Page 55 of Coram House

Got your message. No apology necessary, but I never say no to a good meal.

I hit send. There. Crazy thing, done.

I’m brushing my teeth when the reply comes.

Definitely apologies necessary. How about tomorrow? 7pm?

My stomach sinks. All at once I’m both sober and full of regret for my impulse. But it’s too late now.

Sounds great.

Three dots and then a response.

sg. Will send details tmrw.

I put my phone away, trying to ignore the queasy feeling in my stomach, unsure if it’s regret or whisky. Probably both.

June 5, 1989—US District Courthouse

Karl Smith

Karl Smith:Do I remember Tommy? God. Sure. Been a long time since I thought about him. You know, that little bastard left without a word. I’m kidding, mostly. We all did what we had to do. I wondered, actually, if I’d find him here. Saw some of the others already. People brought their whole families—it’s like a reunion out there. Twenty years now.

Alan Stedsan:So you believe he ran away?

KS:I mean, it makes sense. All of us would have run away if we’d had anywhere else to go. And Tommy had it worse than some of us.

AS:What do you mean by that?

KS:Look, he was a small kid. And on top of that he was scared of everything. Spiders, stories, water. And he wet his bed all the time. You can imagine how the older kids—the tougher kids—were.

AS:But you were friends?

KS:You make it sound like we were, I dunno, blood brothers or something. But yeah, we were. He was a wizard at building stuff. Forts, rock castles, that kind of stuff. That’s why I remember the day he left. See, we were supposed to meet up. All the kids were down on the point, playing in the woods. The sisters hardly ever gave us time like that just to play, but it was so hot. I think they just wanted to get rid of us. Tommy was supposed to meet me and Willy, but he never showed up.

AS:Meet you where?

KS:We’d started building this fort out in the woods. Over on RockPoint—you know it? It was real woods back then, no trails or anything. Willy was in trouble—he’d gotten suckered into helping one of the sisters with something, so he was out. Tommy was supposed to meet me, but he never showed. It was supposed to be this perfect day, you know—three boys building a fort in the woods—but then it was just me, all alone. I was pretty sore about it. But when I went to find him at dinner, let him have it, he wasn’t there. I figured he got sick or something. And then the next day, they said he ran away.

AS:Who said he ran away?

KS:You know, the sisters.

AS:And you never saw him again?

KS:Like I said, I was sore about it for a while. But we all would have done it if we could. Maybe he ended up somewhere better. You never know.

AS:Did you ever look for him?

KS:Nah. Once I left, I wanted to put it all behind me, you know? Start over. It’s not like we were going to get a beer and talk about the shit that happened in there. It’s not the kind of stuff you want to go back to.

March 16, 1988—US District Courthouse

Linda Bessette

Linda Bessette:Fred Rooney? Yes, I knew him. He was a monster. A nightmare.

Alan Stedsan:Can you tell me what you mean by that?

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