Sadie knew she was in over her head. She had accepted the boy's invitation to 'the farmhouse,’ where all the great parties were held by upperclassmen at her school. She accepted because Arno was one of the popular boys: he was tall and gorgeous and so smooth. Arno had been her first lover just a week ago. They had gone to a movie, and later, in the backseat of his car, they had consummated their relationship.

"I remember a whisper I heard when I was seven; a uniformed policeman was addressing my aunt, with whom I lived. 'Your brother, Mrs. Allen,' he said, 'lost his life in an automobile accident last night.' "Aunt Livy's only brother was my dad, Tom Lewis, Jr. I remember thinking to myself that I was named after him, which made me Tom Lewis, III. I heard a sudden sharp intake of breath and then screaming.

The tall man in the flashy suit appeared as if by magic next to the bus stop, close to the green-painted park bench upon which the girl sat. He craned his neck to read the name tag pinned to the white blouse of her school uniform.