Page 56 of The Broken Places

She pulled into the medical school parking lot exactly thirty minutes later, hurried into the building, and then stopped a woman in thehallway. “Hi. I’m supposed to attend a talk by Dr. Sweeton. Do you know where that’s being given?”

“I’m not sure. If it’s for all the students, it’s probably in the auditorium right around the corner.”

“Great, thanks,” she called over her shoulder as she sped off in the direction the woman had pointed. There were a couple of men just entering through a double door, and Lennon saw a crowded lecture room filled with people just beyond them and followed close on their heels.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

“Trinity”

Episode from podcastThe Fringe

Host of podcast, Jamal Whitaker

“Hello, welcome toThe Fringe. Trinity. Beautiful name.”

“Thanks. Named for the Holy Trinity. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And yet here I am, nothing but a shadow.”

Jamal smiles. “How are you?”

The woman with the long dark-blonde curls crosses her legs. She appears to be in her mid- to late twenties, attractive, wearing jeans and a brightly colored peasant top. “Mostly fine,” she says. “Thanks for having me.”

“Thanks for being here. So, Trinity, you’re in the porn industry. You do films?”

“Yeah, I’ve been doing them since I was seventeen.”

“Underage.”

“Did I say seventeen? I meant eighteen.”

Jamal smiles again. “How’d you get into the business?”

“I met a guy.” She adjusts the hoop earring that’s caught in her hair. “Every girl’s story of woe starts out that way, right?” She laughs. “I met a guy.” She raises her hands and wiggles her fingers in a mock-spooky movement. “Dun, dun, dun.”

“A boyfriend got you into it?”

She drops her hands and shrugs. “I wouldn’t necessarily call him a boyfriend. This guy I used to mess around with. He was a friend of my dealer. Anyway, he introduced me to someone, and I started doing films. Easy as that.”

“What was it like growing up?”

“Well. I’m the daughter of a preacher, if you can believe it.”

“A preacher’s kid. So home was good?”

“No, home was not good. My father preached in the pulpit on Sunday morning and then crawled into bed with me on Sunday night. And Monday, too, if he felt like it. Thursday, as well, if he could get me alone. You can probably understand why I hid a lot. In some way, my father taught me how to be a superhero—because of him, I became invisible.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I believe you, Jamal, and I appreciate that. What you do, listening to stories, it’s a decent thing to do.”

“How do you feel about making films?”

“I like it.”

“That’s not always the case.”

Trinity brings her foot up on the edge of the couch and hugs her leg. “I had hands on me growing up, hands I didn’t want and didn’t give permission to. When I do a film, I’m the one in control. I’m there because I decided to be there. I say yes or no, and then I get paid for it. I’m taking back my own power, you know?”

Jamal nods.

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