Investigation - Part 10

The only other person Steven Otto managed to find was Michael Perry, another childhood friend of Fin. Michael Perry was living in Wisconsin. As luck had it Mr. Perry was giving a guest lecture about sports history at the University of Texas at Arlington in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Mr. Perry promised to drop into Mr. Otto's office while there. Michael was a tall African American with the built of a football player. His handshake was crushing.

At first there was only some small talk about Mr. Perry's travel to Dallas and how the lecture went, then it turned to the actual subject. "Do I believe Fin was abused? I would say at an emotional level yes. I only accepted invitations to Fin's home, when I knew his parents were out. I couldn't take how they spoke to Fin. It was mostly to tell him off, to praise Mike, his brother, or to boss him around. Once Fin snapped back and his father promptly slapped him. The hand print was clearly visible and Fin's eyes filled with tears. I think it wasn't the pain itself. He felt embarrassed, because I had seen it. He was proud and being hit in front of his friend hurt his ego. I saw how angry he was. Fin had balled his hands into fists and clenched and unclenched them..." "How old were you?" "Twelve, maybe thirteen." "What happened next?" "I was surprised Fin backed down. He apologized for being fresh, looked away and seemed suddenly calm and relaxed." "What?!" "He definitely wasn't relaxed or calm, but he had learned to hide his feelings well. I guess it was to protect himself. Fin's father tussled Fin's hair and said everything was forgiven. Mr. Noose left us alone and when he turned I noticed the murderous glare Fin shot his father. He behaved as if nothing had happened and got very aggressive, when I asked if everything was okay. I only tried to help and Fin's behavior left a sour note. I went home soon afterwards." "Okay, so what about physical abuse? You witnessed a slap..." "You shouldn't forget the times we grew up in. It was fairly normal kids were spanked and nobody thought anything about it. My parents didn't believe it worked, so I escaped physical punishment. Fin never mentioned he was spanked and he never came to school with a black eye or unusual bruises - at least I didn't see any. Of course Mr. and Mrs. Noose might have clipped Fin around the ears or might even walloped him, but I wouldn't know about it." Michael didn't have more to add, so Steven let him go.

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