him, wrapping herself into a ball on the couch. He got up and went to sit next to her,and she turned away, her sobs coming out in little gasps. The dogs had come in and stretched out on the floor, looking up at her mournfully, confused.
Finally, she turned toward him and let him hold her again, then pulled away after a few minutes, not wanting to let it go too far. She remembered the night Petey had died, how she had been unable to do anything but scream when they told her. They had made love that night—it had surprised her that she would be capable of such a thing—angry, violent love. She had bit his shoulder during the act, drawing blood, and she remembered that he had slapped her as he finished. She hadn’t cared. It hadn’t been enough to make her feel alive. She had screamed when they finished, trying to wear out her voice, wear out her feelings.
Now, she didn’t have the energy to scream, but she kept crying until she was so tired that she couldn’t cry anymore.
EIGHT
BRAD PUTNAM’S DEATH WAS above-the-fold news in the
Globe
Monday morning and as she drank her coffee, Sweeney read the story slowly, looking for subtext.
“Bradley D. Putnam, the grandson of the late Senator John Putnam and Senator Patrick ‘Paddy’ Sheehan, was found dead in his Cambridge apartment yesterday morning under what police have called suspicious circumstances.” It went on to mention that he had been a history of art major and that he had enjoyed tennis, painting, and hiking, and it quoted Sweeney as well as a number of other students and professors and left the reader with the impression that Brad had been an exceptional scholar. The story didn’t say anything about the way he had been found and, Sweeney was interested to note, didn’t mention the jewelry. The Cambridge police had managed to keep at least that part of the story out of the papers.
There was a sidebar by Paul, sensationally titled TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY , and detailing the Putnam family’s successes and failures over the years.
The story led with an anecdote from Andrew Putnam and Kitty Sheehan’s wedding. Paul quoted an account by a guest who said the wedding was a sort of living embodiment of the city’s political history,the colonial-era patriarchy on one side of the aisle and the new power elite on the other.
“The children of Andrew Putnam and Kitty Sheehan seemed to thrive on the combination of histories and attributes their parents bequeathed them,” Paul had written.
Then it went on to describe the accident on Ocean Drive. “The ensuing police investigation took on much of the atmosphere of other celebrity scandals, with a well-heeled family putting up roadblocks for the police, though this time there was no determined public demanding justice for the victim. The case was eventually closed and the Newport police were open about the Putnam family’s hostility.
“The remaining Putnam siblings seemed to have moved on from the tragedies of the past. Drew Putnam is a mainstay of the family firm, specializing in real estate law and spearheading a number of development projects. Jack Putnam, a sculptor whose work the
Globe
’s own Jennifer Termino has described as ‘Tragic and lyrical . . . a study in human suffering and human joy,’ is one of ten or twenty artists regularly mentioned as the new generation of young, up-and-coming American painters and sculptors. And Camille Putnam, who made what can only be described as a meteoric rise through the ranks of the state assembly to the Democratic leadership of the state senate, is currently seeking to unseat incumbent Republican Congressman Gerry DiFloria in the Eighth Congressional District. DiFloria won a surprise upset in the heavily Democratic district almost two years ago after Democratic front-runner, Hal McCarty, was forced to drop out of the race when allegations of his involvement in a murder twenty-five years earlier while he was in college, surfaced two weeks before the election. Putnam
Finally, she turned toward him and let him hold her again, then pulled away after a few minutes, not wanting to let it go too far. She remembered the night Petey had died, how she had been unable to do anything but scream when they told her. They had made love that night—it had surprised her that she would be capable of such a thing—angry, violent love. She had bit his shoulder during the act, drawing blood, and she remembered that he had slapped her as he finished. She hadn’t cared. It hadn’t been enough to make her feel alive. She had screamed when they finished, trying to wear out her voice, wear out her feelings.
Now, she didn’t have the energy to scream, but she kept crying until she was so tired that she couldn’t cry anymore.
EIGHT
BRAD PUTNAM’S DEATH WAS above-the-fold news in the
Globe
Monday morning and as she drank her coffee, Sweeney read the story slowly, looking for subtext.
“Bradley D. Putnam, the grandson of the late Senator John Putnam and Senator Patrick ‘Paddy’ Sheehan, was found dead in his Cambridge apartment yesterday morning under what police have called suspicious circumstances.” It went on to mention that he had been a history of art major and that he had enjoyed tennis, painting, and hiking, and it quoted Sweeney as well as a number of other students and professors and left the reader with the impression that Brad had been an exceptional scholar. The story didn’t say anything about the way he had been found and, Sweeney was interested to note, didn’t mention the jewelry. The Cambridge police had managed to keep at least that part of the story out of the papers.
There was a sidebar by Paul, sensationally titled TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY , and detailing the Putnam family’s successes and failures over the years.
The story led with an anecdote from Andrew Putnam and Kitty Sheehan’s wedding. Paul quoted an account by a guest who said the wedding was a sort of living embodiment of the city’s political history,the colonial-era patriarchy on one side of the aisle and the new power elite on the other.
“The children of Andrew Putnam and Kitty Sheehan seemed to thrive on the combination of histories and attributes their parents bequeathed them,” Paul had written.
Then it went on to describe the accident on Ocean Drive. “The ensuing police investigation took on much of the atmosphere of other celebrity scandals, with a well-heeled family putting up roadblocks for the police, though this time there was no determined public demanding justice for the victim. The case was eventually closed and the Newport police were open about the Putnam family’s hostility.
“The remaining Putnam siblings seemed to have moved on from the tragedies of the past. Drew Putnam is a mainstay of the family firm, specializing in real estate law and spearheading a number of development projects. Jack Putnam, a sculptor whose work the
Globe
’s own Jennifer Termino has described as ‘Tragic and lyrical . . . a study in human suffering and human joy,’ is one of ten or twenty artists regularly mentioned as the new generation of young, up-and-coming American painters and sculptors. And Camille Putnam, who made what can only be described as a meteoric rise through the ranks of the state assembly to the Democratic leadership of the state senate, is currently seeking to unseat incumbent Republican Congressman Gerry DiFloria in the Eighth Congressional District. DiFloria won a surprise upset in the heavily Democratic district almost two years ago after Democratic front-runner, Hal McCarty, was forced to drop out of the race when allegations of his involvement in a murder twenty-five years earlier while he was in college, surfaced two weeks before the election. Putnam
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