“Asleep in bed when they left the house, and I have a feeling I know what that means. Dead drunk, how much you want to bet?” Marino says. “I’m going to have to get DCF involved because it’s obvious there’s a problem.”

The Department of Children and Families is the agency in Massachusetts responsible for neglected and abused kids. I tell Marino that no matter what happens in this case, he should make certain the twins are safe. It would seem they don’t have adequate adult supervision. The way they’re headed they’re going to end up hurt or worse, and I don’t think they understand the different kinds of trouble they can get into.

“Like stealing. Like tampering with evidence and obstruction of justice,” Marino agrees. “Call it what you want? That’s what it is when you pick up something that’s not yours at a scene and decide to keep it. And guess what?” He hunches his shoulder to wipe sweat off his chin. “It turns out they were in possession of the dead lady’s sunglasses. Which is too freakin’ bad because I would have liked to see where they found them. How close to the bike or the helmet, that sort of thing?”

He lowers the camera and heads toward me as I begin pulling off the shoe covers I wore walking here.

“Do I dare ask what else was in their knapsacks?” When children stumble upon a violent scene it’s bad for every reason imaginable.

“Leftovers from dinner,” Marino says as he reaches me. “Bread wrapped in napkins, little packets of stuff like Parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes, salt, salad dressing.” His big face is framed in white Tyvek like a nun in a habit, his cheeks bulging and a sweaty deep red.

“Sounds like they’re not being properly fed.” I look up at him from where I sit. “But you’re not really going to know until you get inside their house. Are you okay, Marino? I’m worried you’re very hot.”

“Well they don’t exactly look like they’re starving. Yeah I’m hot. This sucks.”

“One can be overweight and malnourished,” I remind him. “In fact that’s often the case, especially if the diet is mostly sugar and fast food. And left to their own devices, that’s what kids will eat morning, noon and night.”

“It appears they were telling the truth about having pizza for dinner and why they were out wandering around,” he says. “I get the feeling they do this sort of thing a lot in all kinds of weather, probably because you’re exactly right. Their mother’s not taking care of them.”

“It may be that she’s never taken care of them, including when she was pregnant.” I suggest that the twins may be suffering from fetal alcohol syndrome.