hrs
Subject departs residence and walks three blocks to Muddy Waters Coffee House on Valencia Street. Subject enters establishment. Investigator also enters café and finds corner table away from subject’s view. Investigator observes subject drinking coffee and studying. A large textbook sits on the table.
1115 hrs
Unknown male #1 (early twenties, light brown hair, medium build, average height) sits down at subject’s table. Unknown male #1 drinks coffee and appears to be studying in silence with subject. A brief communication is observed.
1145 hrs
Unknown male #1 leaves a brown paper bag on the table and leaves café.
1200 hrs
Subject puts the paper bag into her backpack and leaves the café. Subject walks to the Sixteenth Street BART station.
1215 hrs
Subject boards the Fremont train.
1243 hrs
exits at the Berkeley station and walks to the Berkeley campus.
1300 hrs
Subject enters library and sits down next to unknown male #2 (early twenties, brown hair, thin build, average height). Subject gives unknown male #2 brown paper bag.
1315 hrs
Subject leaves library and returns to BART station, taking the train back to San Francisco.
1400 hrs
Investigator ends surveillance.
Rae’s report covered two more days of Vivien studying and having a few meetings that could be either suspicious or not. It also included a twenty-three-hour period in which Rae could not locate subject at her residence or any of her known haunts.
However, it wasn’t the specifics about Vivien in the report that I found suspect. It was the investigator. I made the alibi call first, since I know how to play this game.
“Fred,” I said into the receiver.
“Isabel,” he replied.
“Have you aided my sister on any surveillance in the past week?”
“No. And I think it’s unlikely that she’d ask.”
“Maybe because you haven’t gotten the concept down.”
“Did you call me to tell me that I screwed up again? Because you made that clear the first time around.”
“It was worth mentioning one more time.”
“Anything else, Isabel?”
“Nope. Thanks, Fred.”
Then I phoned Rae. She picked up on the fourth ring.
“What do you want?” she asked.
I hung up and sent her a text: That’s not how you answer the phone.
She replied a minute later: Not how U txt
FU (how’s that?)
UNTCO 1
What?!!!
:-o zz 2
I phoned again.
“What do you want?” she rudely answered once again.
“I want you to stop being a pain in my ass.”
“Then get to the point.”
“I’m reviewing your surveillance report on Blake.”
“On who?”
“On Vivien Blake.”
“Who?”
“On the Sparrow. Satisfied?”
“I left that report for Mom to cover.”
“Mom’s busy. Have you seen her hobby load?”
“You’re still not getting to the point.”
“Did you have help on the job?”
“No.”
“Did you lose visual on the subject at any time?”
“No. I made that clear in the report,” Rae impatiently replied.
“So at no point did you break surveillance?”
“No. Is there anything else?”
“That will be all,” I said, disconnecting the call.
There was no point in tipping my hand to Rae just yet. My sister was hard to manage when she was young, but as a citizen of legal age, with complete access to vehicles, money, and the myriad tools of the trade we had taught her, she had become a wild variable in any equation. She was that chemical in a chemistry experiment that caused an inert substance to explode.
I couldn’t go to my parents with the flimsy dirt I had on my sister. She faked a surveillance report. My evidence? Rae can’t go four hours without peeing. It’s thin, I know. But I’ve worked jobs with her for fourteen years and that’s a simple fact. Why she would doctor a report was my first question. And, secondly, what did she do to David?
A few hours later, I sent a follow-up text: IO2U.
Rae refused to reply, probably because my acronym hadn’t entered the lexicon just yet. But I am hopeful it will one day.
I’m onto
Subject departs residence and walks three blocks to Muddy Waters Coffee House on Valencia Street. Subject enters establishment. Investigator also enters café and finds corner table away from subject’s view. Investigator observes subject drinking coffee and studying. A large textbook sits on the table.
1115 hrs
Unknown male #1 (early twenties, light brown hair, medium build, average height) sits down at subject’s table. Unknown male #1 drinks coffee and appears to be studying in silence with subject. A brief communication is observed.
1145 hrs
Unknown male #1 leaves a brown paper bag on the table and leaves café.
1200 hrs
Subject puts the paper bag into her backpack and leaves the café. Subject walks to the Sixteenth Street BART station.
1215 hrs
Subject boards the Fremont train.
1243 hrs
exits at the Berkeley station and walks to the Berkeley campus.
1300 hrs
Subject enters library and sits down next to unknown male #2 (early twenties, brown hair, thin build, average height). Subject gives unknown male #2 brown paper bag.
1315 hrs
Subject leaves library and returns to BART station, taking the train back to San Francisco.
1400 hrs
Investigator ends surveillance.
Rae’s report covered two more days of Vivien studying and having a few meetings that could be either suspicious or not. It also included a twenty-three-hour period in which Rae could not locate subject at her residence or any of her known haunts.
However, it wasn’t the specifics about Vivien in the report that I found suspect. It was the investigator. I made the alibi call first, since I know how to play this game.
“Fred,” I said into the receiver.
“Isabel,” he replied.
“Have you aided my sister on any surveillance in the past week?”
“No. And I think it’s unlikely that she’d ask.”
“Maybe because you haven’t gotten the concept down.”
“Did you call me to tell me that I screwed up again? Because you made that clear the first time around.”
“It was worth mentioning one more time.”
“Anything else, Isabel?”
“Nope. Thanks, Fred.”
Then I phoned Rae. She picked up on the fourth ring.
“What do you want?” she asked.
I hung up and sent her a text: That’s not how you answer the phone.
She replied a minute later: Not how U txt
FU (how’s that?)
UNTCO 1
What?!!!
:-o zz 2
I phoned again.
“What do you want?” she rudely answered once again.
“I want you to stop being a pain in my ass.”
“Then get to the point.”
“I’m reviewing your surveillance report on Blake.”
“On who?”
“On Vivien Blake.”
“Who?”
“On the Sparrow. Satisfied?”
“I left that report for Mom to cover.”
“Mom’s busy. Have you seen her hobby load?”
“You’re still not getting to the point.”
“Did you have help on the job?”
“No.”
“Did you lose visual on the subject at any time?”
“No. I made that clear in the report,” Rae impatiently replied.
“So at no point did you break surveillance?”
“No. Is there anything else?”
“That will be all,” I said, disconnecting the call.
There was no point in tipping my hand to Rae just yet. My sister was hard to manage when she was young, but as a citizen of legal age, with complete access to vehicles, money, and the myriad tools of the trade we had taught her, she had become a wild variable in any equation. She was that chemical in a chemistry experiment that caused an inert substance to explode.
I couldn’t go to my parents with the flimsy dirt I had on my sister. She faked a surveillance report. My evidence? Rae can’t go four hours without peeing. It’s thin, I know. But I’ve worked jobs with her for fourteen years and that’s a simple fact. Why she would doctor a report was my first question. And, secondly, what did she do to David?
A few hours later, I sent a follow-up text: IO2U.
Rae refused to reply, probably because my acronym hadn’t entered the lexicon just yet. But I am hopeful it will one day.
I’m onto
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