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Meanwhile, Walker was spending his su dope His parents were clueless and didn’t seerasp the import of his frequent absences from the house or the unannounced visits from an assortment of friends whose names they were never told In the fall Walker would start his fresh at hos Even if he went in with five other guys, he’d be co Jon was in the same boat Once Mona and the family returned, she’drent Lionel would explain this was for his own good, acharacter, not just a variation on Mona’s abuse Jon could see he’d have to find a job and juggle ith classes at City College Mr Snow had a point about avoiding the draft

19

Wednesday afternoon, April 13, 1988

Deborah Unruh agreed to ewater Hotel The spot she suggested was across from the hotel entrance, at the bottoe road It was a point she’d be passing in the course of her regular weekday walk, a loop that extended from her Montebello condominium to the wharf don Avis Jent had called her on my behalf and after the preliminary chitchat, she’d suht have done in her place Deborah didn’t seem to require much in the way of persuasion

I arrived fifteen minutes early and parked on the narrow road that ran behind the hotel I lockedin the trunk of h the property I crossed the frontage road and trotted down the stairs A dense fog was rolling in, spreading a thick marine layer that blotted out the offshore islands, twenty-sixits character Erratic winds topped the waves, creating whitecaps in the chop It was close to 3:00 by then, and I was already operating on sensory overload I needed ti ocean air would clearan and ended at the wharf, with its co

Coastal Santa Teresa, despite its many assets, wasn’t blessed with a natural harbor Early trade by sea was inhibited because shipping co to risk their cargo when faced with the rocky shore In 1872 a fifteen-hundred-foot wharf was finally constructed, allowing freighters and steaers Over the next fifty years, earthquakes, winter store to the wharf, and while it was rebuilt tiain, it failed to solve the proble number of yachts and pleasure boats owned by its wealthy citizens and sometimes wealthier su survey (which consisted of setting es and sacks of sawdust afloat at Horton Ravine beach and watching which way they drifted) indicated that locating an artificial harbor to the west of the toould be folly because prevailing currents would denude the beaches of sand and deposit it all directly into the proposed ress A 200,000 harbor bond issue was offered in support of this ill-conceived scheme, and voters approved the ed fro a thousand-foot breakwater Thereafter, as predicted, 775 cubic yards of sand per day shifted to the inside aspect of the barrier, creating a sandbar of sufficientbefore the taxpayers were forced to buy a 250,000 dredge and a 127,000 tender in a perpetual effort to keep the harbor open, at an annual expenditure of 100,000 The surown exponentially since then, with no perht All of this by way of i an eye on the beach Tenfrom my left Avis Jent’s description hadn’t prepared me for how attractive she was She was barefoot and the wind had buffeted her silver hair into a choppy halo She had to be in her late sixties, looking tri jacket that she’d left unzipped, showing a red cotton T-shirt Her eyes were brown and her face was youthful, despite numerous soft lines that came into focus as she reached me "Kinsey?"

"Hi, Deborah" I reached out and the two of us shook hands "Thanks forme on such short notice"

"Not a probleive up o as far as the wharf and back if that’s doable for you"