Dr. T was dozing on the couch, his black-rimmed glasses on the floor beside him, baby Timmy fast asleep on his stomach when I walked through the front door of Lena’s small bungalow.
No doubt about it. They were father and son. Terrel’s dad was black and owned a body shop on the Peninsula. His mother was a white middle school teacher. His dad loved Lena. Mom hadn’t quite decided that my sister met her standards. Although her resistance started to thaw the more she played with her adorable grandson.
Timmy’s caramel skin was like T’s, only a shade lighter. But his hair had grown into a mop of strawberry blond corkscrew curls like my sister’s. Timmy inhaled and turned his head on his dad’s chest. He had been drooling and left a wet circle on Terrel’s tee shirt.
Lena sat at a desk in her bedroom, which doubled as her office. She concentrated on a partially-designed website for goggles on her monitor.
“I picked up another national client. They manufacture leak-proof goggles, or so they say. I’ve never owned goggles that didn’t leak.”
Lena had the right touch for marketing the aquatic field, and she regularly fielded calls from prospective clients. She also dabbled in hacking when I needed her to find some information.
“That’s a very domestic scene out there,” I said as I walked into the messy room. Normally the mess involved clothes, mismatched shoes, and papers—boxes and boxes of papers—but now her typical clutter was mixed with diapers and onesies. Over in the corner on the floor lay a miniature Speedo for an infant.
“We’ll put a portable crib in here with us and you’re back in your old bedroom.” She smiled.
“Lee, are the results final for the open water swim last weekend?”
“Not sure. Why?”
“The guy, Burk, who swam with me. He isn’t listed.”
“He could have been a jumper,” my sister considered. “You know, didn’t register, didn’t pay the fee, but swam anyway. That happens sometimes.”
“I hadn’t thought of that. I wanted to thank him, but…” I shrugged my shoulders. “Have you ever seen him at these open water swims before?”
Lena thought for a moment.
“No. I haven’t been swimming for the last few years, but I still recognize most of the swimmers who compete. Triathletes sometimes show up to swim. Maybe he’s in that category.”
“I thought you knew him.” I stepped back in disbelief. “I was a wreck and you sent me off with someone you never met?”
“What’s the big deal? This is a very trustworthy group. I never gave it a thought. Hey, has Tyler reappeared?”
“What?” I said, surveying the room. How does the clinically-neat Dr. T handle this?
“Earl’s grandson, Tyler. That skinny guy with the electrifying black hair. Kinda looks like the male bride of Frankenstein,” continued Lena, laughing.
“No.”
“Where did he go?”
“That’s the point. No one knows.”
“But I bet you have some ideas?”
“Not this time.”
Lena leaned over and switched off the computer. Her usually tanned skin had paled, and I noticed dark circles, like smudged dirt, under her eyes. Natural for someone who had a six-month-old baby.
“Fill me in.”
“Well,” I said, picking up one of Timmy’s little undershirts that had some indescribable stain on it. I tossed the shirt over to her. She grabbed it with one hand and dropped it on the floor next to her desk.
“Lena, yuck.”
“Are you going to tell me, or aren’t you?”
I pulled out the tablet and showed her the puny amount of information I had gathered so far.
“This won’t find anybody. Not even me and I’m sitting right in front of you.”
“Listen, ok? Just listen. Someone is going through Tyler to find Earl.”
“Is Earl that hard to find?”
“I don’t know.”
“Have you talked to him about Tyler?”
“A bit. But I thought Tyler would turn up by now.”
“You’re not much of a detective, are you?”
She was right. For some reason, I hadn’t gone into overdrive trying to find Ty. Of course, I hadn’t been asked to. In fact, I’d been asked not to. That had never stopped me before. But with this, getting too curious or involved might jeopardize my somewhat precarious but luxurious living situation.
“Nobody is that keen on you snooping around, but we all admit—and I hate to say this—you do a good job. Does Tyler have a girlfriend?”
“I don’t know.”
“A boyfriend?”
“I don’t know.”
“Any friends?”
“Yes, he does have friends. I’ve seen one of them. He came to Earl’s house.”
“Looking for Ty?”
“No. Dropping some beer off for Earl a few weeks ago. Ty and his buddies make beer, something called Coyote Ridge. Tyler talked his grandfather into investing, I guess. According to Earl, the recipe sucks. He makes a face every time he takes a sip of their latest batch.”
“Some investment.” Lena stood and stretched. “Let’s get you settled back into your bedroom.” From the hallway, I heard Dr. T talking to Timmy in the living room.
“Guess who’s here? Aunt Trisha. She’s taking over your bedroom. That means you’re bunking with Mom and Dad for a few days.” Then he called out, “It’s only a few days, right?”
“As soon as Tyler’s parents leave, I’ll be gone,” I said.
“That’s not the answer I wanted to hear,” he admitted as I walked through to the kitchen.
Terrel settled Little T on the couch and joined me, pouring himself a glass of orange juice as he studied me carefully. “You here on official business?” he asked.
