code: protected Object readReference(long offset) {
          assert referenceMessageSize != 0 : "References are not in use";
          // Is there a way to compute the element offset once and just
          // arithmetic?
          return UnsafeRefArrayAccess.lpElement(references, UnsafeRefArrayAccess.calcElementOffset(offset));
      }
docs: Read a reference at the given position
  @param offset index into the reference array
  @return