12. Interview with Catherine D’Amico: Part 3

24 June 2011

– You really don’t know anything, do you?

– I can’t get a line on you.

– It’s like, for a second you seem like you know more about everything than I do, but then you’ll say something and I’ll think you barely know anything at all. It’s weird. You remind me so much of him actually.

– Of Le—Tony, I mean.

– I don’t know. I don’t even know who you a—

– Fucking A. Whatever. I don’t even know why I’m—he’s dead. I told myself I’d stop acting like he wasn’t. He probably would’ve wanted someone to know anyways. Les was a lonely man—Tony was, I mean. And Les—dammit.

– There is no Les Palmer, ok? There. Les Palmer was a figment of Tony’s imagination. His new identity. It was Tony. Just Tony. It’s always been about Tony.

– Tony made up Les to protect himself after what happened. That whole thing between him and Earl, it got him all paranoid and he just needed a cover, I guess.

– [Ms. D’Amico seems suddenly upset]No. Hell no. I don’t know anything about Earl except what happened between them in Tallahassee. I’ve never met him. If you find him though, call somebody. Do not trust him. He’s dangerous.

– You really don’t know anything, do you? That’s where all of this started. College, with Earl. Everything that happened: Earl going to jail, Tony moving down here, becoming Les and getting killed, all of it started in Tallahassee. Tony was a completely different person back then, from what I can tell. A normal guy with normal goals and dreams. [Ms. D’Amico speaks softly] I wish I knew him then. [Ms. D’Amico pauses for a lengthy period, staring out the window, then looks up with a heat flashing suddenly in her eyes] Earl got him into this, and Earl deserves everything that’s happened to him since.

Next