Investigation - Part 6

A former class mate of Fin's was next on the list. His name was Justin Daniel and currently visiting his parents in Plantation, so Steven didn't have to travel too far. Mr. Daniel had ancestors from Scandinavia and the Middle East. He was very tall, had a slight paunch and the darker complexion of his Lebanese grandfather. Mr. Daniel was welcoming and showed Steve to the living room. He didn't offer him a drink. The furniture was in good condition, but older. Steve wasn't entirely sure what Justin was doing for a living. He thought it had to do with writing.

"So you want to talk about Fin?" "Yes, if you don't mind." "I haven't got anything to do with him since he changed to that military academy down south somewhere, so I'm not sure how I can help." "I just want to get an idea how he was as a child." "Stubborn as hell, arrogant and somewhat nerdy." "What makes you say that?" "Nerdy, because Fin was good at maths and science. He could be found often with his nose in a book. Arrogant, because he looked down at me and ignored me most of the time. He was stubborn. When he made up his mind you couldn't force him to budge." "And why did Fin look down on you?" "I'm not sure. Maybe I wasn't clever enough or too aggressive. I liked playing rough. He didn't and I think once I pressed him too hard. We were discussing how our parents punished us. I admitted I had to do extra chores, if I had misbehaved. Then I wanted to know what was going on at Fin's home. He was evasive and never answered. I didn't give up and he withdrew further instead of saying anything. Since then he ignored me totally." "Of course I know this is now speculation, but why do you think he didn't want to talk about it?" Justin considered his answer. Steve realized Justin was struggling to give an objective answer. He was still angry and upset how Fin had treated him as a child.  "If Fin wasn't punished physically I don't believe he had any reason to hide it, so I deduct he was spanked." "Did you ever see Fin having unexplainable bruises or cuts?" Justin didn't take long to reply. "No. I rarely saw him naked. He was a bit shy in that regards... And when he wore a t-shirt or shorts there were just the usual scraped hands, elbows and knees. Why are you asking?" "Fin claims to have been abused emotionally and physically by his parents..." "Hm, if he was, he was good at hiding it and it might explain why he didn't want to talk about his upbringing." "Did you know Mike, Fin's brother?" "I hadn't anything to do with Mike. He was a bit younger." "So you have never seen or heard anything that could confirm Fin was treated badly by his parents?" "Not that I'm aware of. As I said we weren't close and I haven't seen him since we're fifteen." "Okay. Thank you for your time, Mr. Daniel."

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