Regan thought of Tanaka’s suspicious stare and her own need to find out the truth. Somehow she had to temper her tendency to bully her way into the investigation, or she could be shut out entirely. “We’ll see. Let’s not worry about that now.” She took a second to text Bianca to check on the baby, then dealt with her sisters again.
By the time Sarina was somewhat in control of her emotions again, the SF detectives stepped into the room.
After quick introductions again, Paterno offered water, coffee, or soda, and this time Pescoli opted for a bottle of water while her siblings shook their heads.
“I’ll get it,” Tanaka said, and disappeared for less than two minutes, returning with three bottles, handing one to Paterno, the second to Pescoli, and cracking the third as she took her chair, next to her partner and facing the Connors siblings.
Paterno explained a little about the case, bringing Pescoli and her siblings up to speed:
There were two victims, Paul and Brindel Latham, ID-ed by the housekeeper, who had found their bodies. Each victim had been alone, it appeared, in his or her separate bedroom at the time of the attack, which
appeared to coincide with a robbery. There was no sign of forced entry—no broken locks or appearance of doors or windows being forced open—and so far the police had not been able to locate any of the children of the couple, but they were searching. Could they have been kidnapped, or victims themselves, or were they simply missing in action? Police were scouring the city and surrounding area, contacting friends and acquaintances.
Right now Pescoli didn’t bother with notes. Time enough for that later, when she was dealing with Paterno and Tanaka on a professional cop-to-cop basis. Right now she’d try to rein in her impatience and just observe both her sisters and the detectives questioning them. She opened her water bottle and took a sip.
Sarina, as expected, was grief riddled and showed it. Always the most sensitive of the four Connors women, she dabbed at her eyes, blew her nose, and wept quietly throughout the meeting.
On the other hand Collette, firstborn of the Connors sisters, was always hard edged and now obviously more pissed off than sad. No surprise there. Maybe anger was the way she expressed her grief.
Uncharacteristically, Pescoli held her emotions under tight wrap. If she were going to gain the trust of Paterno and especially Tanaka, she’d need to exude a calm exterior.
Paterno asked questions about Paul and Brindel, and as her sisters answered, she realized how little she knew about Brindel, much less than Sarina and Collette.
“. . . we didn’t see each other all that much, even living in the same city,” Sarina said, “but then we were all busy with our own lives.” Guilt flashed through her blue eyes. “We’d meet once in a while for lunch or drinks or coffee.”
“How often?” Tanaka asked.
“I don’t know.” Sarina glanced at Collette as if her older sister might help out. “Maybe once every couple of months, maybe more often, depending on schedules.”
“Sometimes it was half a year or more,” Collette said, and Sarina sighed.
“I guess that’s true . . . schedules, you know. But we always made time at Christmas or met for lunch to celebrate one of our birthdays, and parties, for the kids on occasion.” She picked up her Pepsi can again, not drinking from it, and chewed on her lower lip, appearing for all the world as if she regretted every second she hadn’t spent with her now-dead sibling.
For a second the room was quiet, only the rattling of air in the hidden vents and some conversation from the outer corridor breaking the silence.
“What about the kids? Your niece and nephews?” Paterno asked.
“Have you heard from them?” Sarina asked hopefully. “Seth, he . . . he’s going to Berkeley, right? He’s just across the bay. He should be here. . . .” And then she went quiet.
Tanaka looked at Paterno, who gave a short nod. “Seth Latham is on his way back here. He was out of town.”
“Out of town?” Collette asked.
“Las Vegas,” Tanaka explained. “With his girlfriend. The other son isn’t answering his phone.”
Sarina looked surprised. “So early in the term to be in Vegas. Or maybe not. Kids, these days, you know. But his brother? Macon? He’s down at UCLA.” When the two detectives didn’t respond, she added, “Isn’t he? Studying pre-law or something.”
“Seth said his brother was taking a term off, that he was rarely at the house in San Francisco, just crashed there once in a while. Most of the time he stayed at an apartment in Oakland his friend rented,” Paterno told her.
“Really?” Sarina said.
Collette rolled her eyes. “Come on, Sarina. You know he’s got problems. School never really was his thing. He just went because Paul insisted.” To Paterno, she said, “He’s had issues, I guess you’d say.”
“Collette!” Sarina gasped.
Her older sister shrugged. “They’re going to find out anyway.”
“What kinds of issues?” Tanaka asked.