“What does that mean?”
“Lena mentioned that you want her help to find someone. I’m guessing that’s the grandson?”
Terrel took a sip and aimed those intelligent dark eyes at me. I stayed silent.
“Do you want me to remind you of the restriction clauses when it comes to Lena helping you?”
“Can we talk about the Giants instead? This might be one of the good years.”
Terrel's glare never wavered.
“You know there are rules that come with Lena when you drag her into your ‘investigations.’”
“I can decide for myself what I want to do,” came a voice from down the hall.
“Number one—her life is never put in danger.”
“That works for me,” called out Lena.
“And number one-and-a-half, neither is yours,” said Terrel.
“I’m only worth a half?”
Laughter floated from Lee’s bedroom. “Aw, you’re worth three-quarters, at least.”
“This isn’t funny, Lena. I would never put you in danger.”
“Number two—you will always keep the police abreast of any relevant information you find.”
“How does that refer to Lena?”
“I’m all for that,” said Lena.
“You know, you could be a little more supportive,” I yelled in Lena’s direction. “Dr. T., I know all this.”
“But it needs to be stated so everything is crystal clear,” said Dr. T. “Number three— Timmy is never involved … never … n e v e r.”
“Agreed,” yelled Lena.
By now, my face had filled with heat.
“Okay, okay. No one will be put in danger. Ever … e v e r. Your ‘rules’ are fine with me. No problem. But I think you’re making this a bigger deal than it is. Tyler’s only been out of touch five days. He’s a young guy. I bet he’s with friends or met a woman …”
“You told me he didn’t have a girlfriend,” said Lena, still yelling from her room.
“Do you believe that?” asked Terrel.
“About the girlfriend?”
“No. That he’ll show up.”
I paused.
“That’s why we have to have ground rules,” he stated. “Over the past few years, Lena has been shot at.”
“Me, too,” I said.
“Drugged, experienced a severe allergic reaction. She went into anaphylactic shock, for God’s sake.”
“But—”
“There’s more. Remember when some of your psycho friends dragged her off? Not once, but twice.”
Sweat beaded on my forehead.
“I could have gone to jail for the things I did for you,” called out Lena.
“There were a few missteps, I admit. They weren’t all my fault.”
“Trisha, I know where this is headed.”
“I wish I did,” I mumbled to myself.
“That’s the problem. You don’t,” said Dr. T.
I couldn’t fault his reasoning. Things often took a dip, sometimes a dangerous dip, before I could figure them out. Terrel provided the cool voice of logic and analysis. Great traits for an emergency room doctor but, as far as I was concerned, he lacked a little spontaneity on the home front. Taking chances weren’t his thing.
Timmy began to whimper.
“Got work to do. Diaper change and then introduce Tim to the fine mechanics of my beautiful `73 Charger. It’s time for him to check under the hood. Little dude, you stink.”
I walked back into the bedroom that had been my home for two years before Timmy entered the world. Why Lena had kept the single bed in there, I didn’t know, but she had. With the addition of a crib, changing table, and rocking chair, the compact space signaled that I would leave this room with bruises and bumps on my legs.
My phone buzzed. Jon. Finally. And it wasn’t a text, but an actual phone call.
“There you are. I’d hoped to hear from you, maybe a little sooner,” I said.
Jon paused.
“Trisha, remember I’m working. Can’t always call when I want to.”
“Of course. Sorry. How’s work?”
I heard a sniff on the other end.
“Did you find anything?”
“Well…”
“Jon?”
“Nothing. Not a thing. We climbed down a trail, overgrown with brush. Babe was sniffing everywhere, but there was no sign.”
“That’s disappointing. Do you know where the trail leads?”
“Down to a small parking lot in Larkspur. It wouldn’t be easy to get there since it was so overgrown, but I suppose it’s possible.”
“Did you try?”
“Yeah, we did. But some of the weeds were dense and the trail disappeared a few feet from where The Babe became the super-sniffer.”
“Did you drive by the lot, by any chance?”
“Way ahead of you. It looks like it’s been cordoned off for months. The lot and the bathrooms are closed for repairs. Nobody could park there, that’s for sure. Maybe he left another way.”
“He left? What are you saying? You think he disappeared on purpose?”
“I don’t know, Trisha. If he took the trail, where did he go? Earl’s house is at one end of the fire road that goes to Mill Valley. You told me his apartment is at the other. Did he fall into one of the canyons? Possible, but neither the police nor the rangers found him. There are only so many possibilities.”
“Somebody took him,” I said. “That’s what I think.”
“Possibly. Or maybe he took off, himself.”
“Can we talk about this later?” I asked. My head hurt and this conversation wasn’t helping any.
“Do I have a choice?” he asked. There was a smile in his voice.
“Not really … miss you,” I said, just as he hung up.
I hadn’t signed up to work the game that night, so I had plenty of time on my hands. I picked up the tablet and wandered out to Lena’s small backyard with its beautiful view of Mt. Tamalpais. Deep afternoon shadows climbed up the steep hills and turned the Douglas oak and the California pine from dark green to a rich, brownish-black. Earl’s home was closer to the base of Mt. Tam since he lived another canyon closer, but I liked this perspective best.
