The subpoena took six weeks. Daniel explained it to me in simple terms because I was five, but I understood it better than he thought I did. The state's attorney had to sign off on the request. The HVAC company had to comply. The records had to be reviewed. Every name and address on the list represented a house where Ronald Kessler had been alone with someone.
Daniel came over the night the records arrived. He spread the list out on the kitchen table and he and my mother went through it page by page. I sat on the floor with my blocks and listened.
"There's a Mrs. Patterson on Oak Street. Eighty-two years old. He was there two years ago."
"Did she report anything?"
"No."
"There's a Ms. Ruiz on Forest Lane. Thirty-four. No report."
"There's a Mrs. Cole on Main Street. Forty-seven. Two
