The comment wasn’t enough to re-lay the charges, but it was enough to persuade everyone Pierce was guilty, and not just folks in the Promise Falls area. The soundbite went viral. Craig Pierce became the world’s most despised man on the Internet for several days. There were emailed death threats, harassing phone calls. He’d had to go into hiding until things blew over, which took the better part of a month.

Turned out not everyone had forgotten about him.

Duckworth let Ruth Pierce continue with her story.

“My husband was devastated by all of it. He was so . . . ashamed. He wanted to believe Craig was innocent, but he knew . . . we both knew he’d done what they’d said he’d done. But he had a sickness, you know? Something was wrong in his head. We were going to get treatment for him.”

“About your husband,” Duckworth said, steering her back.

“Then, when Craig was . . . when he was attacked, and the aftermath . . . When Craig finally came home from the hospital, Brendan couldn’t even go into his room, couldn’t bear to see him, the way he was. He couldn’t look at him. I don’t think it was shame by that point. He just couldn’t bear to see his son that way. I made him . . . I made him go up.”

“What do you mean?”

“Aren’t you going to have a scone?” she asked.

“Of course.” Duckworth reached for one, buttered it, then scooped out some strawberry jam the woman had put out and dropped it onto the scone.

Ruth smiled sadly. “I always used to love to watch a man eat.”

Duckworth took a bite. “Wow. That’s fanatastic. It’s still hot. The butter’s melting.”

Her smile faded. “But it’s hard to watch Craig have his dinner. I mean, there was so much damage.”

They were both quiet for a moment. Duckworth waited for Ruth Pierce to finish her story.

“So I said to my husband, he’s your son. You can’t stay out of his room forever. He needs you, I told him. I’d made Craig some lunch. Tomato soup with crackers. He’s loved tomato soup ever since he was three years old. He can make the crackers soft by putting them in the soup. That makes it easier for him. I said to Brendan, take your son his soup.”

Ruth Pierce took a breath before continuing.

“And he finally said okay, he would do it. He took the tray and he went up the stairs so slow. I stood at the bottom and waited. I heard him go into Craig’s room. I asked Craig later what his father said, and apparently he said nothing. Brendan came back down the stairs, and when he got to the bottom . . . he just collapsed.”

Duckworth stopped chewing his scone.

“What was it?” he asked.