“ Fulton.”
“Any idea where it is?”
I shook my head. “According to Cherish, Troy ’s buried there. She convinced the dean to donate a plot.”
“Oh, I’ll bet she did.” He laughed and cracked his knuckles. “Cherish is a word I use to descri-ibe…”
“On the other hand,” I said.
“What?”
“It’s a great house of cards, but all we really know about Cherish is that she’s sleeping with Barnett Malley.”
His face got hard. “So we find out more. That’s what life’s all about, right? Broadening one’s horizons.”
CHAPTER 28
I walked Milo to his car. “Was Kristal buried or cremated?”
“You’re thinking DNA.”
“If you ever get a sample from Barnett, it would answer the paternity question.”
“Let me tell you about DNA in the real world. We used to send stuff to the sheriff’s crime lab, but they’re backlogged till the next millennium, and they can’t get the county to pay for the latest equipment so they sometimes have to send stuff out. Department recently contracted with Orchid Cellmark in New Jersey, but it’s a priority game: sexual homicides first, then rapes, then crimes against minors. The quickest you can get something back is two to four months. And that’s after you get your requisition approved by the pencil pushers. In this case, if Kristal was buried, I’d need an exhumation order, which could take even longer than DNA analysis, especially with no consent from the surviving relative. Going that route would also mean letting Malley know he’s under suspicion.”
“Just a thought,” I said.
“On the other hand, maybe the coroner kept something from Kristal’s autopsy and I can send that to Cellmark… I’ll head over to the crypt, see if they can find something. Ciao.”
I returned to the house in order to educate myself about foster child reimbursement in L.A County, and to learn more about Fulton Seminary.
The first assignment was easy. I phoned Olivia Brickerman at home. She’s a professor in the Department of Social Work at the gracious old university across town, a battle-toughened veteran of the ground war that is California ’s social services system, the widow of a chess grandmaster, a frizzy-haired fireplug old enough to be my mother and one of the smartest people I’ve ever encountered.
She said, “You only call when you want something.”
“I’m a bad son.”
She laughed, finished with a gasp.
“You okay?” I said.
“As if you care.”
“Of course- ”
“I’m on my feet, darling. Which is a positive sign, considering. So how’s it going with Dr. Snow White?”
“Allison?”
“The ivory skin, the black hair, the soft voice, all that gorgeous? The analogy’s obvious. Am I overstepping boundaries, here?”
“Allison’s fine.”
“And Robin?”
“Robin’s in Seattle,” I said.
“Which begs the question.”
“Last time I spoke to her she was doing well, Olivia.”
“So that’s it?” she said.
I didn’t answer.
“I’m a terminal yenta, Alex. Slap my wrist. Seattle, eh? The Genius and I used to go there. Before the computers and the coffee. The Genius could row a boat pretty well, we used to go out on Lake Washington… Robin still with Voice-boy?”
“Yup.”
“Mr. Tra La La,” she said. “She brought him by a few months ago for Sunday brunch. Unlike other people who can’t find the time.”
“Allison and I took you to dinner at the Bel-Air.”
“Don’t quibble. What I’m getting to is that I didn’t care for him.”
“Robin does.”
“He’s too quiet,” she went on. “Aloof, if you ask me. Not that anyone has.”
“I’m always open to your wisdom, Olivia.”
“Ha. So what do you need to know?”
“How well does the state pay for foster care?”
“I was hoping for more of a challenge, darling. First of all, the state mandates foster care and sets up basic fees but each county distributes the funds. Counties also have the discretion to supplement the state. Traditionally, they’ve been tight with the purse strings. The rates vary but not much. Which county?”
“ L.A. ”
“The other thing you need to know is that, officially, foster parents aren’t paid. A stipulated amount is allocated per child and the custodial adult gets to disburse it.”
“Meaning foster parents are paid,” I said.
“Exactly. The basic rate varies with the age of the child. Four hundred twenty-five a month to five ninety-seven. Older kids get more.”
“I’d assume just the opposite,” I said. “Babies require more care.”
“You’d be thinking logically, darling. This is the government. No doubt some number cruncher set up a formula based on pounds of flesh.”
“What age group gets the max?”
“Over fifteen. Twelve through fourteen gets five forty-six, and so on down to the babies who get four twenty-five. Which doesn’t pay for a lot of formula and diapers. Quite often it’s family members who take the kid in and apply as kinship guardians. That what we’re talking about, here?”
“No, these are nonrelatives,” I said. “Can the basic rate be supplemented?”
“Wards with special needs get extra payments. Right now the max is a hundred seventy a month. That’s through Children’s Services, but there are other bureaucracies you can tap if you know how to play with paper. The system’s full of goodies.”
“Would kids with A.D.D. be considered special needs?”
“Absolutely. It’s a recognized disability. Is there any point in my asking you why you want to know all this?”
“There are some people under suspicion,” I said. “ Milo wants to know if they’re getting rich at the public trough.”
“Dear Milo. Has he lost weight?”
“Maybe a little.”
“Meaning no. Well, I haven’t either. You know what I say to constitutionally skinny people? Go away. Anyway, if you want you can give me names of these suspicious individuals, when I get back to the office I’ll run them through the computer.”
“Drew- probably Andrew- and Cherish Daney.” I spelled the surname and thanked her.
“Cherish as in I love you?”
“As in.”
“Except maybe she loves money too much?”
“It’s a possibility.”
“Anything else you want to tell me?”
“How many foster children can one family care for?”
“Six.”
“These people have eight.”
“Then they’re being naughty. Not that anyone’s likely to notice. There’s a shortage of what the state feels are decent homes and very few caseworkers to look into details. If nothing terrible happens, no one pays attention.”
“What comprises a decent home?” I said.
“Two parents, middle class would be great but not necessary. No felony record. Optimally, someone’s working but there’s also someone in the home to supervise.”
“The Daneys fit the bill on all accounts,” I said. “Does the state pay for homeschooling?”
“Same answer: It depends on how you fill out the forms. There’s a clothing allowance, a supplemental clothing allowance, all sorts of health care surcharges that can be tapped. What’s up, darling? Another one of those scams?”
“It’s complicated, Olivia.”
She sighed. “With you it always is.”
Fulton Seminary offered one degree, a master of divinity. According to its website, the school’s curriculum emphasized “scriptural, ministerial, and public service aspects of professional evangelical training.” Students were allowed a range of “intellectual concentrations” including Christian Leadership, Evangelical Promotion, and Program Supervision.
Several paragraphs were devoted to the school’s philosophical underpinnings: God was perfect, faith in Jesus superseded all actions, humans were depraved until saved, worship and service were essential elements of fixing a world in dire need of repair.