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PART I

You Seemed So Real

Chapter One

On a bright, unseasonably warm afternoon in early December, Brandon Trescott walked out of the spa at the Chathaot into a taxi A pesky series of DUIs had cost hiht to operate a motor vehicle in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the next thirty-three months, so Brandon always took cabs The twenty-five-year-old trust-fund baby of a superior court judge ul father, Brandon wasn’t your run-of-the-mill rich kid asshole He worked double shifts at it By the time the state finally suspended his license, he was on his fourth DUI The first two had been pled down to reckless driving, the third had brought hi, but the fourth had resulted in injury to someone besides Brandon, who escaped without a scratch

This winter afternoon, with the terees, Brandon wore a manufacturer-stained, manufacturer-faded hoodie that retailed for around 900 over a white silk T with a collar dragged down by a pair of 600 shades His baggy shorts also had little rips in them, compliments of whichever nine-year-old Indonesian had been poorly paid to put them there He wore flip-flops in December, and he sported an insoucianthelplessly over his eyes

After drinking his weight in Crown Royal one night, he’d flipped his Dodge Viper coun She’d only been his girlfriend teeks, but it was unlikely she’d be anyone’s girlfriend ever again Her naetative state ever since the top of the car coainst the top of her skull One of the last acts she’d attes was to try and take Brandon’s keys fro to witnesses, Brandon had rewarded her concern by flicking a lit cigarette at her

In possibly the first brush with actual consequence that Brandon had ever known, Ashten’s parents, not wealthy but politically connected, had decided to do everything in their power to ensure that Brandon paid for his mistakes Hence the Suffolk County DA’s prosecution on DUI and reckless endanger shocked andpersonal responsibility of him In the end, he was convicted and served four months’ house arrest In a really nice house

During the subsequent civil trial, it was revealed that the trust-fund baby had no trust fund He had no car, had no house As far as anyone could tell, he didn’t own so s had once been in his naned them all over to his parents one day before the car accident It was the before part that killed people, but no one could prove otherwise When the jury in the civil trial awarded daes in the amount of 75 million to the Mayles fa that was in theed

I had a list of all the things Brandon had once owned and was legally prohibited fro Use of said items, it was deemed by the court, would constitute not just the appearance of ownership but the fact of it The Trescotts protested the court’s definition of “ownership,” but the press beat the shit out of theh to lead ships ashore through night fog, and they ultined off on the deal

The next day, in a wonderful “fuck you” to both the Mayles fareat unwashed, Layton and Susan Trescott purchased their son a condominium in Harwich Port, since the Mayles’ attorneys had not covered future earnings or future possessions in the agreement And it was to Harwich Port that I followed Brandon early on a December afternoon

The condo s in the sink on crusted plates I knew this because I’d been in there twice to plant bugs and swipe all the passwords off his coenerally do all the snoopy, sneaky shit clients pay top dollar to pretend they don’t know guys like h what little paperwork I could find and hadn’t found any bank accounts we didn’t know about or any stock reports that hadn’t been reported I hacked his co but his self-serving rants to ex-frat buddies and some pathetic, never sent, letter-to-the-editor screeds rife with a sites and he read every article ever written about himself

When the cab dropped hilove compartment The day I’d broken into his place and hacked his corain of sea salt under his media console and another in his bedrooroans as he prepared for the shower, then the sound of hi hi it to so reality show about stupid people, and settling onto the couch to scratch himself

I slapped h the newspaper on the car seat Another spike in une had rescued his owners froery and his two hind legs were strapped to a doggie wheelchair Our local Russian ed with DUI after he stranded his Porsche on Tinean Beach at high tide The Bruins won at a sport that ue third basehteous fury when questioned about his alleged steroid use

Brandon’s cell rang He talked to so “bro,” except it came out “bra” They talked about [_World of Warcraft _]and Fallout 4 on PS2 and Lil Wayne and TI and soeout she did on her Wii Fit even though she, like, lived across from a park, and I looked out theand felt old It was a feeling I had a lot lately, but not in a rueful way If this was hoentysos spent their twenties these days, they could have their twenties Their thirties, too I tilted my seat back and closed ned off with:

“So, a’ight, bra, you keep it tight”

“You keep it tight, too, bra, you keep it real tight”

“Hey, bra”

“What?”

“Nothing I forgot Shit’s fucked up”