Free The Adam Enigma by Mark; Ronald C.; Reeder Meyer Page A

of the Court Avenue cultural district. The charm of the exterior of this historic building has been a model for the gentrification of downtown Des Moines.
    Malcolm Grossinger, the owner of the lofts, was an upper-middle-class only son of a Sioux City physician. He had graduated from Drake with honors and went into business, eventually marrying the daughter of a small upstart cable company executive. The cable enterprise was just the beginning. As the company grew, Malcolm’s personal wealth climbed into the upper one percent of the country as he acquired many landholdings across Iowa. He was one of the rich and powerful in Des Moines and board president of Des Moines’s mega-church, the Evangelical Covenant.
    Now in the gray mist of a cold March morning, Grossinger, with Ramsey by his side, buzzed himself into the Malcolm Grossinger Lofts.
    Ramsey immediately liked the man while at the same time recognizing there was some agenda in play that he wasn’t being told.Almost immediately Grossinger began talking about his friendship with Adam.
    Grossinger and Adam had developed one of those lifelong relationships that to most people would seem a mystery.
    Adam and Malcolm were roommates as freshmen at Des Moines’ Drake University. An immediate and deep bond formed between the two young men. Adam had a scholarship from a private fund that supported foster children. He was a self-driven, self-taught philosophy major. But as Grossinger would quickly find out, he was a person incapable of dealing with the social milieu of university life and dropped out after only one semester.
    Grossinger gave Ramsey a snapshot of Adam’s life. Adam could’ve done anything he set his mind to, even play football at the pro level. During his adult life he worked mostly in a bookstore, and as a stock boy in a grocery store. When Malcolm needed something fixed on his house or his apartments Adam could do it all. They hunted together. They were passionate University of Iowa football and basketball fans, attending hundreds of games together.
    Grossinger turned to Ramsey. “As you might have guessed by the name on the building, my family trust owns these apartments. When the restoration was complete, I let Adam stay here for free. Why not? He was my best friend. It’s hard to believe he just disappeared. I’ve kept his place just as it was the day of his accident. I always thought he would come back.”
    â€œDid he?” Ramsey asked.
    â€œNo, instead I visited him three times down in New Mexico. The first time he was just beginning his convalescence. Still bedridden. His memory was really foggy and he asked me to tell him stories about his life. Which I did for three days.”
    â€œSecond time?”
    â€œHe had changed dramatically. He was anxious that I come down because he wanted to take a trip with me to Albuquerque. Said he wanted to see the ancient rock art. But when we got there he asked me to drop him off on the edge of the poorest Hispanic neighborhood in the city. Told me he would be fine and to pick him up in six hours. Which I did.”
    â€œWhat do you think he was doing? Did you ask him?”
    â€œHe said something about needing to be among the poor and the sick.”
    â€œThat was it?”
    â€œThat was it.”
    â€œYou said there was a third time. What did you guys do?”
    â€œNothing special.”
    Ramsey’s highly practiced intuition again told him Grossinger was hiding something, but he didn’t press it since they had now reached room 356, Adam’s apartment. Grossinger pulled out a key and unlocked the door. It was a small loft. Books were everywhere. Every philosophical book that was ever written seemed to be here in one grand collection. Taking in the room, Ramsey grasped the organizing principle. Logical positivism in one place, transcendentalists in another, existentialist and moral philosophers—all were brilliantly grouped and alphabetized. Adam