CHAPTER FIVE

 

Friday – March 26

 

9 a.m. sharp, Ray was on the street below Jack’s apartment, honking from a department-issued vehicle—his usual nondescript black sedan. Ray rarely honked from the street, so Jack knew his friend was not in a good mood.

He slid into his leather jacket then pocketed his notebook, phone, and keys before closing the apartment door behind him.

Ray pulled into traffic before Jack had his seatbelt clipped into place. Horns blared around them.

“Good morning to you, too. Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?” When his friend ignored him, Jack said, “I’m guessing Haniford is the reason you look like you want to tear off my head.”

Ray kept his gaze on the traffic. “Ya think?”

“Tell me what happened.”

On the twenty-minute drive over to the university on Holloway Avenue on the west side of the peninsula, Ray went into detail about what Haniford thought about Jack’s insertion into the Rybak case. Jack knew his former lieutenant liked him, but he’d like Jack better if he got back on the job. What he’d said to Ray hadn’t been encouraging.

“I expected as much,” Jack admitted.

“Maybe so, but I rather he’d yelled at you instead.” After finding parking in the small lot beside the university admin building, Ray shut off the ignition and finally turned to Jack. “I’ve got the warrant in my pocket, so we shouldn’t have any trouble getting what we need from school records. With any luck, some of Rybak’s teachers are still here and we can speak with them too.”

Jack nodded. “Might make better use of our time if we split up.”

“Maybe. Let’s see where we get with Admin first.”

Once inside the building, Ray took point and went to the reception desk where a middle-aged, casually dressed, dyed-blonde woman sat. Her name tag said Nancy.

Ray withdrew his badge and showed it to the woman. “I’m Inspector Ray Navarro with SFPD. This is private investigator Jack Slaughter. We’re working a case involving a former student…possibly three students. Is there someone here we can speak with?”

“Just a moment, Inspector. I’ll see if Ms. Fong is available. She’s in charge of Student Services.” Nancy lifted the phone handset and punched in a series of numbers. “Ms. Fong, a couple of police inspectors are here and have questions about some students. Yes, ma’am. All right, I’ll let them know.” Replacing the handset, Nancy said, “Ms. Fong said she's quite busy today, but if you’d like to make an appointment, she’ll be happy to speak with you then.”

“Please get her back on the phone and let her know we have a warrant. She can make the time now to help us, or we’ll help ourselves.”

Jack nearly laughed at the innocent smile Ray gave Nancy.

Nancy didn’t bother with formalities. “They have a warrant. Yes, ma’am.” Hanging up, she said, “Ms. Fong will be right down. If you’d like to have a seat—” Nancy motioned to a waiting area across the lobby, but before she could finish her sentence, a voice came from the nearby stairs.

“Inspectors.” Jack looked up to see an attractive Asian woman descending the stairs. Her dark hair was up-styled over a heart-shaped face. Her smart two-piece dress suit was a shade of beige that complimented her complexion. Her matching heels clicked on the marble tiles as she strode toward them. “I am Ms. Fong. I understand you have questions about our students…and a warrant? What's this about?”

Ray flipped open his wallet to show the woman his badge and credentials. “We’re investigating the disappearance of one of your students. We have some questions, and we’d like to take a look at your records. Hence the warrant.” He handed it to her next.

“I see,” she said, eyes widening. “Who are we talking about? A missing student has not been brought to my attention.”

“His name was Tristan Rybak.” Ray gave her a copy of the MPR.

"That was some time ago. Why are you just now looking into it?"

"We're following up, Ms. Fong," Jack said. "Some new evidence has come to light since Mr. Rybak's disappearance."

Looking up at Jack, she asked, "What kind of new evidence?"

"His body," Jack flatly said.

A hand flew to Fong's mouth as she gasped. "Oh my. After all this time . . ."

"We'd like to take a look at his school records," Ray continued. "Maybe there's something there that could tell us more about his disappearance. We'd also like to speak with his teachers, if any of them are still with the school."

"Certainly. Please, come up to my office and we will go through it all there." Fong spun on her heel and returned the way she'd come, Jack and Ray behind her.

In her office, Jack shifted uncomfortably on the narrow chair.

"You'll see the warrant covers records for Rybak as well as two other possible students who Rybak may have been associated with prior to his disappearance," Ray said.

