Before She Knew Him

by Peter Swanson

Matthew teaches at Sussex Hall, and that’s where Dustin Miller went to high school.

The thought that she knew what he had done to Dustin Miller—even if she just suspected—filled him with both a feeling of terror and a feeling of something close to giddiness.

Back in the study, he wrapped the Junior Olympics fencing trophy in newspaper and put it in the bottom of the box. He added Bob Shirley’s lighter, the pair of Vuarnet sunglasses he’d taken from Jay Saravan’s BMW, and,

finally, the battered schoolboy’s copy of Treasure Island that had belonged to Alan Manso.