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army of stuffed animals on one, pictures of David Duchovny, Dean Cain, and Gillian Anderson above the other. Again, there were no photographs of Teri or her family. I said, “Who likes Duchovny?”
    Teri turned red and disappeared into her closet. Guess I’d gotten my answer.
    She reappeared with a shoe box held together by a large rubber band. She put the box on the empty bed, then sorted out thin packets of paper held together with large paper clips. She knew exactly what was what and where it belonged. “Are the phone bills in there?”
    “Un-huh.” A large wad of cash was mixed in with the packets, even larger than the roll she’d brought to my office. She saw me looking at the cash, frowned, then put it in her pocket. Better safe than sorry.
    Far away something chimed, and Teri stood. “That’s the washing machine. I have to put our clothes in the dryer.”
    “Okay.”
    The checking and savings accounts were from the First Western Bank of Tucson, Arizona. The savings account was a simple passbook account with a balance of $1,104.16, and showed no unusual deposits or withdrawals. The checking account held a balance of $861.47, with the last deposit having been made just before they’d left Tucson for Los Angeles. The entry record was neat and orderly and made in a teenage girl’s rounded hand. I put the banking papers aside and paged through the phone bills. Since they had been in Los Angeles for only four and a half months, there were only four bills, and most of the toll calls were in the LA area, with more than half to Culver City. Most of those were in the first month. Probably Clark looking for a job, but maybe not. Two of the calls were to Tucson, and five to Seattle, three of the Seattle calls made in the last month, and two of them lengthy. When Teri came back, I said, “Who’s in Seattle?”
    She stared at me as if she didn’t understand what I’d said.
    “You’ve got five calls to Seattle here, three in the last month, two of them for a pretty long time.”
    “My mom’s up there.”
    “That’s where she’s buried?”
    Nod.
    “So your dad might have friends there.”
    “I doubt it.” She adjusted her glasses. “We didn’t like it there. I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t go back.”
    “We’ll see.”
    “I’m positive he wouldn’t.”
    “Fine.” Like I shouldn’t even waste my time.
    I tamped the phone bill pages together, folded them, then put them in my pocket. She didn’t like it when I did that either. I gave back the rest of her bills. “Okay, I’m going to try to find your father, but we have to have an understanding.”
    She stared at me, watchful and suspicious.
    “I will not notify the authorities that three minors are living here alone so long as the three of you appear safe and in good care. Maybe your father will come home today, but maybe not. Maybe I’ll find him fast, but maybe not. You’re doing okay right now, and that’s good, but if at any time I feel it’s in your best interest to notify the police, I will do so. Are we clear on that?”
    She looked stubborn. “Will you tell me first?”
    “I won’t tell you first if I think you’ll run.”
    She liked that even less.
    “I’m willing to let things stay as they are for now, but I won’t lie to you. That’s the way it has to be.”
    She looked at me for a time, and then she looked at her papers. “Are you finished with these things?”
    I nodded. She took the checkbook, secured it to the bank statements and canceled checks with the same paper clips, and returned it to the shoe box. She did the same with the utility bills and the little pack of cash receipts all written in her hand. Fifteen.
    “How long have you been paying the bills?”
    She knew exactly what I was saying. “My father is a good man. He loves us very much. He can’t help it that she died on him. He can’t help it that these things are hard for him.”
    “Sure.”
    “Someone has to take care of Charles and Winona. Someone has to