Fong pulled her keyboard toward her. "Let's start with the known student.” A moment later, she continued. "I have his records here. Major studies in Humanities and Liberal Studies with a special focus on the arts . . . graphic design and creative writing. Notes here say he wanted a career in writing gaming scripts and designing the graphics."

Ray scribbled in his notebook. "His girlfriend at the time said he was a gamer, so his major makes sense."

"Was she a student here too?" Fong asked.

"We think so," Ray said. "Stacey Maguire. She's not on the warrant, but if you would be kind enough to look—"

Fong tapped her keyboard a few times and said, "Yes, she was. She was in the same year as Mr. Rybak and graduated the year following his disappearance." She pressed a few more keys. "Similar areas of study as Mr. Rybak, but her focus was marketing."

"I need to get a copy of Mr. Rybak's records,” Ray said.

"Is that really necessary?"

"Yes, Ms. Fong," Jack cut in. "They'll give us a better idea of the type of student he was, particularly if he was written up by any of his teachers or if he had any trouble outside of classes. Also, attendance and the like."

"It will all help in filling out the details of who Rybak was, which may help us discover why he disappeared. And why he's only reappeared now, albeit deceased," Ray added.

"Are any of their teachers still at the school?" Jack asked. "Perhaps they know something not in the official records."

"Yes. They are in class now though." Fong rose and went to a side table with stacks of paper and pulled a few pages before returning to her desk. She made a few marks with a pen before handing them to Ray. "We have a large campus. It is set up in quadrants. The first page is a map to the Humanities and Creative Arts buildings. And here is some information on those classes." She pointed to the notes she'd made. "These are the names of the instructors and their classrooms."

"Thank you," Ray said, then flipped pages in his notebook. "We also need to see if we can find any friends he might have had on campus. When his girlfriend was interviewed, she indicated Rybak had recently met a couple new gaming friends. She only had first names, so we're not sure if they were students or just people he met online. If you could search those names, it would be a great help. They're included on our warrant,” Ray reminded her.

"You only have first names?" Fong asked. Ray nodded. "It will not be an easy search. So many students have the same name."

"How many students do you know called Kyle or Logan?" Jack asked.

Fong typed the first name into her computer. "Kyle. Hmm . . . Looks like there were two at the time Mr. Rybak was here." She clicked a few more keys, then looked between Jack and Ray, serious again. "Kyle Warren might be the young man you are looking for. The records show he had a similar interest of study as Mr. Rybak and attended the same classes."

Jack asked, "What about the other Kyle?"

"Kyle Jenner was a freshman that year and his notes show he had regular attendance in his classes and graduated on schedule. It is possible he knew Mr. Rybak, but they did not attend any of the same classes. As well, Mr. Warren stopped attending classes just before Mr. Rybak."

"Jack, do you remember a Kyle Warren in the MPRs?" Jack shook his head. "Ms. Fong, do you know who reported Warren missing?"

"There is nothing in the record to show he was missing. Only that he stopped attending classes. You might visit the Financial Aid office as he was attending the university on a full ride scholarship. I see here there are no next of kin listed and no emergency contact. Maybe Financial Aid has something more for you. What I can tell you is he had almost perfect attendance until a few weeks before he stopped attending classes altogether."

Jack sat forward. “And the school didn’t find it odd that two students went MIA around the same time?”

Fong remained cool. “I can only tell you what I see on their records. It was a long time ago.”

“Surely their disappearance would have alerted someone on campus, and an investigation would have been carried out,” Jack continued.

Fong wrote something on a slip of paper and slid it toward Jack. “This is the name of our head of security. You may ask him your questions.” She looked at Ray. “What was the other name?"

"Logan," Ray said.

After a few taps on her keyboard, Fong said, "We had one Logan . . . Logan Armstrong. Mr. Rybak and Mr. Warren were both juniors; Mr. Armstrong was a senior. He was a chemistry major with good attendance. Nothing obvious here linking him with Misters Rybak and Warren, but looking at the dates, his normally good attendance seemed to drop off at the same time. Hmm . . . it looks like he had a strong 3.8 GPA, but it dropped around the same time as the others. He graduated by the skin of his teeth."

"That's good enough for me," Ray said. "I need printouts of everything you have on those three, as well as Stacey Maguire, if you don't mind. And I'll need the names and contact info on each of their parents or emergency contacts." Fong nodded. She set her printer up and it quickly started ejecting pages.