Broken Saint, The by Mike Markel Read Free Book Online Page A

really process
what you told me this morning.” His hand came up to his right eye to control
the twitching.
    “It must have been a terrible shock.” I paused. “Maricel
was living with you since August, is that right?”
    “Yes,” Al Gerson said. “We’d had some contact with
her—written some emails, a few Skype conversations—over the summer, but we had
never met her until we picked her up at the airport.”
    I heard muffled sobs coming from Andrea Gerson’s
direction. She had started to weep. Everyone paused, as if she was going to say
something, but she didn’t. Al Gerson turned back to me, which I read as him
telling me to keep going.
    “This must have been quite an adjustment for
Maricel, from an orphanage in the Philippines to Montana.”
    “Absolutely, but you know, it was less of a culture
shock than I expected.”
    “How’s that?”
    “I think I mentioned to you this morning that we
have hosted a number of exchange students over the years, and each successive
one seems to know a lot more about the U.S. It’s as if our culture is the rest
of the world’s second culture. Our movies, music, fashion, everything about our
culture is so well known—and emulated. A girl like Maricel, who’s grown up with
the Web, she knew more about American pop stars than I do—and that’s before she
got here.”
    I turned to face Andrea, who was still weeping. “Ms.
Gerson, did you get close to Maricel?”
    She just looked at me, buried her head in her
hands, and started to moan. She stood and walked quickly across the room. By
the time Ryan had stood up, she was already out to the entryway and starting up
the stairs.
    “I’m very sorry, Detective Seagate.” Al Gerson gazed
off in the distance. Then, after a moment, he turned to look at me. “It’s not
relevant to your visit, but I feel I owe you an explanation.” He took a deep
breath. “Andrea and I have two children. Judy is a freshman at the University
of Connecticut. Very good student. And our son, Mark. Eight years ago, Mark’s
twin, Mitch, died in a snowboarding accident.” He paused, took a deep breath to
collect himself. “Andrea suffered a nervous breakdown. After all these years,
she has not succeeded in moving beyond that tragedy.”
    “I’m very sorry to hear about that, Provost
Gerson.”
    He nodded to thank me. “Before, she was quite a
happy woman. A joyous woman. She was very successful, a business analyst for a
software startup here in town.” He paused. His eye was twitching out of control,
but this time he didn’t bring his hand up to try to control it.
    I looked at Ryan, who was scanning the books in a
bookcase behind Al Gerson.
    “Now, she stays at home.”
    “With Mark?”
    Gerson looked down at his hands, then raised his
eyes. “Mark struggles with his own challenges. He dropped out of high school
several years ago.”
    “Does he live here?”
    “Officially, yes, I guess he does. But we’re never
sure where he is minute-to-minute, day-to-day.”
    “Is he home now?”
    “No,” he said. “I left him a voice mail about
Maricel. He didn’t pick up.”
    “Where does he spend his time?”
    “He’s friends with a few other D&D fans. Dungeons
and Dragons?” He looked at me to see if I understood. I nodded. “Any given
night, he’s as likely to be couch surfing at one of their houses as he is to be
here. If there’s any one place he’s likely to be, it’s at that gaming store
downtown.”
    Ryan said, “Game World, on Second?”
    Gerson nodded.
    “So,” I said, “let me get back to Maricel, Provost
Gerson. How was she doing here?”
    “She was having some challenges academically. Her
grades were weak last semester.”
    “Why do you think that was?”
    “I’ve seen it a thousand times. Some kids, you
take them out of a structured environment, they go through a period …” His arms
were out, palms up, a parent’s universal hand signal that said, “You can’t
explain it. You might as well accept