Yes, I agree Bookpossum, there seems little doubt that Grace had real reasons for feeling guilty even if she was not directly involved in the murders.
I think adding the Mary alter ego was a clever choice, by the author. Aside from being an interesting and seemingly credible - but also controversial - explanation in its own right, it provides explanations for small slips like those I quoted. According to Wikipedia's article on
Dissociative Identity Disorder (multiple personalities):
Quote:
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The primary identity, which often has the patient's given name, tends to be "passive, dependent, guilty and depressed" with other personalities being more active, aggressive or hostile, and often containing a current time line that lacks childhood memory.
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This description would seem able to explain all my little snippets, above, and blow my theory out of the water. It might be interesting to look at the original source material and see how closely DID seems to fit the raw facts ... but for now my overall impression remains as it was: guilty.