While his back was turned I snapped a picture of Roby’s picture.
“I’m sorry but it tastes like armpit,” the woman said.
The office door opened. Felix leaned out. Forties, mustache thick and dark as a Mars bar. His gray shirt was grease-free. Perks of the ruling class. “Can I help you, sir?”
I flashed my ID. Quick and confident.
The Tesla lady broke off mid-sentence, eyes bulging.
Felix frowned. Lifting the counter, he waved me back to a cramped space, with room for a desk, a chair, file boxes, a BMW wall calendar, and little else.
He shut the door. “Is there a problem?”
“I’m looking for Damian Roby.”
Studying me. “You’re the guy who called.”
“When’d he last come in?”
“Lemme see that ID one more time, please.”
I displayed it, watching as the spell wore off. He shrugged. “Don’t know what to tell you.”
“I work for the family.” Which was true. I hadn’t said Dame’s family. “We’re having trouble locating him. People are starting to get worried.”
Felix frowned again, now with genuine concern. “Is he okay?”
“I don’t know. It’d help to know the last time you saw him, so we can construct a timeline of his movements.”
“He hasn’t been in for a couple days,” Felix said.
“Did he call in sick?”
“No, he just didn’t show.”
I gave him a missing persons flyer, updated to include Linus Hao. “Any of those individuals look familiar?”
Felix shook his head slowly. “Who are they?”
“Can you check if any of them brought their cars here for service?”
He balked.
“They’re dead,” I said. “All four of them. That’s not a good sign for Dame.”
“Yeah. Okay.”
Linus Hao was not a Geary Boulevard Jiffy Lube customer. Neither was Dennis Kudelka or John Doe.
As expected. Linus didn’t own a car. Denny lived far away. John Doe was John Doe.
I held my breath while Felix typed in Adam Valois.
“...not seeing him.”
“You’re sure you don’t recognize any of their faces?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Okay. Hang on to that, in case you do. That’s my direct line.” Taking out my phone, I mashed the screen meaninglessly. “Can you confirm Dame’s cell for me?”
“Uh, yeah. One sec.”
He read the number off his own cell. I keyed it in for later.
“Thank you. If you hear from Dame, please get in touch.”
Tesla Lady had fled the waiting room, leaving behind her snack wrapper.
“Daddy, can I get a phone?” Charlotte asked.
I glanced across the table at Amy. “You’re a bit young for that, sweetheart.”
“But Willa has one.”
Amy said, “If Willa’s parents think it’s okay for her to have a phone, that’s up to them. Daddy and I have a different rule.”
“Why?”
“It’s not good for you,” I said.
“But it’s fun. Willa let me play a game.”
“Phones can be fun,” Amy said. “When you get older, we can discuss how to use them responsibly. Right now we’re going to wait.”
“Why isn’t it good for me?”
“Phones are powerful. People will say mean things or tell you the wrong thing.”
“You have them.”
“We’re not kids,” I said.
“You’re right, we do have them,” Amy said. “But using a phone the right way can be hard, even for grown-ups. That’s why we have a no-phone rule at dinner and bedtime. Have you ever noticed that Daddy and I put them away when we get home?”
“Buckle me out pease,” Myles said.
“Let’s eat a little more,” I said.
“But,” Charlotte said. Her brow furrowed. “What if I need to call you?”
“Your counselors can get in touch with us,” Amy said.
“They could forget to charge their phones. Then they can’t call you.”
“I don’t think they’d all forget at the same time,” I said.
“But what about when I’m at school?”
“Your teachers can call us,” Amy said.
“Plus the school has a landline,” I said.
“What’s that?” Charlotte asked.
“A phone with a wire,” Amy said.
“Buckle me out.”
“Come on, bud,” I said. “Three more bites.”
“Ooooout.”
I unbuckled him and set him on the deck. He ran to the yard, plopped down, and began uprooting grass.
“But what if something bad happens?” Charlotte said.
“What do you think could happen?” Amy asked.
“Like if a robber comes.”
“Is that something you’re worried about?”
“Kind of.”
“Do you want to talk to us about it?”
Charlotte stirred her green beans. “I just think it would be better if I had a phone.”
I fought to keep a straight face.
“I hear that you want that,” Amy said. “And I’m sure it’s hard when your friends have something you want.”
“Can I have it for my birthday?”
“Not this birthday.”
“When I’m nine?”
“We’ll let you know when it’s time.”
“Oookay.”
“If you’re done eating,” I said, “you can clear your plate and get yourself dessert.”
“How many cookies can I have?”
“A reasonable amount.”
“Two?”
“Two is fine.”
“Bring one for Myles, too, please,” Amy said.
Charlotte moped inside.
“I admire her tenacity,” I said.
“Let’s see how you feel about it when she’s fifteen,” Amy said.
“Daddy,” Charlotte called. “Your phone is ringing.”
I started to stand. Amy laid a hand on my arm.
“Leave it, please, Charlotte,” she called. “Thank you.”
Chapter 23
With the kids in bed, I stepped out to the deck to check my voicemail.
This is Agnes Hao. Thank you, but we’re not interested in a private investigator.
I called her. “Hi, Dr. Hao.”
“Sorry, I thought I was clear that we’re not interested.”
“You were. I’m not asking you to hire me. I’m working another case that bears some similarity to your brother’s, and I had a couple questions for you. But if you’d rather not talk, I’ll get out of your hair.”
A beat. She sighed. “I apologize for snapping at you.”
“Not at all.”
“This whole process has been so stressful.”
“I can’t even imagine.”
“I wanted to hire someone. I told my parents, ‘We need to be proactive.’ They’re afraid that if we offend the police, they’ll stop helping us. My feeling is, what’ve we got to lose? It’s not like they’re doing much as it is.”
She wasn’t wrong; neither were her parents. “What has SFPD told you?”
“First it was a detective named Winterholz. He thought Linus knew his killer. He kept repeating that: ‘Most people know their killers.’ But that didn’t pan out, because Linus didn’t really socialize. So there was no one to look at. Everything just ground to a halt. This new person, Pettit, he believes Linus got mugged.”
“How does that sit with you?”
“In a way it makes sense. But... I don’t know, it feels like a cop-out. Like they can’t come up with a better explanation. What’s Linus doing in Oakland? Where’s he going? Maybe there isn’t a better explanation, and I have to learn to live with that.”
“Where in Oakland was he?”
“The police told us he took the subway from Mountain View. The station camera showed him getting off downtown.”
“At Twelfth Street?”