“Let’s see.” She pressed a finger to her lower lip. “Lauren works Tuesdays and Thursdays and Fridays and it wasn’t Friday because I’m off Friday and it wasn’t Tuesday because she called in sick Tuesday because her boyfriend got tickets to the Jason Mraz concert.” She stopped for breath. “Had to be Thursday.”

“Around what time?”

“Five-ish. Wow, so this is like an investigation?”

“Uh-huh.”

“You can’t tell me what they did?”

“Sorry, Heather.”

“Cool, I understand.”

“So they’ve only been here twice.”

“That’s all I saw.”

“How long have you been working here?”

“Three years, off and on.”

“How’d they act on Thursday?”

“The same. That’s how I remember. Lauren said they didn’t talk, just sat. He ate, she didn’t.”

“Ten percent tip.”

“Eight percent, actually.” She grinned. “I guess it’s my charm.”

I thanked her and gave her another ten.

“Oh, wow, you don’t have to,” she said, but she made no effort to return the money. “If you want I can keep an eye out and if they come in again I’ll call you.”

“I was just going to ask.” I handed her my card.

“Psychologist,” she said. “Like crazy criminals, Hannibal Lecter stuff?”

“It’s not always that exciting.”

“My sister went to a psychologist. She was pretty screwed up, had some real bad friends.”

“Did it help her?”

“Not really. But at least she moved out and I don’t have to listen to a bunch of yelling.”

“Guess you’d call that partial success,” I said.

“Yeah,” she said absently. As she drifted back to the register, I saw her re-count her money.

* * *

I got back on the 134 West, checked for messages when traffic slowed.

One from Olivia Brickerman. I exited the freeway on Laurel Canyon, drove to Ventura Boulevard, found a spot across the street from an adult motel, and called her office.

“Your Mr. and Mrs. Daney are pretty good at the paper game,” she said. “They total about seven grand a month fostering. They’ve been taking in kids for just over seven years, haven’t made any attempt to hide the fact that they’re exceeding the limit by two wards. That tells me they’re vets who know the system’s broke. Mrs. Daney has also applied for certification as an educational therapist, which would entitle her to additional treatment money. Generally, that requires some sort of teaching credential but there’s been some loosening of the regs due to shortages of providers. This help?”

“Very much. How badly is the system broken?”