did ponder about that. whether it would fit or not. but, doesn't have to be denise or, as you said, could be stdh. pm guard turned off.
I admit that I haven't spent a lot of time thinking about the backstories of most of the peripheral characters. I probably should have more, but then I originally had JohnCBB (the guy who was the original writer working with me) doing that for me. Certainly, a background like that could 100% definitely drive a character's actions and motivations. Mrs. Vandermeer is probably the closest to having that kind of background, but we've already pretty much run the course with her.
So, as I type this, I don't know exactly how that might fit in but, as I said, I'll ponder it, and thanks for the suggestion. If you come up with any other ideas, happy to hear them.