"What will happen to him?" Susan said.
"He'll do time," I said. "He's confessed. We know he wus in that school with a loaded gun. He's the only one who really knows if he shot somebody."
"But . . . ?"
"But aside from being hotter than the rockets' red glare," I said, "Rita Fiore is a goddamned genius."
"So he has some hope," Susan said.
"The answer to that is more your department," I said. "His parents have put him aside. The love of his life is a child molester. He's going to be convicted in one way or another of a capital crime. How much hope is he likely to have?"
"Some hope is better than no hope," Susan said.
"They teach you that at Harvard?" I said.
"No," Susan said. "I learned that from you."