I made small talk with a few folks, then left them alone to do their job. I went to pester my father. His door was open. He always kept it open unless he was in conference. Protocol dictated that I knock, so I did. He was on the phone, taking notes, and when he heard the rap, he looked up and gave me five splayed fingers. I mouthed for him to take his time.

“Hold on,” the Loo said. To me sotto voce, “Come in and close the door.” To his caller, “Yeah, I’m here, go ahead.”

I closed the door and sat down across from him, watching him chicken scratch on a yellow notepad. “That’s not going to work, Alicia, especially with Malcolm Standish. He’s a stickler. Look, rather than bring the case to the grand jury and risk a dismissal, it makes more sense for you to get warrants for the phone calls and bank accounts. Then I’ll have one of my people just go through the paperwork and see if we can’t get a more direct connection.”

More listening.

My father rolled his eyes. He had taken off his suit jacket and loosened a blue tie. He wore a white shirt and gray slacks. His hand made furrows through his hair. “Alicia, I’m telling you this from twenty-five years of experience, if you move too fast, you’re going to come away with nothing. We’ve got a good start. Don’t force it, it’ll … Yes, exactly. Go to Standish and ask for the warrants. He’ll appreciate the attention to detail. He’s simpatico to these kinds of cases if you cross your t’s and dot your i’s … Yeah, specifically because we’re on the border. Yeah … yeah … okay … call me when you get the warrants, and I’ll go through the paper. Fine … fine … bye.”

He hung up and exhaled loudly.

“Trouble?”

“Not too bad. At least, she was open to suggestion. I must spend half my time telling young assistant DAs how to do their job.”

“You should have been a lawyer.”

My dad smiled at the joke. His eyes went to my face. “I want to ask you a question, Cindy.”

I leaned back, curious. “Sure.”

“I want to know what is the purpose of your having voice mail on your cell phone if you never return messages.”

My face went warm. “I’m sorry, Daddy.”

“I understand you dropped by yesterday. Rina said you looked upset. That gave me concern. So I called you three times. But you didn’t answer. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Daddy. Again I’m sorry.”

“Were you sleeping off a depression or something?”

At this point, I could have gotten annoyed with him, but that wouldn’t have helped at all. “No.” I leaned over and kissed his nose. “No, I was with Koby and it was a rather emotional afternoon and evening, and then the time slipped away. It was wrong. For the third time, I apologize.”

“Why are you here, Officer?” he grumped at me.