But of all the mistakes in his life, the most egregious was his infidelity to Sarah. The shame he carried for the unfaithfulness to his wife was overwhelming. He’d broken his vow and abandoned a core principle; there was no way to forgive his transgression. But the role Jarrod had played was also unforgivable. Simply remembering his part in the matter enraged Ryan beyond any consolable level.
Ryan first met Sarah Coscarelli while attending the University of New Mexico. He recognized her classic Italian beauty, which immediately caught his attention. Sarah had dark curly hair that she wore short and chic, olive skin, and rich, full lips, which perfectly accented her prominent cheekbones. She was also tall and athletic, a departure from the full-bodied look of most European women. Sarah was of Irish-Italian descent, which made her both feisty and passionate. She was a business major at the university and a central figure among the Lobo cheerleaders.
A devout Catholic, Sarah’s strong spiritual beliefs were the foundation of her life, and she never wavered in her faith. Even though she was remarkably attractive with countless suitors, she never drew close to anyone that didn’t keep God their highest priority. Sarah was one of those rare people who held to beliefs regardless of what others might think. She was extraordinary in many ways, but her unshakable faith was, in Ryan’s estimation, the most attractive of her many qualities. The fact that she was also Italian made her the ideal mate. Ryan fell in love with this gorgeous brown-eyed girl, determined that he would be the man to steal her heart.
Sarah Coscarelli came from one of the most influential families in New Mexico. Her father was a two-term senator, Alfonse Coscarelli, a member of the powerful Appropriations Committee in the United States Senate. He later became chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which formed the Department of Homeland Security.
Ryan’s friends bet the chance of dating the venerable Sarah Coscarelli was a long shot, but he would not be dissuaded; he was completely smitten by Sarah’s charm and extraordinary beauty. It took considerable effort for him just to catch her eye, but they did eventually meet during junior year, when Ryan happily discovered they were enrolled in the same statistics class.
Although she was initially standoffish, it turned out that their common Catholic Italian heritage was a compelling feature for Sarah. She learned from her father that Ryan’s ancestry and hers were very closely aligned. Ryan’s grandfather, Amerigo Metatucci, hailed from the same Tuscany region of Italy that her own family considered their home country. Sarah slowly warmed to Ryan’s persistent efforts to befriend her, and eventually agreed to their first date- which was regrettable, stemming from the fact that Ryan accidentally stood her up. When asked about it later, Sarah described a vastly different recollection of their first date than Ryan remembered. But at no time following this initial misstep did either of them doubt that they were made for each other. They were engaged by their senior year and married a year later in a social event that resembled the Corleone wedding portrayed in Mario Puzo’s The Godfather.
Ryan still had great love and affection for Sarah and hoped to one day gain her forgiveness. There was no doubt their reconciliation could only happen after a confrontation with Jarrod. Until this mutual hatred was resolved, the peace of mind that Ryan sought would remain ever elusive.
NINE
Albuquerque, New Mexico
1976
The two blond-haired girls were snickering as they watched the boy crawl stealthily between the rows of desks. Most of the students in Sister Domitilla’s sixth-grade class were accustomed to Jarrod Conrad’s audacious behavior, but they simply couldn’t resist his antics. A natural prankster, Jarrod loved to have fun at most anyone’s expense- especially his cousin, Ryan Marshall.
Through the years, Jarrod had entertained his classmates with countless class disruptions, his boundless imagination always on the prowl. It was truly amazing he hadn’t been expelled; some of his stunts bordered on juvenile delinquency and property damage. It appeared that Jarrod was about to commence yet another commotion that would send Sister Domitilla into a conniption, giving the class one more opportunity to shirk their schoolwork.
“ Mister Conrad, get back in your seat,” demanded Sister Domitilla. “If I have to correct you one more time, it’s off to the principal’s office with you… again! And I don’t need to remind you that Sister Thea promised that the next time would require your parents’ attendance. Do I make myself clear, Mister Conrad?” she shrilled, her strident voice blistering every eardrum in the room.
“Yes, Sister, I realize the consequences,” mocked the erudite twelve-year-old, his response belying his age. “But would you please tell Ryan to stop flicking spitballs at me and Jessica? It’s really gross.”
“Sister Domitilla, I didn’t do that,” protested Ryan Marshall from two rows away.
“He’s lying, Sister…again,” Jarrod retorted.
“Alright… enough…from both of you!” Sister Domitilla screamed in frustration. “Get to the principal’s office immediately! I’m calling your parents at the break. We’re getting to the bottom of this misbehavior once and for all,” she fumed, slamming her hand against the blackboard, a cloud of chalk dust exploding all around.
Many of the students doubled over, holding back their laughter, but each of them knew this had been brewing for some time. The cousins had never been friendly, their ill will seemingly growing worse with each passing year. But lately their mutual dislike had become even darker, the unruly cousins taking pleasure in getting each other into increasingly serious trouble-which now, apparently, bordered on expulsion.
Jarrod Conrad was a brilliant student. From an early age he was recognized as extremely intelligent, with an IQ that placed him in the top two percent of all children tested for a gifted intellect. Unfortunately, there was nothing in a parochial school curriculum that could challenge him. He never seemed to study and yet he scored perfectly on all of his tests. He was so gifted intellectually, in fact, especially in math, that at times he would dispute calculations on the blackboard even before the teacher caught the mistake. Because there was so little to challenge his phenomenal mind, boredom drove his mischievous behavior. There wasn’t a teacher at Our Lady of Lourdes that could report having had a good experience with Jarrod Conrad.
Even though Jarrod was a few months younger than Ryan Marshall, his cousin became an instant nemesis from the very start. They shared an extraordinary rivalry initiated by their mothers, who were fraternal twin sisters. Each sister was super-competitive and uncommonly dedicated to besting the other, despite what it might entail. This seemingly innocuous tendency, however, was somehow passed to their offspring. The young cousins’ competitive rivalry, which at first was thought quizzical, turned exceedingly bitter over the years as each boy concocted ever more dangerous challenges and foolhardy risks to upstage or embarrass the other.
While Ryan was not averse to accepting dares that endangered his own personal safety, he was never as mean-spirited as his cousin. Jarrod used this to his advantage, always on the lookout for new ways to torment or humiliate Ryan. On one occasion, Ryan foolishly accepted Jarrod’s dare, wading barefoot into a brackish slough near the Rio Grande known to be full of pincer-wielding crayfish. Jarrod sat on the bank and howled as Ryan struggled from the water, screaming, with dozens of crayfish clinging to his toes and fingers.
Neither did Ryan share Jarrod’s proclivity for torturing helpless creatures. As the two boys grew older, Jarrod developed a mean streak that included deliberately maiming small animals. One especially vivid recollection of this perversion came from when Jarrod was about six years old. He had been painfully stung on his bare toes by some large red ants. When he finally stopped crying, he tracked the ants to a sandy mound and, armed with a magnifying glass and a length of lead pipe, methodically destroyed every last ant in the colony. He would intermittently hammer on the mound and the ants would pour out, charging headlong into the focused beam from the magnifying glass, instantly burning them alive. At the end of his demented mission, there were thousands of dead ants lying all over the backyard. With a trickle of sweat on his brow, and a wicked smile on his face, Jarrod proudly proclaimed: “None of those ants will be stinging anyone ever again.”