babysit for Sarah. She was like her big sister.”
“Like I said, I feel for them, but I have to worry about me and mine.”
“I know. How about you give me a few minutes and I’ll get out of your way?”
“I don’t know what I can tell you that I haven’t already said to the cops.”
“Different sets of ears hear different things,” I said. “I was a cop once myself a long time ago and, like the card says, a private investigator. Sometimes it’s not what you’re saying that makes the difference, but who’s hearing it. Please.”
“Sure.”
“Did Ming see Sashi that day, the day she went missing?”
Ming’s mom frowned, looked at the welcome mat, and rubbed her hands. “They hadn’t seen each other for a while. So, no, they didn’t see each other that day.”
“I heard they were really good friends.”
“They were. We adopted Ming from China and she was older than most of the kids who come over. She’d been in the orphanage a long time. It was very bewildering for her at first and she was sort of the odd man out. I guess Sashi kind of felt like that too. They both didn’t quite fit in and they became immediate allies, if you know what I mean.”
“I do.”
“Well, they just took to each other. Went to dance class together, summer day camp, you know, all the stuff little girls do together. If it wasn’t for Sashi, it would have taken Ming much longer to learn English. They actually became pretty popular, the two of them, and had a whole group of friends.”
“What happened?”
“Sashi stopped being a little girl and started having to be a grownup somewhere along the way. She stopped doing the stuff the other girls did. Eventually, only Ming was left.”
“But something happened.”
“Well, no, not really. There wasn’t a fight or anything like that. Sashi became, I don’t know, more and more withdrawn. She stopped calling Ming and Ming got tired of trying to do all the heavy lifting. My girl’s got lots of other friends and...”
“I understand. When was the last time they saw each other?”
“A few weeks before Sashi disappeared. We were in town at the dentist and Sashi was there too.”
“Did they talk?”
“Not much. It was awkward and kind of painful to watch.”
“What do you think of Max and Candy as parents?”
That question caught her off guard. She hemmed and hawed.
“Listen, Dawn, my old relationship with Candy isn’t as important as finding Sashi, so please don’t hold back.”
“I like Candy. She was always friendly and was really good with Sashi, but Max is...”
“Is what?”
“He pushed her too hard.”
“Dawn, I don’t like Max much myself, so don’t worry about it.”
“Kids grow up too fast anyway these days,” she said. “And Max, he just didn’t seem to understand that Sashi was just a little girl with a grown-up talent.”
“Thank you.”
I turned to walk away. I did it slowly, hoping Dawn Parson might call after me with some forgotten tidbit of information or an offer to talk with her daughter. Instead, I heard her front door open and close.
I drove slowly down Sea Cliff ‘s main street and saw that the Junction Gallery was closed. As it was just nine o’clock, the place probably would have been closed even if Candy weren’t looking for comfort and distraction in the arms of the eponymous Mr. Junction. I wasn’t going to judge her. That was somebody else’s job. Besides, judgmental people gave me a rash. You ever notice how judgmental bastards are always so fucking sure of themselves? Me, I stopped being sure of anything a long time ago.
I pulled to the curb and got out of the car. I cupped my hands around my eyes and peered through the plate glass windows. Sashi’s work covered the walls. In fact there was so much of her work on the walls, it looked like the Sashi Bluntstone Outlet Store. Displayed in one of the windows was an enlarged reproduction of a collection of very self-serving reviews. It was all breathless
“Like I said, I feel for them, but I have to worry about me and mine.”
“I know. How about you give me a few minutes and I’ll get out of your way?”
“I don’t know what I can tell you that I haven’t already said to the cops.”
“Different sets of ears hear different things,” I said. “I was a cop once myself a long time ago and, like the card says, a private investigator. Sometimes it’s not what you’re saying that makes the difference, but who’s hearing it. Please.”
“Sure.”
“Did Ming see Sashi that day, the day she went missing?”
Ming’s mom frowned, looked at the welcome mat, and rubbed her hands. “They hadn’t seen each other for a while. So, no, they didn’t see each other that day.”
“I heard they were really good friends.”
“They were. We adopted Ming from China and she was older than most of the kids who come over. She’d been in the orphanage a long time. It was very bewildering for her at first and she was sort of the odd man out. I guess Sashi kind of felt like that too. They both didn’t quite fit in and they became immediate allies, if you know what I mean.”
“I do.”
“Well, they just took to each other. Went to dance class together, summer day camp, you know, all the stuff little girls do together. If it wasn’t for Sashi, it would have taken Ming much longer to learn English. They actually became pretty popular, the two of them, and had a whole group of friends.”
“What happened?”
“Sashi stopped being a little girl and started having to be a grownup somewhere along the way. She stopped doing the stuff the other girls did. Eventually, only Ming was left.”
“But something happened.”
“Well, no, not really. There wasn’t a fight or anything like that. Sashi became, I don’t know, more and more withdrawn. She stopped calling Ming and Ming got tired of trying to do all the heavy lifting. My girl’s got lots of other friends and...”
“I understand. When was the last time they saw each other?”
“A few weeks before Sashi disappeared. We were in town at the dentist and Sashi was there too.”
“Did they talk?”
“Not much. It was awkward and kind of painful to watch.”
“What do you think of Max and Candy as parents?”
That question caught her off guard. She hemmed and hawed.
“Listen, Dawn, my old relationship with Candy isn’t as important as finding Sashi, so please don’t hold back.”
“I like Candy. She was always friendly and was really good with Sashi, but Max is...”
“Is what?”
“He pushed her too hard.”
“Dawn, I don’t like Max much myself, so don’t worry about it.”
“Kids grow up too fast anyway these days,” she said. “And Max, he just didn’t seem to understand that Sashi was just a little girl with a grown-up talent.”
“Thank you.”
I turned to walk away. I did it slowly, hoping Dawn Parson might call after me with some forgotten tidbit of information or an offer to talk with her daughter. Instead, I heard her front door open and close.
I drove slowly down Sea Cliff ‘s main street and saw that the Junction Gallery was closed. As it was just nine o’clock, the place probably would have been closed even if Candy weren’t looking for comfort and distraction in the arms of the eponymous Mr. Junction. I wasn’t going to judge her. That was somebody else’s job. Besides, judgmental people gave me a rash. You ever notice how judgmental bastards are always so fucking sure of themselves? Me, I stopped being sure of anything a long time ago.
I pulled to the curb and got out of the car. I cupped my hands around my eyes and peered through the plate glass windows. Sashi’s work covered the walls. In fact there was so much of her work on the walls, it looked like the Sashi Bluntstone Outlet Store. Displayed in one of the windows was an enlarged reproduction of a collection of very self-serving reviews. It was all breathless
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