Her peers wanted to know what “it” was like — whatever “it” was. Sex or love or rape.

Quirk leaned forward, his glasses and cigars not quite on the verge of spilling from his chest pocket.

The mother spoke to the girl about love and commitment as if time would not erase her words from all memory, including Clara’s own.

There were traces of blood near his eyes but no wounds. The Pasadena County Coroner’s Office listed the cause of death as cardiac arrest.