The Truth about the Devlins

On the way, John fills TJ in: He met Neil Lemaire, an accountant at one of their law firm’s client companies, at the quarry to confront him about suspected embezzling. TJ can’t believe that John met the man alone but reflects that his brother is a “dumb smart person” (7), while he is a “smart dumb person” (7). When John confronted Neil, the man pulled a gun. John threw a rock and accidentally hit him in the head. TJ reflects that although he’s done terrible things, he's never killed a man.

When they arrive at the deserted quarry, it is nearly dark. TJ is again surprised that John would meet the man here alone and unarmed. When John shows him where Neil fell, however, they find only a patch of blood—the body is gone. John is relieved that Neil is alive, but TJ continues to analyze the situation. John makes fun of him for doing so, mocking his role as “investigator,” even though that is TJ’s job at the family firm. John tells TJ that Lemaire was driving a maroon Volvo, but there are no other cars in the area. TJ wonders if Neil had a conspirator and warns John not to call Neil. John walks TJ through his day, and TJ determines that there is truly no record of the meeting.

When TJ tells John he will investigate and figure out what to do about Neil, John mocks him, saying that his job is a “sinecure” (a position in which the person gets paid for doing little or no work). TJ warns John not to insult him while he’s helping, and to keep the situation a secret from the family.

When TJ and John return to the house, their father questions them, still assuming that TJ is to blame for their absence. Marie attempts to distract everyone with her gift to Paul, a vintage Rolex. TJ remembers when his parents gave him a Rolex for graduation, even though he hadn’t finished his college degree. TJ wore the Rolex only once, then packed it away.

Paul asks TJ if he has been drinking. TJ has been in recovery for nearly two years, but Paul still doesn’t trust him. TJ lies and says he was asking John for a loan, and then Gabby gives Paul her birthday gift. It is a first-edition set of A History of the English-Speaking Peoples by Winston Churchill. TJ remembers when they had so little money that Marie would give them unsigned birthday cards that could be reused. TJ feels “a sudden rush of love” for his family (21).

When TJ leaves the party, Marie hugs him and Paul ignores him. TJ canvasses local hospitals, pretending Neil is his brother and asking if a man with a head injury has been admitted. In one waiting room, he sees a little girl and flashes back to a memory of his ex-girlfriend Carrie saying she would never have children with him. He remembers John saying his job is a sinecure, but “stuffs” his emotions down.

He does an online search and finds Neil’s Facebook page, featuring a picture of a “ginger” cat, and, looking further, a possible address for the man. At Neil’s house, he parks on the street and watches but sees no signs of life inside. The ginger cat waits outside for Neil to come home.

TJ realizes that if Lemaire had conspirators, John and his family could be in danger. He calls John, telling him to send his wife, Nancy, and their son, Connor, to her parents’ house in New Jersey. After he hangs up, he reflects on his lifelong idolization of his brother, and how their contentious relationship is because of his alcohol addiction. He resolves to continue helping John.

TJ goes to the family’s law firm, Devlin & Devlin. There are photographs of Paul, Marie, John, and Gabby at the entrance, but no photograph of him. He remembers when his father coached his Little League team, but wouldn’t give him the game ball, even though he was the best player.

TJ shakes off the memory and goes to an AA meeting, his regular “home group.” Over the past two years, he has gotten to know the members well, and Jake, who leads the group, is his sponsor. As they talk, TJ relaxes for the first time all day.

After the meeting, TJ parks outside Carrie’s house. He still loves her, even though he knows she will never forgive him—he hasn’t seen her since he went into recovery, on June 7. Now, he sees her daughter Emily’s plush rabbit in the driveway and knows that Carrie will run over it in the morning. He gets out of the car, retrieves the rabbit, and puts it on the porch. Then he drives away.

The next morning, TJ stakes out Runstan, the company where Neil worked, but he never sees a maroon Volvo arrive. The owner of Runstan, Stan Malinowski, arrives at the office. TJ remembers when he was a kid and Paul got Stan as a client—Paul took him and John along to meetings. Stan has a port-wine stain on his forehead, and John used to call him Stain. Paul overheard him one day, and TJ remembers it as one of the few times Paul yelled at John.

