Chapter 38
CINDY THOMAS SAT at her desk at the San Francisco Chronicle, zoning out a bit as she gazed out the interior window of her second-floor office that overlooked the newsroom.
She was starting to feel the effects of diving into a story possibly bigger than anything she’d tackled before.
She thought about what Lindsay and Rich went through when they had a big case.
You couldn’t just shut your brain off in the middle of it.
When her cell phone rang, she picked it up with a quick “Cindy Thomas speaking.”
“Hello, Ms. Thomas. It’s Sergeant Davis from the San Julio Police Department.”
Cindy and Sergeant Stephanie Davis exchanged pleasantries for a moment.
Then the sergeant said, “I’m going to pass on some information to you that I’m also going to give the San Francisco PD.
It’s probably nothing, and SFPD will likely ignore it.
But considering how diligent you were to come out here, and I’ve read a couple of your investigative articles, I think you might do more with it than some uninterested detective who may or may not even pick up the phone. ”
“I can’t wait to hear what this is.”
“I got a tip from someone who claims to have seen Nicole Snaff just two weeks ago at one of the malls in San Francisco. Not the Galleria downtown but the big one out near UCSF. I think it’s called—”
“Stonestown Galleria.”
“Bingo,” said the sergeant. “Sprawling thing. Anyway, the tipster said they saw Nicole there and recognized her from some sporting event in San Julio.”
The sergeant gave Cindy all the details she had, including the tipster’s name and a phone number, which she said was her work number.
Cindy scribbled the notes in the notepad she carried with her everywhere.
She was already thinking how she could explain to the tipster that a reporter was contacting her, rather than an SFPD detective.
After she hung up with Sergeant Davis, Cindy immediately turned to her computer and typed in the number that Sergeant Davis had said was the tipster’s work phone. She figured it would be some kind of fast food or retail place.
The search engine told her that the number was for a place called The Brass Ring Gentlemen’s Club.
Cindy read the description and realized it was a topless bar—or, as some men liked to call it, “adult entertainment.” Her experience with these kinds of places made her think that not many actual gentlemen ever frequented them.
This was going to be an experience.