“Larner had been bothering me for a while. It began soon after I started volunteering. Nothing blatant—looks, smiles, little asides about my clothes—how cute they were, what a nice healthy girl I was. He’d pass me in the hall and pat me on the head or brush my hip or chuck my chin. I knew what was going on, but what I didn’t realize was just how wrong it was.” She took hold of her hair, smoothed the ends. “I didn’t want to leave Achievement House, thought it would be a good summer experience. And even if I’d told someone, what was he really doing to me?”

“Insidious,” I said.

“Insidious and devious and altogether creepy. I tried to avoid him. For the most part, it worked. But that day—it was a Monday, I remember that because I’d been to the beach over the weekend, had gotten tan. Willie Burns had been gone a good week, maybe more. I remember asking about Willie because with him gone the halls were quiet. When he worked, he’d usually be humming, low-key, some kind of bluesy thing. He always looked stoned, but he did have a good voice. And he was friendly, would generally look up and smile, and say, ‘Hi.’ ”

“Friendly to everyone?”

“To the kids. They seemed to like him, though I got the feeling some of them were making fun of him—that drugged-out demeanor. The only time he got furtive was when he was with Caroline. Anyway, he was gone, and an older woman was doing his job—an old Latina who didn’t speak English. I asked people what had happened to Willie, but no one seemed to know.”