Jordie and Evan met Mark at Evan's office at 8:30 AM. As it turned out, the x-rays showed that Jordie had no cavities, just the overretained baby tooth that was causing the permanent one underneath to come in crooked.
Evan cleaned his son's teeth while Mark set up his equipment, and when the boy was sedated Evan performed the thirty-second procedure. When Jordie was safely out of sedation, Mark packed up and left.
"That was great," Jordie said, fully awake. "I didn't feel a thing? Can we go eat now?"
"In a minute," Evan answered.
Jordie sat quietly in the chair while his father cleaned up around the operatory.
"Hey, Jordie," Evan said, trying to sound nonchalant. "Since this is our last day together, is there anything you want to tell me before we go?"
"Yeah," Jordie replied. (Evan prayed for a miracle.) "I'm thirsty."
"Uh, okay. You can get up and walk now. Go to the kitchen, there's some bottled water in the fridge."
Evan had waited all week for the right moment to talk to his son, but he was concerned that forcing him to speak before he was ready would drive him further away. The end result was that the right moment never came. Or that Evan had passed it up.
"I was standing there drinking, Oh, well, I guess that's it, he's not going to talk. But while he was out in the kitchen it hit me that I'd been taking the wrong approach. Here I was tiptoeing around him because Dr. Abrams has scared the hell out of me. But Jordie was about to go away with Michael for five months, so how much worse could it get! If he wasn't totally screwed up yet, going on tour was sure to finish the job. That realization changed my whole way of thinking. I could be as tough on him as I wanted. I had nothing to lose."
When Jordie came strolling back from the kitchen, Evan went on the attack. "Have a seat, and listen very carefully to what I'm about to say. Do you remember when you came over to the house I told you that if you lie to me I was going to destroy Michael?" Jordie nodded that he did. "Good. Keep that in mind, because I'm going to ask you a question. Do you care about Michael?"
"Yes," the boy answered.
'You could say you love him, right?"
"Yes."
"And you wouldn't want to hurt him?"
"No."
"Okay then, let me remind you of something. Remember I told you I bugged your bedroom?" Jordie nodded. "Well, I know everything you guys did, so you might as well admit it."
The boy remained silent, seemingly unimpressed by his father's strong arm approach. Sensing this, Evan quickly changed tack.
"Look, Jordie, lots of famous people are bisexual and nobody gives a shit. They're not embarrassed. It's sorta cool, in a way."
After ten minutes of meandering monologue Evan had elicited nothing from his son but a blank stare. Frustrated, he switched back to his original approach. "I'm going to give you one last chance to save Michael. If you lie to me, then I'm going to take him down in front of the whole world, and it'll be all your fault because you're the one person who could have saved him."
Nothing.
In his heart, Evan already knew the truth; he didn't need Jordie to confirm it. But he believed if his son could just hear himself say it, if he could just spurt it out quickly and painlessly like the tooth, it would release him from the prison in his mind. Without a plan, Evan began babbling away again, saying whatever came to mind in the hope of eventually hitting on something that would push a button in his son and free him.
"I know about the kissing and the jerking off, so you're not telling me anything I don't already know," Evan lied. "This isn't about me finding anything out. It's about lying. And you know what's going to happen if you lie. So I'm going to make it very easy for you. I'm going to ask you one question. All you have to do is say yes, or no. That's it. Lie and Michael goes down. Tell me die truth and you save him."
Jordie remained silent for what seemed to Evan a hopeless amount of time. Then, "Promise?"
"Have I ever lied to you?"
"No."
And I never will."
"You won't hurt Michael, right?"
"Right."
"And I don t want anyone to know. Promise me you won't ever tell anyone."
"I swear,no one."
"Okay. What's the question?"
"Did Michael touch your penis?"
Jordie hesitated. Then, almost inaudibly, he whispered "Yes."
Evan would press no further. He had heard all he needed to hear. He reached out and hugged his son, and Jordie hugged back, tight.
"We never talked about it again," Evan later told the L.A. district attorney. To Evan, the details didn't matter. "The prison walls had cracked and I was confident the rest would take care of itself."
