Chapter 24 - Barron comes to see me
Barron met me at a coffee shop three years after? No, around two years after.
He had separated from Celina during part of her case.
Then reconciled cautiously after her release.
Their marriage was theirs.
He asked to see me.
I agreed.
Public place.
He looked older.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
He knew I wanted specifics.
“For seeing your leg and following them upstairs.”
“Yes.”
“I thought if I stayed with you, Celina would say I betrayed her.”
“Yes.”
“I thought Luke would call someone.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew he wouldn’t.”
There.
He rubbed his hands.
“I was afraid of my own family.”
I understood.
“Fear doesn’t make you innocent.”
“I know.”
Good.
Then:
“I should have picked up your phone and called.”
“Yes.”
“I replay that.”
“Stop eventually.”
He looked surprised.
“Why?”
“Because guilt is supposed to change behavior, not become your hobby.”
Adrian had said something similar to me about the $22,000 transfer.
I had stolen it.
Useful sentence.
Barron nodded.
We never became close.
But when he later testified in a family educational program about bystander responsibility, he described himself accurately:
May you like
“I knew enough to act and chose not to.”
That was better than lifelong self-punishment.
