“Most of my life,” said Kleffer. “When I was with Kathy, I stayed clean and sober. Then I moved to New York and got back into it heavy. It’s the lifestyle, but no excuses. I made a big mess of myself a bunch of times.”

Milo looked at me.

I said, “What would you like us to know about Katherine?”

Kleffer reached for another cigarette. “To know? She was a great girl. A nice girl. Shy but very sweet.”

“How’d the two of you meet?”

Kleffer lit up. “Why would she go for a freak like me? You tell me, I never really figured it out but I didn’t complain about it.” Deep drag. Wet eyes. “You need to know this: I loved her.”

Milo said, “We need to know because …”

“I don’t know why I said that. I guess … I don’t know what I’m saying, guys, okay?” He looked to the side. “This is embarrassing, man. I told myself don’t wimp out in front of the cops, but …” He patted his chest. “The feelings, you know? I been pushing them aside. Now that I’m clean and sober again, they punch me hard.”

I gave him time to smoke. “So where’d you and Kathy meet?”

He smiled. “Oh, yeah, that question. At a restaurant. Funny, no?”

“You were working?”

“No,” said Kleffer. “I was eating. Thai food, there was a little strip-mall place near where she worked. I was in the Valley to pick up provisions and saw it and said what the hell.”

“Slumming,” said Milo.

“No, no, freaks who cook fancy for other people like to eat simple. Go into any Michelin star place after closing and check out what everyone’s eating. Bread, soup, a burger.”

I said, “Getting away from complexity.”

“Yes, yes, exactly. So that’s where I met Katherine. I was eating pad Thai and she was eating something with green curry and too much lemongrass, I could smell it from my table. Our tables were close, she was pretty—not in the hottie way, like … what I used to see in village girls in Germany. Natural, you know? I didn’t look so freaky, had a skinned head, but none of this Mo-Joke.” Ruffling the black spikes. “I should cut this shit off … anyway, I started talking to her, asked for her number and she surprised me by giving it. But the rest is not history.”

Milo said, “Why not?”

“I called her the next day, she said no thank you. She didn’t want to be rude but she had second thoughts, we didn’t have enough in common. I was bummed but I admired her for being brave.”

“Brave how?”

“I mean she could’ve just not answered the phone, right? Couple times, you give up. I was surprised she gave me the number in the first place. I am not every mother’s dream.”

Milo said, “So what happened?”