Burials — Gay Toltl Kinman

The story behind the story of Burials.One day in the courthouse where I was working, I headed for the elevators. Slowly pacing before them was a tall, slender man with a salt and pepper brush cut. I knew who he was, although we'd never met-a judge, and well respected. What struck me about him was the look of infinite sadness on his face. I was curious as to what caused that look.Earlier in the day, one of my office colleagues had told me the surprising story that she and her husband had been alone on their sailboat, became shipwrecked and marooned on an island for a few days before they were rescued. (They divorced shortly afterwards.)At the same time, I was reading a non-fiction book of true crime and one of the chapters was about the kidnapping of a young woman. The FBI found the kidnapper but he wouldn't tell them where she was. Time was running out. The FBI was able to piece together some clues and found her.These three incidents coalesced-and suddenly I knew why my character, an older judge, had such a look of infinite sadness on his face.