M. Gessen

I've seen a photo from the surveillance tape.

It's Lena.

Why did she come?

Why did she bring her dog?

Is she a lonely grandmother who just wants to get a glimpse of O, the apple of her eye?

Is she hoping that O will stop and linger to pet the dog?

Or is she, the woman who was with Alan both times he took O across international borders without Priscilla's permission, casing the joint?

There's that fuzzy boundary again, between pathetic and menacing.

Lena wouldn't talk to me before this podcast and declined to answer a list of questions sent to her, calling them inappropriate and saying that there were, quote, numerous unfounded assertions, without specifying which assertions were unfounded.

Priscilla started having O take the school bus instead of using his scooter to get to and from school.

This was in addition to tracking O's phone, having security cameras on her house.

Priscilla feels that she has to be vigilant at all times.

And this is the level of fear that Priscilla feels, has every reason to feel, even while Alan is in prison.

I worry about what will happen when he is released.

He will be a man in his mid-50s, a disbarred attorney who has lost many of his professional and social connections.

A man with nothing to do, but rejoin his mother in their project.

Therefore, Leo Doe.

Are you concerned for your safety?

When Alan was first convicted, Priscilla had this idea, she told me at the time, that when he was released, the kids would be older, O practically an adult, and she wouldn't have to worry for their safety or her own.

But in fact, O is still going to be in high school when his dad comes out of prison.