11th hour

Chapter 66

We were in the parking lot off Harriet Street, just behind the Hall. I told Conklin that I wanted to drive.

“What’s wrong?” he asked me. He was looking at me like I was wearing a live fish on my head.

“I like to drive.”

“Okay. When you want to tell me what’s eating you, I’m here.”

He tossed me the keys and a minute later I headed the squad car south into clotted morning traffic, toward Parnassus Heights, an affluent neighborhood near the Haight.

Beside me, Conklin filled me in on the tip he’d gotten, that Harry Chandler and his son from his first marriage, Todd, did not get along.

Conklin had done some research and learned that when Todd was quite young, he had changed his last name to Waterson, his mother’s maiden name, and although Todd had never lived at the Ellsworth compound, he had had access to the place while Chandler was living there with his second wife, Cecily, and for a few years after.

“Todd Waterson? The TV guy? I had no idea he was Harry Chandler’s son.”

“Little-known fact.”

“Well, news to me, anyway. I’ve seen his show. He’s pretty entertaining. What’s his story?”

“Brainy, big paycheck, and a discreet personal life. I found no gossip about him on the Web.”

Todd Waterson’s house was on Edgewood Avenue, an unexpectedly shielded and wooded street.

At Conklin’s direction, I drove through the gated entrance and up a generously landscaped private driveway. I braked in front of the detached garage, took a look at what three million could buy in this neighborhood.

Todd Waterson’s house was a sprawling, three-level stucco contemporary with Craftsman influences. There were decks and terraces with panoramic views of the bay and the city. The property was secluded and quiet. Very.

The front door opened as we got to the threshold. Todd Waterson was waiting for us. He was five foot seven in his socks, wearing frayed jeans and a sweatshirt with a PBS logo. He had sandy-colored hair and a face populated by forgettable features: a thin line of a mouth and his father’s gray eyes.

“I’m Sergeant Lindsay Boxer,” I said. “This is my partner, Inspector Richard Conklin.”

“Hello, and by the way, what’s this about?”

I said, “We’re investigating crimes committed at the Ellsworth compound.”

“Let me have your numbers, okay? I can’t do this right now.”

“It can’t wait, Mr. Waterson.”

“All right. Come in,” he said. “But let’s make it fast, all right? I have to leave for the studio and I can’t be late.”