“Aside from the usual bullying, the worst thing Banks did was throw acid, aimed at the kid’s genitals, but he missed and instead the acid landed on Cal Junior’s back.”

“That’s monstrous!” Rina was aghast. “I hope he did some jail time.”

“Nope. Nothing. Cal J never told his old man.”

“But surely his dad knew something!”

Decker shrugged.

Rina was taken aback. “C’mon. When you found out about Sammy and Jacob, you were ready to tear the SOB apart!”

“Vitton is the ‘walk like a man’ type of guy.”

“Acid on the genitals, Peter?”

“If Vitton would have known, I’m sure he would have arrested Banks.”

“That poor boy—Cal J. How did he stand such humiliation and physical abuse?”

“I think Dr. Ben came to his rescue and Rudy was expelled.”

“So Rudy had a reason to hate Little.”

“True, but Little wasn’t murdered until five years later.”

Rina thought about that. “If Little got involved in Cal’s welfare, he must have said something to his father.”

“I’m sure he did. I’m sure that Cal Senior hated Rudy. He just didn’t have enough of anything to arrest him.”

“Acid on the genitals…how could any father stand for that?”

“I’m sure he didn’t know, Rina.”

“Talk about emasculation…” She thought a moment. “Did Vitton suspect his son was gay?”

“According to Lamar, Cal J hadn’t come out in high school, but everyone knew.”

“Is Cal really, really gay or just like…gay.”

Decker smoothed his mustache. He knew she was asking the question for a reason. “Uh…he’s not overly flamboyant, if that’s what you mean. He was definitely effete, but I’ve known guys like that who are married. I didn’t get a chance to say more than a couple of words to him. He’s not leaving until Saturday. Maybe I can catch him tomorrow.”

“What did Cal Senior think about his son being gay?”

“According to Lamar, he dealt with it by denying or not talking about it.”

“Hmmm…”

“What does hmmm mean?”

“How should I put this?” She tried to organize her thoughts. “I once knew a very religious family. They lived in one of the ultra-Orthodox sections of Brooklyn. Anyway, the family had quite a few sons and one was gay. He died of AIDS. The mother was broken up…just devastated. As for the father…he couldn’t wait to be done with shivah. I would have thought it was my imagination, but I wasn’t the only one who noticed.”

“I’m sure your perceptions are accurate.”

“Maybe, maybe not. Now it could be that the man had deep, deep feelings for his son, but he sure didn’t show it. What he projected was being repelled by his son’s makeup.”

“Okay. So, yes, maybe Cal was repelled by his son’s gayness, but I would bet that Cal Senior didn’t want anybody beating up on his son.”