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Molly nodded.
“And they were friends of your parents?”
Molly shrugged, said, “I only know that one of them carried me out of the fire.”
“Can you tell us what he looked like?”
“He had a nice face, and I think he had blond hair. And he was like Ruben’s age,” Molly said.
“Ruben?”
“My brother, Ruben. He’s in the cafeteria right now, but he goes to Cal Tech. He’s a sophomore.”
“Had you ever seen this boy before?” I asked.
I felt Dr. Matlaga’s hand at my elbow, signaling me that our time was over.
“I didn’t know him,” Molly said. “I could have been dreaming,” she said, finally fixing her eyes on me. “But in my dream, whoever he was, I know he was an angel.”
She closed her eyes, and tears spilled from under those lashless crescents and rolled silently down her cheeks.
Chapter 61
“HANNI IS IN THE CLEAR,” Jacobi said, standing over us, casting a shadow across our desks. “He was working the scene of a meth lab explosion the night of the Meacham fire. He said he told you.”
I remembered.
He’d told us that the Meacham fire had been his second job that night.
“I’ve spoken to five people who were at that meth scene who swear Chuck was there until he got the call about the Meachams,” said Jacobi. “And I’ve confirmed that Matt Waters is doing life for the deaths of the Christiansens.”
Conklin sighed.
“Both of you,” said Jacobi. “Move on. Find out what the victims have in common. Boxer — McNeil and Chi are reporting to you. So make use of them. Concentrate on the Malones and the Meachams. Those are ours. Here’s the name of the primary working the Chus’ case in Monterey. Conklin, you might want to smooth things over with Hanni. He’s still working these cases.”
I was looking at Rich as Jacobi stumped back to his office.
Conklin said, “What? I have to buy Hanni flowers?”
“That’ll confuse him,” I said.
“Look, it made sense, didn’t it, Lindsay? The book was about an arsonist who was an arson investigator and Hanni missed it.”
“You made a courageous call, Richie. Your reasoning was sound and you didn’t attack him. You brought it into the open with our immediate superior. Perfectly proper. I’m just glad you were wrong.”
“So . . . look. You know him. Should I expect to find my tires slashed?” Conklin asked.
I grinned at the idea of it.
“You know what, Rich. I think Chuck feels so bad about missing that book, he’s going to slash his own tires. Just tell him, ‘Sorry, hope there are no hard feelings.’ Do the manly handshake thing, okay?”
My phone rang.
I held Richie’s glum gaze for a moment, knowing how bad he felt, feeling bad for him, then I answered the phone.
Claire said, “Sugar, you and Conklin got a minute to come down here? I’ve got a few things to show you.”
