears healthy, with bright eyes and clean hair tied back, and wears paint-stained jeans, a Plum River sweatshirt, and paint-splattered sneakers while carrying a paintbrush. The contrast makes her changed circumstances immediately apparent, though the evidence does not explain what brought about the change.

Marilyn recognizes Savich and greets him with exuberant affection, recalling an overnight letter she had sent him from Aruba. In it, she had expressed relief that Tammy had not killed him; she tells him she never expected to see him again. Savich introduces Sherlock as his wife and reminds Marilyn that Sherlock, whose arm is in a sling, would also want to thank her for helping them. Marilyn then greets Sherlock and asks why she is not also Agent Savich, bringing her direct, familiar manner into the reunion.

Recollections About Malcolm Gilliam

Asked whether she remembers the man’s first name, Marilyn recalls that her mother and Aunt Cordie called him Papa. She had also heard him tell Tammy to call him Malcolm, leading her to conclude that his name must have been Malcolm Gilliam. She remembers him as handsome and good-looking, but old.

Marilyn’s account places that memory alongside a later family exchange: about six months afterward, she remembers Tommy and Tammy discussing him, and Tammy showing her a postcard from their granddaddy. Marilyn said he was her granddaddy too, but Tammy replied that Marilyn did not know him as she did. The postcard had come from Montreal. Together, these recollections give investigators a specific identity to pursue and a detail about the family’s past contact with him, while leaving open how he knew where the children were.