I asked whether anyone had been brought to justice.

“There were pieces we could establish,” he said.

“Not everything.”

I wanted to believe the story because it gave shape to a childhood that had seemed to begin nowhere.

I also wanted records.

Gavin said his team would collect what could be shared and help me obtain documents in my own right.

I did not yet know which parts of his account were independently verified and which parts depended on what he told me.

That difference would become important later.