Chapter 9: What Mason Said Before He Left
Mason's grandmother, a quiet woman named Elaine, had driven four hours to be at the hearing.
She waited in the hallway afterward while the attorneys finished their paperwork.
When I came out, she was sitting on a bench with Mason beside her, his backpack between his feet.
He stood up when he saw me.
"Is Lily okay?" he said.
"She's at Ruth's," I said.
"She's fine.
She made a paper crane this morning.
She wants to show you."
He nodded.
His jaw was tight the way it got when he was holding something in.
"Mason," I said.
"What you did — saving those recordings — that took real courage.
You know that, right?"
He looked at the floor.
"I didn't know if anyone would believe me," he said.
"The first time I tried to tell someone, they said kids imagine things."
"Who did you tell?"
"My teacher.
Last year." He shifted his backpack strap.
"She said Lily seemed fine at pickup."
I thought about that for a moment.
A nine-year-old boy, trying to protect a five-year-old girl, being told he was imagining things, and then going home and quietly pressing record.
"You didn't give up," I said.
He shrugged.
"She didn't have anyone else."
Elaine put her hand on his shoulder.
"We'll get him settled this week," she said to me.
"He can call you.
And Lily." She paused.
"She's a sweet little girl.
He talks about her constantly."
"She talks about him too," I said.
Mason finally looked up.
His eyes were red at the edges but dry.
"Tell her I'll call her on Saturday," he said.
"We were in the middle of a book."
"I'll tell her."
He picked up his backpack and followed his grandmother toward the elevator.
At the corner he turned back once.
"Thank you for believing the recordings," he said.
Then the elevator doors opened and he was gone.
I stood in the hallway for a moment.
A clerk walked past with a stack of folders.
Somewhere down the corridor a door opened and closed.
I took out my phone and called Ruth.
"How is she?" I said when she picked up.
"She just asked me if Mason is coming for dinner."
"Tell her he'll call Saturday."
"She's going to ask me every day until Saturday."
May you like
"I know," I said.
"Let her."
