Page 25

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Keller and Annie make it back to campus quickly, Keller hurry-walking, with Annie struggling to keep up. It’s late morning and more students are rousing.

“So what’s this intel ?” Keller says, repeating the term Annie probably learned from Netflix documentaries or true-crime podcasts.

Annie looks over her shoulder as if to make sure no one hears her gossiping.

“The pledges aren’t worried about the vanishing act. Blane and Mark are apparently big partiers. But one of the guys said Mark is on probation.”

Keller doesn’t reveal she already knows this. “For what?”

“An allegation.”

It’s the same vague term Shaggy used.

“What’s that mean? Like a formal report of something?”

Annie shakes her head. Pulls up something on her phone. “There’s this app called Rizz SCU. It’s where students post anonymously about stuff. Campus gossip, memes, things like that.” She displays her phone to Keller, warning: “They can be really mean.”

Keller reads the first few entries in the thread:

I fucking hate Greek life

One of the girls that lives with me is such a bitch

Spotted: Tuba Boy walking near library

“Someone said Mark did something?”

“That’s what the pledges said, though I couldn’t find the post. And apparently it said something about Mark’s dad.”

“His dad?” Keller doesn’t like playing dumb with her new young friend, but her job demands it. She knows from the file Cynthia Roosevelt’s chief of staff gave her that Mark Wong’s father is a predator who groomed and molested teenaged girls on the swim team he coached.

Annie shrugs.

“Does the school follow up on these reports?”

Another shrug.

Keller asks Annie if she can search the site again for any posts mentioning Mark Wong or the other missing students. The intern’s eyes light up.

“For sure, as soon as I get to the office.” Annie starts explaining in detail how she’ll methodically go about the search, how she’ll also scour other sites, the Wayback Machine for historical posts…

Keller tunes her out while she reads a text from Bob. He sent a photo of the kids on the beach. Heather’s hair blows in the wind and Michael is wearing orange plastic sunglasses:

Too cold to go in water

But fun day

Keller feels an ache in her heart. Her father was one of those people who put his job before family, and she vowed to never—

Another text from Bob interrupts her thought:

How goes the investigation G-woman?

She notices Annie peeking a glance. That the intern is spying is confirmed when Annie says, “You mad at someone?”

“No, why?”

“The thumbs-up emoji. You know it’s considered rude?”

Keller chuckles. “I didn’t know that. Your generation— I’m never going to break the code.”

“You sound like my dad. Let me give you some rules,” Annie says with an earnestness that is charming. She explains it is “one, not two, spaces after a period” when you type something; “no punctuation in texts”; and “stop turning off the closed-captioning on Netflix.”

Back at the station, Keller finds Chief McCray, debriefs him on what she’s learned. He does the same. It’s still a lot of nothing. But now they have a vehicle to look for. And someone is bound to notice a van painted like the Mystery Machine.

“Any of the other parents here yet?” Keller asks.

He nods. “Judge Akana and his wife are in the conference room.”

“What about the others?”

“I talked to Alice Goffman, Felix’s mom, last night, but asked her to come in for another interview. She should be here soon,” McCray says.

“How about Mark or Stella’s parents?” Keller’s already referring to these kids like she knows them. She reminds herself she most certainly doesn’t know them and should check herself.

“They’re a little trickier,” McCray says. “Mark Wong’s father, he—”

“Has a record for sexual assault, I know,” Keller says, finishing his sentence.

“He’s been out of the picture since he went to prison. He’s served his time, lives at a halfway house in East Palo Alto, but our understanding is that he and Mark are estranged.”

“How about the mother?”

“It appears from university records that she’s deceased. A year ago.”

“Kid can’t get a break. Any other family?”

“None listed in his file.”

“Stella’s parents?”

“We’ve been trying to reach David and Nina Maldonado, but haven’t had any luck. Emergency contact is the father, but he’s not answering his phone.”

“That’s odd.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” McCray says. “It’s still early, and Alice Goffman said the Maldonados didn’t seem concerned about their daughter’s disappearing act last night. They said their daughter can be ‘mischievous.’”

“Let’s hope that’s the explanation for all this.”

McCray doesn’t say anything, but she sees skepticism etched in his face.

“The Akanas—you spoke with them last night as well,” Keller says. McCray had already told Keller about the interview: about the couple going to their daughter’s dorm, Libby’s roommate telling them that Libby and Stella had a dispute of some sort, Stella allegedly breaking Libby’s phone.

McCray nods.

“They’re here, so maybe they’ve thought of something else?”

“Or maybe the judge wants to make sure we’re doing our jobs.” McCray says this as if Judge Akana was a handful last night.

Keller smiles. “Let’s go find out.”

In the conference room, Judge Akana sits upright, his eyes intense. His wife is strangely calm, like she’s trying to keep it together. She keeps closing her eyes, taking deep breaths, in and out.

After some preliminaries, Keller confirms what they already told McCray last night: that they were running late for the dinner, that they spoke to Libby that afternoon, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She was her usual cheerful self.

“I understand your tires were slashed?”

Judge Akana nods. “You’re getting CCTV from the Starbucks and surrounding area?”

McCray chimes in: “We’ve requested the footage. Without a warrant and on a weekend, it can take a little time.”

Judge Akana frowns. “You need a warrant for anything, you go to Judge Henry in the Northern District. He’ll get you whatever you need.”

“Good to know.”

“How about geofencing?” Akana asks.

He’s a man used to being in charge of his courtroom. And he’s familiar with the latest in electronic tracking technology, likely because of his criminal docket. Tech companies store massive amounts of location data, a digital record of every place a person goes with their phone. A geofence filters that data to show all phones present in a specific area within a certain timeframe. Keller asked her ASAC to have the San Francisco field office request geofence data showing every phone located at Rancho San Antonio Park within the hour of when the students’ phones went dark.

“Judge Akana, I know this is difficult, but rest assured we’re pursuing all avenues for electronic data,” Keller says.

He nods like he accepts this, but then says he turned Libby’s broken phone over to the Santa Clara PD and wants to confirm the Bureau has it for analysis.

“Santa Clara PD is working with the Bureau’s forensic team,” she assures him again. “They’re going to retrieve anything they can from the device.”

Akana nods.

“Was Libby having any problems?” she asks.

A shake of the head from the judge.

“Do you know why she and Stella Maldonado were fighting? Why Stella might break your daughter’s phone?”

Again, a shake of the head. All the while, Mrs. Akana has said nothing.

“How about you, Mrs. Akana?”

“Please, call me Amy,” she says. “Libby is doing great, she told us everything at school is amazing.”

Maybe it was, Keller thinks. Or maybe her parents are oblivious.

“The slashed tires, can you think of anyone who’d—”

“Other than fans of Rock Nelson, you mean?” says the judge.

“Were there any fans in particular that you can think of?”

“My team is running that down, but no.”

“Anyone else have a grudge? Some other defendant you sentenced?”

“My team has identified no plausible threats. I get my share of hate mail and hostility from the bench, but I’m miles from home, no one knew I was coming to the Bay Area.”

“It could be just vandalism,” Keller says. “The area isn’t immune to that.”

Frustratingly, the couple seems to have nothing new to offer. But Keller senses Mrs. Akana is holding back.

In the hallway outside the conference room, Keller is about to get McCray’s take, but the chief has his attention focused intently on his phone.

Before she can speak, he looks up. “We located the Maldonados. This could be the break we’ve needed.”