I sat on one of the lounge chairs and opened the tablet to view my notes about Tyler. Jan Johnson knew the most about Tyler’s stalker. Maybe we could meet again, someplace quieter than the ballpark or a bar… Maybe the radio station, so I could talk to the security guard while I was there. I called the station and left a message on her voice mail.
If I’d had a copy of Tyler’s house key, I would’ve just wandered over to check things out, myself. I’d grown comfortable with being in places I wasn’t supposed to be. And I’d mastered how to tell little … tiny … white lies if someone found me. But I didn’t have a key. I didn’t even know where Tyler lived. Earl had been vague when I asked him. Just somewhere in Mill Valley on the other end of the La Cruz Canyon fire road. I hoped that Ty’s parents would visit his apartment. I would put it on my to-do list anyway.
I hadn’t given much thought yet to his beer venture. Maybe his business partners had a line on him. I did a search on Coyote Ridge. When a web address popped up, I blinked in surprise. Wasn’t this a hush-hush business until they worked out the recipe? I clicked on the URL and again on a disclaimer that I was over twenty-one.
“Definitely that.”
A stylish sketch of a ridge in San Rafael, popular with hikers and dog walkers, came into view on the homepage. Off to one side, a pack of coyotes peeked out from behind a grove of Eucalyptus trees.
“Nice design,” I said aloud.
Lena walked up behind me. “I could do that,” she said.
“You are so competitive,” I said.
“I have to admit. That is nice. Someone spent some money. That’s not the kind of artwork you’d find on the web for free. That isn’t even paid stock. Someone drew this. Click on one of the tabs,” Lena demanded.
I tapped the ‘Beer’ tab. Overlaid on the background of the ridge and the coyotes, some text announced, “We’re not ready yet. Check back.” I clicked the rest of the tabs, but they all said the same thing. Except for the “Contact” tab. There I found a phone number and an email address.
“That’s my first step. I’m calling that number,” I said.
Lena patted my shoulder. “Good luck with that. I have a date with a washing machine.”
As she walked inside, I punched in the number and waited. The phone rang and as expected, it went to voicemail. I hadn’t thought this through. Would I get a call back faster if I said I was a friend of Tyler or Earl? The beep sounded and I had to make a split-second decision.
“Hi, this is Arabella Stockman. An acquaintance told me about Coyote Ridge, that I might be interested in investing. Can you give me a call?”
I left my number and hung up.
My phone rang. It was Jon.
“Hey,” I said.
“Have great news.”
“You found Tyler?”
“Not everything is about Tyler, Trish. We’ve been invited to my sister’s for dinner. She invited all the family. They can’t wait to meet you.”
There was a long silence.
“Trisha? You there?”
“Yeah. That sounds like … sure … would enjoy it. It’s just finding time. It won’t be easy.”
“The Giants are on a ten-day road trip starting next week. I’m sure you can fit in one dinner,” Jon said.
Another long silence.
It wasn’t the first time Jon had asked me to meet his family.
“You have no excuse this time,” said Jon.
“Honestly, I’m not ready to meet anybody.”
“What’s the problem? We’ve been seeing each other for nearly a year. I’ve met all your family, even family friends, even your family friend’s dog. The Babe likes me, and I think everyone else does, too. Everyone but you.”
“That’s not true. I like you. So much. You know that. It’s just… I can’t…”
“Can’t or don’t want to?”
I couldn’t answer him.
“Are you going to have dinner with me and my family, or not?”
“Jon.”
“Are you?”
I gazed out the window. A deep blue sky sliced against Mt. Tam, now completely black.
“Okay. Of course. You’re right. I’m sorry. Next week. Pick an evening. I’ll go.”
“Trisha, it’s not supposed to be this hard, you know. I like you … a lot. I want the people who mean the most to me to meet you.”
“I know you do.”
My phone’s screen flashed. Maybe a call from Coyote Ridge.
“I need to get off the phone. Call coming in.”
Before he could protest, I hung up and tried to answer the other call.
“Hello?”
Lena stood by the screen door, shaking her finger at me.
“Rude. You are so rude. You hung up on Jon, the man who likes you. He’s a good person. He treats you like a goddess, though for the life of me I don’t know why. What is so wrong that you won’t even meet his family?”
“Hello? Damn it.” The call had gone to voicemail.
I glanced up at Lena glaring at me, her arms folded across her chest.
“I’m not ready. Not yet,” I said.
Lena shook her head. “He won’t stick around much longer if your attitude doesn’t change.”
“Lee, I realize you’re worried about my love life, but I’ve got it handled. Really. Now, please go away.” I turned around, then hit the voicemail button on my phone. The Coyote Ridge people had called back. They wanted to see me to discuss investment options. Immediately, if I was available. A perfect reason to leave my sister and my unfinished business with Jon.