Sam often had the unpleasant task of talking to family members who were freshly grieving the loss of a loved one. She did not relish this part of her work but she had developed a technique to make it less upsetting, at least for her. When she introduced herself she talked in a soothing voice to give the impression that she had compassion. She would tell the family members that she was prepared to take as long as was necessary with them, to explain the situation to them and to answer their questions. Aware that her presence would be reassuring to some and disquieting to others, Sam had trained herself to detect subtle signs of anxiety in those she interviewed. Even small things could give someone away.
Detective Agostino had tracked Adela Rios to a beachfront mansion located outside the evacuation area. Sam now sat in its spacious living room across from Adela, who was relating her morning’s activities. Adela said that her father had called her that morning and asked her to join him for a late breakfast. Since she had already taken breakfast with her daughter, she told him that she would come over to have coffee with him while he ate. They had discussed the family’s philanthropic affairs for about forty-five minutes, she said, and afterwards she had stopped briefly at the barn to check on her horse.
On the way home she had noticed smoke in the air and a lot of wind, she said, but she had not seen any fire. She had been home, alone, for less than an hour when she got a reverse 911 call telling her to evacuate immediately. She had left the house without packing up any belongings and had driven immediately to her daughter’s school; together, she and her daughter had sought refuge at her father’s beach house. She had tried repeatedly to reach her father, she said, and when she was unable to do so, she had called his legal firm. Shortly after, she had learned of her father’s death from Detective Agostino.
Sam asked Adela what she knew about her father’s business dealings.
“I’m not involved in Rios Capital,” Adela replied. “I was part of the business before I married, but that was years ago.”
“Did your father mention any problems that he was having lately?” Sam asked.
Adela paused for a fraction of a second. “My father had made some changes in his horseracing operation recently,” she said. “He built a new barn and bought some racehorses, and he also brought in a new trainer. A couple of days ago he said something to me about the barn manager not being too happy about how things were going. And this morning he complained to me about what he called ‘runaway expenses’ at the barn. He showed me an audit that he said revealed some, ah, irregularities.”
Suddenly alert, Sam asked, “Did he say what sort of irregularities?”
“I just glanced at the audit. I’m not really sure what it showed,” Adela answered. “My father said that he was going to take care of the situation personally, but he wanted me to be aware of it, because my daughters and I keep our horses at the barn. I think he planned to make some personnel changes in his organization because of what he found.”
“Do you know where the audit is now?” Sam asked.
“He had it with him when he went up to his office after breakfast," Adela replied. "I suppose it’s still there.”
“Do you know if he told anyone else about the audit?”
“I don’t think so,” Adela said. “Since it was an internal issue, he wanted to handle the problem quietly. He told me not to mention the audit to anyone.”
“I see,” Sam said. Then, more softly, she said, “There’s one more thing.”
“Yes?”
“Your father’s body has been taken to the Medical Examiner’s Office,” Sam said. “Someone from the family will need to make the identification.” Adela’s eyes widened. “I know that seeing the body of a loved one is difficult,” Sam went on. “If you don’t feel up to it, perhaps there’s someone else….”
Adela clasped her hands tightly in front of her. She took a deep breath. “No, ” she said. “It should be me.”
Sonia picked up two hygiene kits from the pile; she passed one to Christopher. She asked him if he had seen anyone from Rancho High. “Not yet,” he replied. “Mainly I’ve been keeping my mother company. She’s a little stressed out.”
“Me too,” Sonia said as they walked towards Exhibit Hall B.
“I can’t imagine what you went through this morning,” Christopher said.
“It was really terrifying,” Sonia said. “I've never been more frightened in my life. I was grooming a horse at the ties behind the barn when my Dad came running to get me. He said that there was a fire and we had to get the horses moved out right away. We loaded the horse I was grooming into a trailer, and then we both went into the barn to get more horses. Once I got outside with the second horse I could actually see the fire, and the smoke was getting so thick that I could hardly breathe. My Dad told me to hurry and get out. I loaded up the horse and drove out the back way.” Sonia was so absorbed in telling her story that she did not notice that they had reached the exhibit hall. “Oh, we’re here,” she said when Christopher stopped. “Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.”
“Any time you want to talk,” Christopher said. “I guess I’ll go clean up now. Maybe after dinner we could take a look around and see who’s here.”
“Let’s do that,” Sonia said. Sonia believed that Christopher had sought her out at school initially as an act of kindness, because she was new and because their fathers both worked for Rios. Lately, however, it seemed to her that Christopher was developing a different type of interest. Sonia had not yet dated, and the prospect intrigued her. At her previous schools she had readily made friends among the girls, but these relationships were always severed when her father moved on to his next job. Now she was the new girl again, but this time she had not even tried to find girlfriends. The cycles of putting forth the effort to make friends and then losing them abruptly had taken their toll. A boyfriend, however, was an appealing new concept.
Sonia found her father inside the exhibit hall. He was talking to Wahl, trying to find out how he was going to be paid, now that Rios was dead. The company’s law firm had authorized him to pay everyone for a month, Wahl told him; after that, he didn’t know what was going to happen. Jake proposed to Wahl that they move the horses to a training facility with the type of track and other amenities that he thought were needed to keep them in top racing form. Wahl looked unsure when he heard this from Jake. He said that he favored Jose’s plan to put the horses out to pasture while they waited out the change of ownership. Sonia winced when her father told Wahl that Jose may have presented his plan to pasture the horses as a way to save money, but it was actually designed to eliminate the need for his services as a trainer. Wahl cautioned Jake not to take Jose’s suggestion personally. He reminded him that the final decision about the fate of the horses would rest with the new owner.
As Wahl walked away, Jake became aware of his daughter’s presence. “Hey, how’s it going?” he greeted her, touching her windblown hair affectionately. “You look a little the worse for wear.”
“I stink,” Sonia replied frankly. “I picked up this kit so I could shower, but I don’t have anything clean to put on afterwards. My clothes smell of smoke.”
“The Red Cross has put out racks of clothes,” Jake said. “I’ll go with you and we’ll both get some new things. Once you’re cleaned up, you’ll feel better.”
Sonia wanted to feel better. Her nerves were frayed. And it was not only the fire and the Rios' death that had upset her. Her interview with Detective Mori earlier in the day had fueled even greater anxiety, because she had seemed inordinately interested in something that Sonia had witnessed the previous afternoon.
After finishing up work at the barn Sonia had gone to the rose garden to cut flowers, something for which Rios had explicitly given her permission. While she was in the garden Wahl had driven up in his Maserati. When he noticed Sonia in the garden he had reprimanded her for picking the flowers. He had raised his voice to her. Rios had been standing at his office window, looking out at the garden.
He had yelled down to Wahl to “wait a minute.” Clearly incensed, he had rushed down from his office and confronted Wahl, shouting angrily that Sonia had his permission to pick the roses. Stunned and contrite, Wahl had apologized profusely to Sonia. In spite of Wahl’s apparently sincere expression of regret Rios had continued to upbraid him, saying, “This isn’t the only problem that you’ve caused.” He had ordered Wahl up to his office. Since Rios was often brusque with people, Sonia had not thought at the time that it happened, that the incident was anything out of the ordinary. But when Sam asked her to describe it twice over, she had become very concerned.