Fourteen
The Present
HELEN DOES NOT MAKE any notes while I tell my story. As soon as I finish, she starts scribbling furiously on the yellow legal pad in front of her. I wait quietly for her to finish, knowing better than to interrupt her.
Finally, she puts her pen down and looks at me. I remember again how scary her cop face can be.
“OK, Tom,” she begins, “I have just a few questions. Who exactly hired Donna? You spoke as if her arrival was a complete surprise.”
“Well, it was and it wasn’t. From time to time, the archives would request a student assistant in the work study program be assigned to us. My superior did interview Donna but I had opted out of dealing with that, what with everything else.”
“That makes sense. Now, you said you felt sick afterward. Do you mean literally si
