The Lesson of Her Death

Steve.”
    “You little shit.” Charlie Mahoney walked slowly around Jamie.
    Mahoney was impressed the boy wasn’t crying. He decided he’d have to try harder. “You’re a fucking
liar
. I know it. Your father knows it. And you know it.”
    “I was by myself.” Jamie looked at the door. Deputy Ebbans had left a few minutes ago to get Cokes. Jamie was just now catching on that he wasn’t coming back.
    “Oh, cut the crap. What do you think this is? Like breaking curfew? You think you’re gonna get fucking
grounded
for this? You think they’re going to take away your
allowance?
I’m talking
prison!
I’m talking about hard time up in Warwick. You’re how old? Sixteen?”
    “Fifteen,” Jamie said.
    Now the boy’s voice was quivering.
    “You’re fifteen now but by the time you come to trial—”
    “Me?” His voice cracked.
    “You’ll be sixteen and they’ll send you into the adult wing. That’s it, kid. You’re fucked.”
    And he was starting to cry.
    “I didn’t do it. I swear I didn’t.”
    Mahoney sat and leaned forward. “You don’t know jack shit, you little prick! Jack shit. We’ve gotta find
somebody
. And ’cause we don’t have anybody else, as far as I’m concerned that somebody is you.”
    Jamie wiped his face. “Where’s my father?”
    “He said he was leaving.”
    “No! He said he was going to be here with me.”
    “He just said that to get you in here. He told us you’re lying.”
    Jamie looked at the door. His teeth touched and he breathed hotly. “He did not.”
    “He said you lied to him and you’d lie to us.”
    “He didn’t say that. He wouldn’t.”
    “Who the hell were you with? You have a daisy chain going, pulling each other’s dicks?”
    “I’m not a homo!”
    “You’re not? Then you wouldn’t mind a little pussy. A pretty girl walking by herself. A pretty little
college
girl. Were you the one that came all over her?”
    The tears were thick. “I didn’t do anything.”
    “How many times did you see the movie?”
    “What movie?”
    Mahoney leaned forward and screamed, “Will you cut out this bullshit?! How many times did you see
The Lost Dimension?”
    Jamie looked down and picked at a ragged fingernail. “A couple. I don’t know.”
    Mahoney said slowly, “You know, your father gave us some of your shorts. Ones you’d been wearing while you were beating off. We’ve got samples of your come. We’re going to match it against what we found in the girl.”
    “My father …” Jamie whispered.
    “We know there were two of you. We’ve—”
    “He gave you my underwear?”
    “We’ve got enough now to convict
you
. But we don’t want to leave that other asshole wandering around the streets. You give his name to us and you’ll walk. I guarantee it.”
    Jamie looked desperately at the door.
    “I was alone.”
    Mahoney waited for a long, long minute then kicked back his chair and stood. “I gotta crap. People like you make me want to shit. I’ll be back in three minutes. Think real hard, kid.”
    Mahoney left the room. The door remained open about six inches and through the gap Jamie could see the back door of Town Hall. He gazed through the half window at the parking lot and the thick trees beyond.
    Outside, it was a May school day. The sun was brilliant and insects zipping through the light flashed like sparks. Outside, kids were lining up to be picked for softball in PE class, they were jogging, playing soccer and tennis, swatting golf balls.
    Outside was an entirely different dimension from that in which Jamie Corde now sat.
    The sunlight grew in radiance. No, it had moved closer to him! He was astonished to find himself on his feet, no longer sitting in the hard chair. Now, walking across the interrogation room. Now, pushing into the dark corridor, staring all the while at the back door window. In the hallway, pausing. The light began to approach him, slowly at first then picking up speed, rushing toward him, as his heart thudded with a shockingly loud pounding, beating ever faster. The light filled his vision, it illuminated his flushed skin, it grew very close. And Jamie understands that the sound is not his heart at all but the drumming of his running shoes on chestnut floorboards. His hands rise palms out fingers splayed, the back door explodes outward and a million splinters of glass precede Jamie Corde into the golden light.

    One man jumped at the sound. The other did not.
    Mahoney looked at the shocked face of T.T.