Some days later, when the trial was on a break, Dad looked through the porthole window of the courtroom to find it still empty. A woman about Mom’s age was seated alone on a bench outside the entrance. “Do you know when they’re back in?” he asked. “Not for another ten minutes, I heard.” Alex witnessed the exchange and told Dad that the woman was Sweeney’s mother. He said that earlier in the morning he was sitting next to her, unaware of who she was, until he overheard the lawyer for Ma Maison have the regrettable duty of informing her that Sweeney did not wish to see her, despite her having
...more
