‘We should,’ he said, ‘we keep them for six months.’
‘So you’ve still got the ones for June?’
‘I don’t know. Is that six months? I’m not really awake yet, you know.’
‘What I’d like to do is review the last two weeks of June, all the calls Nash made or took at his office.’
Farris sounded like he yawned. At least he was waking up. ‘That’s all? How about a full-scale audit while you’re at it?’
Hardy could take a little abuse if he was going to get what he wanted. He waited.
‘Shit, why not? You looking for anything in particular?’
‘Something, yeah, but I’d rather not say exactly what just now.’
‘I mention it because we keep logs. You won’t have to listen to all the tapes if you know who you want.’ He went on, sounding more like himself now. ‘I know all this taping seems like excessive security, but we’re in a high-tech field. There really is espionage. People have claimed oral contracts with me or Owen on some things. We like to protect ourselves.’
‘You don’t have to justify a thing to me. Where do you keep the logs?’
‘They’re in South City at the plant. We’ve got a vault.’ Farris sighed. ‘I don’t imagine this is going to wait until, say, business hours tomorrow morning, is it?’
Dorothy took the exit and headed the car up the hill away from the ocean. The wipers clickety-clacked on the flat windshield of the old VW bug. The windows on both sides were down an inch to act as defrosters. Both she and Jeff wore parkas for warmth. The heater didn’t work. The drive to Santa Cruz down Highway 1 from San Francisco had taken them a little over an hour, and they probably should have been in sour moods. Dorothy rolled down her window further and put her hand out, catching raindrops.
‘I don’t think I’ll ever hate the rain again.’
‘Maybe we should move to Oregon.’
‘Tierra del Fuego,’ she said. ‘It rains all the time there, I hear.’ They had used yesterday’s storm as an excuse to stay inside for the whole day, nothing to do but curl up, stay warm, enjoy each other. When Hardy had called they were ready to go outside. Not dying for it, but it had some appeal. ‘I’ve got to meet this friend of yours, Hardy. What a great idea!’
‘Well, he’s not exactly a friend. He’s a source.’
‘If you remember, I was a source for your bail story.’
‘You’re prettier than he is. A little bit, anyway.’ She slapped him. The car swerved and she straightened it. They were driving through a heavily wooded pine section back up behind the UC campus. A brown slick of water ran down the center of the street. There was a house about every two hundred yards.
‘I think that was our street you just passed,’ Jeff said. ‘Plus you said you’d have an idea by now.’
She pulled the car over and stopped, looking behind her at the street sign. She started making a U-turn. ‘I do have an idea,’ she said, ‘although I don’t know why I have to think of everything.’
Jeff put his hand on her leg. ‘I think of some things.’ She smiled, looked down, and covered his hand with her own, driving now with one hand. She squeezed it. ‘Yes, you do.’
The idea was to get them talking.
Len and Karl weren’t home – they were down at the gym, pumping iron together. They did it every morning, Karl’s mother explained. They were religious about it. Both were very disciplined boys, very structured. Len was currently runner-up Mr Northern California and Karl was going down to Santa Monica right after New Year’s for the Gold’s Gym prelims.
The three of them, Jeff, Dorothy, Mrs Franck, sat in the kitchen nook – brand new hardwood floors, a custom oak table, curved glass in the windows. They were drinking herb tea and Mrs Franck had cut up some fiber bars into cookielike things. The old Victorian house was large, newly painted, immaculate. Everywhere there were new rugs, framed prints on the walls, antiques.
‘But look at me, chattering on. You didn’t come here to talk about my sons – I call them both my sons. Len’s my son-in-law really, but he’s like a son. They were legally married last summer, you know.’
‘I think that’s wonderful,’ Dorothy said. Mrs Franck beamed. ‘I’m so glad. A lot of people don’t understand, you know. They see two men… and you know. I admit I had a difficult time accepting it at first. But if you could see them – and then offering to take me in -I mean they’re just wonderful boys, and they do love one another. And then having all this…’
Looking around, Jeff took the opening. ‘Somebody must be doing very well already.’
Mrs Franck beamed. ‘I know,’ she said. ‘This place now. It’s a dream come true.’
‘It is beautiful,’ Dorothy said.
‘I don’t think even Celine did it justice,’ Jeff said, almost as an aside to Dorothy. ‘I’m glad we came down.’
‘Are you really going to feature it in the Chronicle?’ Jeff nodded. ‘It’s why we’re here. Celine told me I couldn’t do a complete feature on restored Victorians if I didn’t see this place. But I still think she sold it short – I don’t think there’s one in San Francisco that’s this nice.’
‘Well, if the boys come home, don’t even breathe a bad word about Celine. They won’t hear of it.’
‘You’re all pretty close, huh?’ Jeff had his notepad out. Mrs Franck nodded. ‘She must be the most generous person God ever put on this earth.’
‘She was a help, was she?’
Karl’s mother rolled her eyes to the heavens. ‘You can’t imagine! Anything we needed. You should have seen the place before, and now…’ She gestured to take it all in. ‘So, is Celine like a sponsor, or what?’ Jeff asked.
‘You know, that’s the funny thing. I think she just took a liking to Karl. He had been up in the city, trying to work out some things – they have a coach up there who’s really marvelous – and he met her at her club. She’s in fine shape herself, you know.’
‘And what happened?’
‘Well, you have to know Karl. But he is the sweetest man. Everyone loves him. The two of them – he and Celine – just got to be friends. I think he was a little lonely for Len, up there all alone in the city like he was. He needed someone to talk to, and you know he’s so faithful – he didn’t want to lead on any other men – so I guess he and Celine just clicked and he started telling her about his dreams, you know, his life, his career, this house he and Len wanted to fix up.’ Mrs Franck lowered her voice and leaned toward them across the table. ‘Celine’s very rich, you know. Her father was Owen Nash.’
Jeff and Dorothy both nodded.
‘It’s a terrible shame about her father, isn’t it, that poor man. Has that judge been found guilty yet?’
Jeff told her the trial was still going on.
‘Well, it’s just so awful, the whole thing. Especially for Celine.’ She sighed. ‘And on top of everything else.’
Dorothy spoke up. ‘Are other things hard for her too?’
‘Oh, you know, even the rich. Sometimes I think it’s almost harder for them.’
‘Why?’Jeff asked.
‘Oh, you know. All the people after their money. You never know if anyone’s sincere. I think that’s why she cares so much about Karl. I mean, before he even knew about the money, that she had money… well, he’s just always been there for her. He’d do anything for her. We all would. I think she just needs some friends she can count on, who don’t pester her. She needs a place to stay where it’s not a hotel, where she’s not Celine Nash, just a normal person.’
That’s nice,‘ Dorothy said, ’everybody needs that.‘
Mrs Franck nodded. ‘We just let her come and go. She’s got her own room – well, I guess you’ll see it when we go on up – Karl fixed it up for her especially. Lord knows, one thing this house has is enough rooms. But that’s Karl. He says this house is her house. She’s welcome even if we’re not here.’