“You got the files.”
“Only some of them,” he said. “I’m sorry about the delay. It got a bit weird, actually. I’ll tell you about it when I see you. Dinner tomorrow? Theresa’s making stew.”
I glanced at Vitti, stalking the floor like a big disgruntled toddler. “I might be on the late side.”
I didn’t make it to the Sandeks’ till a quarter to nine.
“It’s perfectly fine,” he said, dismissing my apology and leading me into the kitchen. “We saved you some.”
I sat down and right away felt at ease — like putting on an old bathrobe. So many hours spent in this room: studying at the breakfast nook when my apartment got to be too loud and the library felt too lonely. Talking to Paul or his wife or the both of them about the meaning of life. Two smart adults I respected, hearing me out and taking my fears seriously.
Now I saw the same cream-colored wall tiles, every third embossed with a different farm animal. An espresso machine, identical to the one in Sandek’s office, had joined other counter appliances lucky enough to have received tenure.
Theresa Sandek pecked me on the cheek and took a cling-wrapped bowl from the fridge. “Let me heat it up first.”
Same maternal instinct. Theresa had a doctorate of her own; she taught at the business school. Around me, though, it was always food and comfort.
“Don’t bother,” I said. “I’m starving.”
“It’s better hot.”
“She’s right,” Sandek said.
“I’m always right.”
“She’s always right,” he said, taking the bowl and opening the microwave.
A voice from the living room said, “Clay?”
I poked my head out. A young woman was coming down the stairs. She wore square-toed canvas slip-ons and jeans, a bright-blue flannel shirt that offset a swarm of glossy blond curls — bobbed, not pulled back carelessly like I remembered.
She had changed in a lot of respects.
“Amy,” I said.
She gave me a hug. “It’s so good to see you.”
“You too.”
“I can’t believe how long it’s been,” she said. “How are you?”
“Busy,” I said. “In a good way. You?”
“Same.”
“Your dad said you’re almost done with your doctorate.”
“You know what ABD stands for.”
“ ‘All But Dissertation.’ ”
“ ‘A Big Disappointment.’ ”
From the kitchen, Sandek called, “Not true.”
“You cut your hair,” I said.
“I did?” she said. “I guess I did. It was a while ago. I wanted ‘professorial.’ Instead I got ‘preemptive lurch toward middle age.’ ”
“It’s nice,” I said.
“Thanks.” Curls tossed. Teeth flashed. “I’m sorry I can’t stay and catch up. I’m meeting a friend for a drink. Nobody told me you were coming.”
“I didn’t want to spoil the surprise,” Sandek called.
I made jazz hands. “Surprise.”
Amy smiled. “I’d love to hear more about what you’re doing, though. What’s your email address?”
I gave it to her. “Are you around next week?”
“Sunday-night red-eye,” she said. “I have to TA on Monday morning.”
“She’s back for Christmas,” Sandek called.
Amy mimed strangling him, then smiled again and squeezed my arm. “Nice seeing you.”
“Safe travels.”
She grabbed her jacket off the sofa and went.
Sandek called, “Stew’s on.”
I lingered briefly, examining the negative space created by Amy’s departure.
“Awesome,” I called, heading into the kitchen.
I found it telling that neither Paul nor Theresa attempted to stop me from taking my bowl to the sink and washing it. I belonged. “Delicious,” I said. “Thanks so much.”
“Pleasure,” Theresa said. “Can I get you anything else? We have leftover meatloaf.”
“I was going to eat that for lunch,” Sandek said.
“Paul. He’s our guest.”
“I was going to make a sandwich.”
“I’m good, thanks,” I said. I ran a dish towel over the bowl, placed it in the cupboard.
Sandek and I adjourned to the living room sectional. From his work bag he produced a rubber-banded photocopy of the review committee’s report.
“Strings were pulled,” he said.
“I appreciate it.” I riffled the document; it ran to three hundred fifteen heavily footnoted pages. “You read it?”
“Not to the end. I wanted to get it to you ASAP. The parts I did see were interesting.”
“How so?”
“I won’t bias you,” he said. “I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.”
Theresa walked through en route to bed. “I left you something on the counter.”
“Thanks again,” I said. “Have a good night.”
“I’ll be there soon,” Sandek said.
She went upstairs.
“You also asked for the file on Rennert’s experiment,” Sandek said. “I didn’t know this, because now we do everything online, but they keep all the old paper. IRBs, raw data, reimbursement forms, and so on, boxed up at an offsite facility.” He fished in his bag, handed me a single sheet of paper. “That’s the reference number. I put in the request and got an email back saying the file was unavailable.”
“What’s that mean, unavailable?”
“That’s what I wondered. I spoke to the social sciences librarian, who spoke to offsite, who told her there’s a gap on the shelf where the box ought to be.”
“Who was the last person to check it out?”
“She wouldn’t tell me,” Sandek said. “Borrowing histories are confidential.”
“Damn. Think it was Rennert?”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” he said. “I’m sure he wasn’t the only person interested in it. There was a lawsuit, remember. They might be more responsive to a request from law enforcement.”
“They might be less responsive, too.”
“Always a possibility,” he said.
“I don’t mean to sound ungrateful.” I held up the report. “This is fantastic.”
He grinned. “When do I get my badge and gun?”
The “Something” Theresa had left on the counter was a meatloaf sandwich, wrapped in foil. On it she had written in blue Sharpie: FOR CLAY!!!!
“Treachery,” Sandek said, “thy name is Theresa.”
I reached for the sandwich but he snatched it away. “We’ll play for it.”
Out in the driveway, I eyed the hoop hanging askew over the garage door. No external lighting, just starlight to shoot by.
“You’re not worried about waking your neighbors?” I said.
Sandek strode across the street, jouncing a basketball.
“We’ll keep it quick,” he said. “PIG instead of HORSE.”
He stepped onto the opposite curb, spun on his heel, and drilled it. Forty-footer.
I set my backpack down and went to collect the ball. “You’ve been practicing.”
“Goddamn right I have.” He pointed to the curb. “Your shot.”
I crossed the street. He stepped aside, yielding the spot to me.
I hesitated. “Do I have to start with my back to the basket?”
“In the spirit of hospitality, I’ll say no.”
All the same, I missed by a country mile.
“This is not fair,” I said, jogging after the rebound.
“Don’t talk to me about fair,” he said. “That’s my fucking sandwich. P.”
Chapter 29
The first thing I did when I got home was order Sandek a plastic sheriff’s badge and pistol. To qualify for free shipping, I also bought him a child’s ten-gallon hat and a cookbook with a hundred and one recipes for meatloaf.
It was too late to start reading the Psych Department’s internal report. Sunday I got called out on another homeless man, dead in an alley behind a machine shop on 12th Street in Oakland. This one was ID’d as “Big John” by his fellow street people. Five-three and ninety-nine malnourished pounds. By day’s end, I’d failed to make any headway on next of kin, and I left the office feeling thrashed but eager.