Page 109

We ate in silence for a few minutes after that. I was just about to finish my burger when my phone rang from inside my purse.

I took it out and checked the screen.

Ryan.

“My coach. Gotta take it.”

“Go ahead,” Cantor said, winking at me. “Ican take it.”

“Hey, Coach.”

“We can’t find Billy McGee,” he said.

Eighty-One

RYAN GAVE ME ANaddress in Chinatown, on Jackson Street, and said he was on his way there himself.

I asked him why Chinatown.

He said he’d called Amanda, Billy’s wife, and she said her husband had gone off to get dinner at the Z & Y Bistro with an old teammate from Arizona State, and she hadn’t heard from him since.

She said she kept tracking his phone, but it was still in the same place on Jackson Street, even though she’d called the restaurant and Billy had left a couple of hours ago.

Cantor paid the check and said he’d drive me and worry about coming back for my car later.

“Not sure this is a police matter. At least not yet.”

“Think of me as a concerned Wolves fan,” Cantor said, “one who might be able to help out a little more than most in a situation like this.”

I called Ryan back when we were in Cantor’s car and put him on speaker.

“We had a deal, Billy and me,” Ryan said, “one I didn’t tell you about. He had to call me every night at nine o’clock, and then at eleven, whether he was at home with Amanda or not. If he was out, he had to tell me where he was and who he was with.”

“Makes you sound like a parole officer,” Cantor said.

“Wait,” Ryan said. “Who’s with you, Jenny?”

“Detective Ben Cantor. San Francisco Police Department.”

“Oh, right,” Ryan said over the speaker. “You’re the cop.”

I saw Cantor grin.

“Well, I’macop.”

“So Billy didn’t call tonight when he was supposed to,” I said.

“Nope. I gave myself half an hour or so, hoping he just forgot, before I called Amanda.”

Ryan sighed audibly.

“I called the restaurant myself. They told me what they told Amanda—that he was long gone and that nobody had found a phone he might have left behind.”

“If he got lucky and found a parking space out front,” Cantor said, “maybe he left the phone in the car.”

“Had Billy ever missed one of his nightly calls?” I said to Ryan.

“Not one time since we signed him.”