Idyll Hands by Stephanie Gayle

Author:Stephanie Gayle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Prometheus Books

CHIEF THOMAS LYNCH

THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 1999

1530 HOURS

Wright came into my office. Used to be, I could go months without the pleasure of his company in my space. Not anymore. Every day, it seemed, he had ideas and theories that translated into more work for me, like checking out whether a teacher at Susan’s high school who’d been charged with indecent exposure had taught her. (He hadn’t.) Between him treating me like I was his detective and him insinuating that I needed reading glasses, I had had my fill of Lewis Wright.

“Remember our bet?” His face was 100 percent smug. No way. He hadn’t done it, had he?

“You found the father of Susan’s baby!” We both started at the volume of my words and looked to the closed door. Nothing happened, so I repeated my question, at a normal volume.

“No. But what if I discovered that she didn’t go through with the abortion?”

“What?” How did he know that? “What’s in the folder you’ve got there?”

“If I show you, I think you’ll agree that you owe me a bottle,” he said.

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

He slapped the folder onto my desk. I turned the cover over. “A birth certificate?” I looked at the copied form.

Place of Birth: Suffolk County

Place of Birth: St. Ann’s Hospital, Dorchester, MA

Mother’s stay before delivery in hospital or institution: 16 ½ hours

Full name of child: James Michael Shaughnessy

If plural births, twins or triplets? If so, born 1st, 2nd or 3rd? N/A

Born alive or stillborn: Alive

Date of birth: April 6, 1973

Sex: M

Color: W

Father: Blank

Mother’s maiden name: Susan Shaughnessy

Present name: Susan Shaughnessy

Residence: 15 Cedar St., Somerville, MA

Color or race: White

Age at the time of this birth: 16

Place of birth: Avon, MA

Occupation: student

I hereby certify that I attended the birth of this child who was born at the time of 6:23 p.m. on the date above stated. The information given was furnished by Susan Shaughnessy related to this child as mother.

Signature of the attendant at birth: [illegible scrawl]

Physician, parent or other: Dr. Frederick Chambers

Received at the office of city or town clerk: April 9, 1973

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