I thought about it. George probably wouldn't have abandoned his money unless David had done something so bad that George was afraid David would go to prison or be taken away from him. It would have to be something serious; arson, or a crime against persons, like rape, armed robbery, or homicide.
I said, "If I wanted a list of the open major crimes that occurred in Temecula between certain dates thirty-five years ago, could I get it?"
Starkey pouched out her lips, thinking, then opened her cell phone.
"Lemme make a couple of calls. I can find out."
Starkey's cell phone worked perfectly, which left me annoyed. You try to be big about these things, but still. I thought she was calling Gittamon, but she phoned her former boss at the Criminal Conspiracy Section, instead; a lieutenant named Barry Kelso. CCS detectives investigated bombs and bombings, which is what Starkey did after she left the Bomb Squad. She copied a number Kelso gave her, then called someone on the Sheriffs named Braun.
"Barry Kelso told me you could help. This is Detective Carol Starkey, LAPD Bomb Squad."
When I arched my eyebrows at her, Starkey covered the phone.
"You say Bomb Squad, it gets people's attention."
She asked Braun if he could provide a list of unsolved felony crimes that had occurred in and around the city of Temecula in the fourteen days prior to the Reinnikes' disappearance thirty-five years ago. Braun must have asked why she wanted the information. Starkey's voice grew frosty.
"All I can tell you is it involves bomb components and national security. Don't ask any more than that."
Braun must have been impressed. They spent another ten minutes on the phone, with Braun asking questions designed to narrow the search. When they finished, Starkey covered the phone again to ask my fax number, then passed it to Braun.
She said, "Okay, I'm going to give you my home fax number. You can fax the information to me here."
That was it. She closed her phone and looked at me.
"We'll see. He isn't sure what he can come up with. It might take a couple of days."
I said, "Thanks, Carol. Really."
She nodded, but pursed her mouth again as if she still had something to say. She stared at the women in the next booth again, then glanced back at me. She laid her hand on Reinnike's file. She placed her palm carefully, as if she were touching something delicate. She shook her head.
"You don't believe this clown is related to you, do you?"
"No."
"George isn't your father. That would be absurd, thinking George was your father. Everything you've told me says it doesn't add up. You see that, don't you?"
"I realize that. I know."
"I don't care what he thought or that he had those clippings with him; he was delusional."
I wanted Starkey to stop talking about it. I glanced at the three women.
"I know what you're saying."
"Then why don't you stop this nonsense?"
Starkey was hunched forward on the table, staring at me. She did not look away. I didn't look away, either.
"George went into that alley with pictures of me. He went in thinking I was his son. Maybe he even went in thinking I would be there. I don't know why he had the pictures and did that, but I want to know. The only way I can find out is to find someone who can tell me. I don't want to just write him off as crazy because then I'll never really know; not really. I need someone to tell me. I need to see it for myself. Do you see that?"
"I just don't want you to get hurt with this stuff."
I nodded, and made a little smile. That was nice of her to say.
She said, "In the alley, when Diaz told you and you saw the clippings-before you knew all this other stuff-did you hope it was true? Did you want him to be your father?"
The answer to that one was easy.
"Someone is. Somewhere."
Starkey laid her hand on mine. She gave me a squeeze.
"I gotta get back to work."
She slid out of the booth, but I didn't get up. Starkey bent to kiss my cheek. When she leaned to kiss me, her hair fell forward. I had never seen Starkey from that angle. She was pretty.
41
When I left Starkey at the Musso Frank Grill, I thought about swinging past my office, but didn't. My office was close to Musso, and dropping in would have been easy, but I