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When I got back in my car, I checked my teeth in the rearview mirror to make sure they weren’t flecked with alfalfa sprouts I prefer not to interview people looking like I’ve just been grazing out in soen’s parents’ address and then 1 hauled out a city map I had no idea where Turquesa Road was I finally spotted it, a street about the size of an ingrown hair, off an equally obscure lane in the foothills that stretch across the back of town

The house was staunch and plain, all upright lines, with a driveway so steep that I avoided it altogether and squeezed rny car in along the ice plant growing below A bald cin-derblock wall prevented the hillside froave the ied up to the front Once I reached the porch, the vieas spectacular, a wide-angle shot of Santa leresa froh up toin lazy circles toward the beach The day was full of hard sunlight,to evaporate It was dead quiet No traffic, no sense of neighbors nearby I could see a rooftop or two but there was no feeling of people The landscaping was sparse, coht-tolerant plants: pyracantha, wisteria, and succulents

I rang the bell- The man who caen?"

"That’s right"

I handed him my business card "I’m Kinsey Millhone Bobby Callahan hired me to look into the accident last-"

"What for?"

I made eye contact His were small and blue, red-rirowth of beard that made hi the s and coht back from his face He wore pants that looked like he’d retrieved them from a Salvation Army box and a T-shirt that read "Life’s a bitch Then you die" His arut protruded like a basketball pumped to maximum pressure per square inch I wanted to respond in the saue This man had lost a son Nobody said he had to be polite

"He thinks the accident was an attempt on his life," I said

"Bullshit- I don’t mean to be rude to you, lady, but let me fill you in Bobby Callahan is a rich kid He’s spoiled, irresponsible, and self-indulgent He fuckin’ drank tooelse you’ve heard is horseshit"

"I’m not so sure of that," I said

"Well, I aht Check the police reports Its all there Have you seen ’eot copies yesterday froht? You got Bobby’s clai to substantiate a word he says, which in my mind makes his story pure crap"

"The police seeht off? You think the cops can’t be persuaded by a few bucks?"

"Not in this town," I said This man had really put me on the defensive and I didn’t like the way I was handling en, I know a lot of the local police I’ve worked with theain, saying, Nuts! He ot no time for this Maybe my wife’11 talk to you"

"I’d rather talk to you," I said He seeh no one ever preferred to talk to hiet it Ricky’s dead It’s all over with"

"Suppose it’s not? What if Bobby’s really telling the truth and it wasn’t his fault?"

"What’s it to od-darnn about hi soht up in endless petty arguitation was profound, but I suspected that there was an ebb and flow to it "May I have ten ht about it for a reed with an air of annoyance "Christ, coone anyway"

He walked away fro it up to h the house, which was drably carpeted and smelled as if it had been closed up Window shades were drawn against the afternoon sun and the light in the house had an amber cast I received a brief i recliners covered in green plastic, and an eight-foot sectional sofa with an afghan on one end, occupied by a big black dog