Chapter 23
He wrote separately to her about books, therapy, and the terrible prison oatmeal.
He did not tell her he had gone away because of Gabriel.
He told her:
I made choices that hurt people. Telling the truth afterward was necessary, but it did not erase the choices. I am where courts decided I must be.
Sophia read the letter twice.
Then asked me, “Can someone be good and bad?”
“Yes.”
“At the same time?”
“Most people are.”
“Does that mean we forgive everything?”
“No.”
“What does it mean?”
“That we tell the truth about both.”
Luca served twenty-six months after good-conduct credit.
He contacted Vincent upon release.
Vincent contacted Amina.
Amina called me.
“Mr. Moretti requests coffee in a public establishment during daylight. He specifically states there will be no security unless you request it.”
“Who wrote that sentence?”
“Consequences. I revised the punctuation.”
We met near the lake three weeks later.
Luca arrived early.
Prison had taken weight from his face and added gray near his temples.
He stood when I approached.
“Which chair?”
I chose the one facing the entrance.
He sat opposite me.
“How is Sophia?”
“You spoke to her yesterday.”
“I did.”
“Then ask a different question.”
He looked at his coffee.
“How are you?”
“Working.”
“I read the survivor fund report.”
“Every page?”
“Twice.”
“Why?”
“I did not understand the grant-scoring model.”
“That is the first respectable reason anyone has given me for rereading it.”
A small smile appeared.
He did not turn it into charm.
He worked for a reentry organization coordinating warehouse certifications for people with criminal records.
His supervisor was thirty-three.
“How is that?” I asked.
“He says ‘growth opportunity’ when I am wrong.”
May you like
“You dislike him.”
“I respect him reluctantly.”
