"I already told you: The concept of friendship is alien to me. I knew him from surfing. He surfs at County Line and I do, too, because the waves are usually good and I can just drive over the canyon from here." Second smile of the day. "Bet you didn't see me as a surfer. I can't play ball worth shit and I spaz out in basketball but on a board my balance is pretty good."

"You're full of surprises, Charlie."

"Going to put that in your letter?"

"Am I writing a letter?"

"Far as I'm concerned, there's no need. The entire process is utterly absurd, not to mention corrupt and despicable. Look where it led."

"Bad people can turn anything rotten."

"The system's rotten," he said. "The haves keep getting more, the have-nots keep getting ripped off. Don't think I'm a socialist or an anarchist--any kind of ist. Those systems inevitably sink into corruption, as well. I just work at seeing things the way they are."

We walked some more.

I said, "What made you decide T and Q might be guilty themselves?"

"My long-term analysis of their personalities plus the anger--rage, really--that I heard in their voices when they were discussing Ms. Freeman. It all made sense, when you knew about the SAT scam."

"Did everyone at Prep know?"

"I can't speak for everyone, but anyone with a brain in their head had to know. T getting a 1580? Q pulling 1520? That's about as likely as me dating a supermodel."

"So you suspected them, but didn't want to go to your father."

"He's the last person I'd go to. All he'd care about is how it impacted my application."

"Instead you called in those anonymous tips."

Silence. "That was cowardly, wasn't it?"

"The first one was kind of abstract, Charlie. Three dates."

"Abstract as in useless," he said. "No one figured it out."

"We did," I said. "And it led to everything else that followed. Your spelling it out on the second tip was a nice boost."

"We couldn't hide Marty forever and no one was getting anywhere. I knew I'd been too oblique the first time. How'd you know it was me?"

"The second time you phoned Lieutenant Sturgis's cell directly. Only insiders have that. As in your dad. More important, that phone registers caller I.D."

He slapped his forehead. "Oh, brilliant. Put that in the letter: Charlie has trouble with basic logic."

"If you feel like flogging yourself, that's fine. But the truth is you did the right thing and you were the only one at Prep who did."

"Big deal, it was too little, too late." He rotated a finger. "Whoopee-doo."

"Okay," I said. "Good luck."

"That's it?"

"Unless there's something else you want to say."

"No, I guess not... are you going to write the letter?"

"If you want me to."

"Can I think about that?"

"When's the application deadline?"

"Couple of weeks."

"Give me a day or two's notice."