“The truth is I’ve been worried about that girl for a while now,” Dina Klein told Valerie. “And not just about her. Julia’s impressionable. I mean, don’t get me wrong: Elspeth’s super-smart. She’s a sweetheart. But then all this craziness started and I was worried some of it would rub off.”
From the marina, Valerie had driven over to see the Kleins in Presidio Heights, where Elspeth had been for a sleepover with her friend Julia on the night of Adam Grant’s murder. The grand house on Cherry Street couldn’t have been further from the Grants’ in style—classic 1930s Mediterranean Revival—but it wouldn’t be much lower down the price chain. The sitting room into which she’d been shown (by a cheerful young Eastern European maid) had a dark walnut floor, double-height ceiling, plenty of paintings, and a curved teal suede couch that could have seated eight. But for all that, the feel of the place was comfortably lived-in.
Dina Klein was early forties, tall and tan, with no-nonsense breasts and hips around which all the weight that could conceivably be gym’d and dieted away had been. Wildly highlighted light brown hair pinned up haphazardly, a face that said intelligence, humor, and an ironic approach to life. She’d lost the weight, Valerie thought, but with an eye roll and a shrug, knowing it would probably come back, and if it did she might not bother to lose it again. She and her husband, Marty, had started one of the world’s first wedding websites in the mid-nineties (when, incredibly, such things barely existed) and had sold it less than ten years ago for a sum that catapulted them into the good life. They’d both since been headhunted by Google, where Marty was now, according to Dina, doing blue-sky research just for fun. She, on the other hand, had used the financial security to give something back, and now worked pro bono on web content for various nonprofits.
Marty wasn’t home. Julia was upstairs in her room. It was her Valerie really wanted to interview, but she needed the mother on board first. She hadn’t mentioned Elspeth’s suicide attempt, and from Dina’s tone it was obvious she hadn’t heard about it.
“Could you be a little more specific?” she asked Dina.
“I’m assuming you’ve had all this from Rachel?”
“Yes,” Valerie lied. “But I’d like a perspective from outside the family. With all due respect, most mothers think their children are wonderful.”
“Elspeth “is wonderful,” Dina said, eyes livening. “Or at least she was. Of course I talked to Rachel about it at the time, but she said she was dealing with it.”
“You said there was a shoplifting incident?”
Dina made a no-big-deal face, nodding. “Yeah. Stupid, of course. Kids go through the can-I-get-away-with-it phase. I probably shouldn’t be saying this to an officer of the law, but I did it myself when I was her age. You know, CDs or glitter pens or candy. Dumb stuff just to prove you’ve got the balls. I hope I’m on the right side of the statute of limitations?”
“I used to break into public buildings,” Valerie said. “So your secret’s safe with me.”
Dina smiled. “The difference was we didn’t want to get caught. We really didn’t. I mean stores back then, not all of them had cameras and whatnot. It was a calculated risk. But these days? Elspeth’s bright enough to know you pretty much can’t get away with it, not in a goddamned mall. Three times she got caught with high-end gear. Just tried to walk through the door. She knows all that stuff’s tagged, so the conclusion’s obvious.”
“She wanted to get caught.”
“Which means it’s not about getting new stuff—of which she’s not short in any case. It’s about something else.”
“You don’t want to get caught unless you want to be seen to be guilty.”
“It wasn’t just that, either. She stopped eating. Well, no, she ate, but according to Julia she started making herself throw up.”
“Did Rachel know?”
“I told her. She said she was getting Elspeth help.”
I’m not a fan of shrinks. Valerie wondered what sort of help Rachel had commissioned.
“What happened with the thefts? Were the police involved?”
“Yeah, but I’m pretty sure Adam pulled some strings. Rachel implied as much. Nothing happened to Elspeth, as far as I know.”
The maid brought in coffee on a tray.
“Oh, thanks, Kristina. Detective? How do you take it?”
They waited for the maid to exit.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Dina said, having taken a sip. “Shoplifting and an eating disorder—it’s Teen Girl 101.”
“Well, it’s not unusual.”
“Half of Julia’s friends are so messed up she’s starting to feel neurosis-poor. Like she’s missing out on some essential rite of passage. And this obsession with social media—Christ. As it is she goes on as if her life depends on likes and thumb ratings. Followers.”
“But she’s okay. You’re not worried?”
Dina laughed. Confidence in her own motherhood. The knowledge that the groundwork had been done. “No, I’m not worried. She’s okay. We make too much fun of her for her to take herself that seriously. Deep down she knows what’s what. But she does think Elspeth’s dangerously cool. I think there might even be a little crush there. Which is why I was worried, really. Not in case she’s gay, you understand. I don’t care about that. I just don’t want puppy love landing her in Juvenile.”
A disarming ease to this woman, Valerie thought. She’d been hard enough on herself in her youth to afford wry self-gentleness now. The moral life was established, had yielded happiness without smugness. She had no need for concealment. Meanwhile here I am, Valerie conceded. Secretly pregnant and investigating the murder of someone I secretly almost fucked. And while we’re at it, secretly flirting with the late perp’s half brother. Fabulous.