When TJ arrives at the office, Gabby asks for his help on a pro bono case. He agrees and then goes to John’s office. Paul is there, too, and John says he told Paul “everything” about last night. When he says he told Paul that TJ relapsed, TJ is speechless—his recovery is important to him, as is his father’s approval.

Paul lectures TJ, even threatening to fire him, and TJ is too shocked to respond. After Paul leaves, TJ confronts John. John says TJ surprised him, and he had no choice but to lie. TJ tries to explain how important his recovery is to him, but John downplays it.

After he leaves the office, TJ remembers when he was sentenced to prison. He pled guilty, feeling that it was what he deserved. The expression on Paul’s face that day was the same one on his face this morning. TJ knows that he has lost his father’s trust because of John’s lie.

TJ calls a friend, Patrick, to see if he’s heard about an abandoned maroon Volvo coming up for auction. Patrick wants TJ to ask his niece Maya out and gives him her phone number. TJ doesn’t believe she will want to date him, considering his criminal past. His time with Carrie and her daughter Emily also still looms large in his memory, and he thinks about the day he asked Carrie to move in together.

TJ drives to the airport, realizing that if Neil had a conspirator, they might’ve dumped the maroon Volvo there. He finds nothing. When his phone rings, he assumes it is John, but it is Patrick’s niece, Maya.

Maya asks him out, and TJ is so surprised he doesn’t answer right away. She takes this as rejection, and when he tries to smooth it over, he makes it worse. Finally, she hangs up on him. TJ calls her back, determined not to let the opportunity get away.

That afternoon, TJ fills John in on his progress, but he is still angry, and their conversation is short. He calls Gabby to ask about the pro bono case, and she invites him to her house that night for dinner with one of the plaintiffs, Chuck Whitman. As TJ drives to Gabby’s, he remembers her 16th birthday party. TJ got drunk and embarrassed the family, and after the party, Paul forced him to drink until he was sick.

When TJ gets to Gabby’s house, he realizes she has heard about TJ’s “relapse.” She and her husband, Martin, are supportive, but the injustice of the situation is painful to TJ. He remembers his family counseling session in rehab—Gabby told them about how she hid his beer cans when they were younger, shocking him. He accepts her and Martin’s support, even as he chafes at it.

After Chuck arrives, they eat dinner, and afterward, Gabby interviews him while TJ listens. Chuck tells them about his time at Holmesburg Prison. A man who he presumed was a doctor, because of his white coat, tested an unidentified product on his skin, and he was paid three dollars per test. The “doctor” applied a product to his back and then put him under a sunlamp. His back peeled and blistered—Chuck shows them the scars. Other incarcerated people had a similar response.

TJ is outraged, but Gabby tells him that at the time there wasn’t a law against it. She talks about Dr. Albert Kligman, who used incarcerated people as medical test subjects. Kligman was connected to major companies like “Johnson & Johnson, Dow Chemical, and R.J. Reynolds” (66). The program continued through the mid-’70s, and Gabby equates it with Henrietta Lacks’s case and the “syphilis studies at Tuskegee” (66). The product that Kligman tested was an early version of today’s Retin-A. Gabby is suing the current manufacturers of Retin-A and the other companies that benefit from the products tested at Holmesburg. TJ is even more incensed when he finds out that Chuck and the other plaintiffs are dying of melanoma—malignant skin cancer.

As TJ is leaving Gabby’s house, he gets a phone call from John, who tells him that the police found Neil, shot in the head. They don’t know yet if it’s murder or death by suicide.

TJ drives to where Neil’s body was found. He pretends to be a journalist, and the other media present tell him what little they know, including that the time of death was that night. When TJ gets closer to the crime scene, he sees that Neil was found in a white Mercedes sedan, not a maroon Volvo. In his car, TJ remembers when his parents visited him in prison. Marie had lockjaw, the result of stress. His mother loved to socialize and argue in trial, and the idea that she couldn’t speak because of him made him feel incredibly guilty. That night after they left, he considered dying by suicide. If Neil died by suicide as a result of extreme guilt, TJ could understand.

TJ drives to Neil’s house, thinking about the ginger cat. There is a car in the driveway and someone in the house, and TJ is glad that someone is taking care of the cat. He gets a text from John, asking him to come over.