“There’s something else,” Dina said. “And I only know a little. It must’ve been seven or eight months ago. Rumor started that Elspeth had been sleeping with boys. Boys, plural—and older boys at that. Julia says it’s completely false, vicious gossip started by this little posse at Drew who’ve got it in for Elspeth for whatever reason. But I know Rachel got involved. There were meetings with the principal and the other girls’ parents. It seems to have died down, but I’m sure I don’t know the whole story. Rachel made light of it when I brought it up.”
“You’re close to Rachel?” she asked.
Dina made a noncommittal face. “I wouldn’t say close,” she answered. “Rachel’s very private. We can make each other laugh, but there’s a definite boundary there. She’s one of the few people I know who doesn’t talk about herself. At all. It’s embarrassing. She comes over for coffee and by the time she’s gone I feel like a raging narcissist.”
“And Adam? Did you know him well?”
“Hardly at all. Neither did Marty.”
“But they were okay together, Rachel and Adam?”
“There was nothing to make me think otherwise, but that’s not saying much. And given Elspeth’s recent shenanigans you’ve got to wonder— Oh, hey, sweetie.”
Valerie turned to see a young girl—Julia, obviously—observing them. Barefoot in cut-off denim shorts and a white vest top, tawny hair in a plait. She had her mother’s gray-blue eyes and leonine features. Her mother’s look, too, of lively curiosity, albeit overlaid right now with what Valerie was coming to think of as standard teenage suspicion.
“Come and say hello,” Dina said. “This is Detective Hart, who’s investigating what happened to Elspeth’s father. I think she might want to talk to you.”
“To me?”
“Yes, come on.”
Julia entered (putting on a face of exaggerated incredulity Valerie knew was for her benefit) and took a seat next to her mother on the couch.
Valerie was mentally drafting how she might ask to speak to the girl alone, but Dina anticipated her. “I’ll leave you ladies to it,” she said. “I’ve got some calls to make.” Then to her daughter: “Jules, no nonsense, okay? Answer straight.”
For the most part, as far as Valerie could tell, Julia Klein did answer straight. At least insofar as she confirmed what Dina had said about Elspeth’s shoplifting and eating disorder. But there was clearly, as Dina had suggested, a wall of adoration that wouldn’t be breached easily. When Valerie asked her about the rumored promiscuity, Julia was less forthcoming.
“That was just some mean girls trying to spread dirt,” she said. “Pathetic.”
“What exactly were they saying about Elspeth?”
“It was stupid,” she said, looking away. “Just stuff so idiotic no one believed them anyway.”
“No one?”
“No one worth bothering about.”
“Did they say Elspeth was having sex with boys? Several boys?”
Julia pulled her knees up to her chest and sank back into the couch. “Yeah,” she said. “I guess.”
“Do you know which boys?”
“What’s the point? It wasn’t true. It was a lie.”
“I know that,” Valerie said. Then, after a pause: “You know everything in this room is just between us, right? No one apart from your mother will know about this conversation.”
“Okay…?” Julia said, intoning it as a question to imply: Why should that make any difference? I’ve got nothing to hide.
“So who were the boys they were saying Elspeth was involved with?”
“I don’t know.”
“Honestly?”
“Honestly. I mean I know one of the names, but I don’t know him, personally. He doesn’t go to Drew. Why d’you need to know, anyway?”
“It’s nothing, really,” Valerie said. “Just background. But to tell you the truth I think Elspeth’s still very unhappy—not just because of what happened to her father. I imagined you’d be the best person to talk to about it. I wonder if she’s over it, lie or no lie. You don’t need to tell me anything you don’t want to. It’s fine.” She would get the names from the principal, if she had to.
Julia looked out of the window.
“Listen, Julia,” Valerie said. “I’m going to level with you. And I hope the confidentiality can go both ways here?”
Julia looked back at her. Uncomfortable, yes, but excited, too, to be involved. And a little flattered to be adultly leveled with. She nodded.
“I think Elspeth blames herself for something. I don’t know what. Whatever it is, it’s making her extremely miserable, and if we don’t get to the bottom of it it’s going to make her worse. I think in some bizarre way she even feels responsible for her father’s death. That’s how confused she’s feeling right now. I know you care about her. And I hope you can trust me. If there’s anything you think I should know, it would be a good idea to tell me.”
Julia looked worried. “If I knew anything I would tell you,” she said. “But I don’t. Honestly I don’t. She’s barely talked to me since her dad died. I know she’s miserable but she doesn’t want to see me. I’ve tried.”
Genuine, all of this, Valerie saw. There was no concealment. Only the pain of having lost the beloved. Dina Klein was justified in her confidence: She’d raised a good kid.
“I’m sorry,” Valerie said. “That must be lousy for you. But she’s been through a terrible time. If I were you I’d keep trying, gently. She’ll come around.”
She got to her feet. “Anyway, thanks for being straight with me. I appreciate it.” She headed toward the door. “I should just say good-bye to your mom…”
“The name of one of the guys is Tanner Riley,” Julia said. “I don’t know the others.”