Chapter 3

The news article Elaine had printed out was titled “BART police shooting shuts down transport for commuters” “The cop shot a man for supposedly having a gun. They found that he didn’t. Cop claims self defense. Everyone’s calling B.S. but you know…” Mattie was barely  listening to what she was saying. Her eyes were fixated on the photograph, the first sign that her brother was alive in over a year.

In the crowd of people holding signs, it took a bit of time for Mattie to spot out Percy. He was wearing a t-shirt with a red coat of arms and a black beanie covering his dark brown curls.

“He didn’t own that shirt before. Or the beanie now that I think about it.”

“He probably picked it up at a thrift store or something.”

“Elaine, how did you pick this up?”

“Major stuff’s happening in SF. Like they’re kicking homeless people out of the city, and they have nowhere to go. But the newspapers are fine with it. I was checking the news ”

Mattie was incensed, she loved following political drama. “And you didn’t tell me this because….”

“Because you were dealing with enough.”

Mattie couldn’t argue with that, but neither could she focus for the rest of the day. She didn’t know whether to be excited or frightened. He’s alive, he’s okay. He’ll come back..well maybe.

Mattie had texted Ms. Fay, and she agreed to meet with them that evening. She greeted them with a nod, dressed in a grey suit as if she hadn’t stopped working for the day. Honestly Mattie didn’t really know what she did. She was a partner at some bank in the city in addition to running a law firm. She had enough money to support a bunch of teenagers---that’s all Mattie needed to know.

Elaine and Mattie entered the room and sat at the other end of the table. Elaine passed the clipping across the desk, saying nothing in the process. Ms. Fay scanned it, her face impassive. For a second, Mattie detected a flicker of pure terror in her expression. But she blinked, and Ms. Fay was wearing her usual frown. Then she looked up at Elaine. “He’s overage and alone. There’s nothing the police can do.”

“Then,” said Elaine, gritting her teeth, “how do we get our brother back?”

Ms. Fay drenched her with an icy look. “When the time comes, he’ll make his way back here.”

“No.” Elaine stood upright in her chair. Mattie could almost feel the rage emitted from her body. “That’s a load of crap.”

Their eyes met, and Mattie knew that her sister was right. But she knew Elaine had just stepped into hot water. Ms. Fay didn’t bode well with people talking back to her.

And she was right. Ms. Fay started to shout:

“Elaine Clarke! These are the decisions I will make! If you think I don’t care about your brother than you are mistaken. Now do not waste my time with this. I will deal with this appropriately. I understand you both are upset, but suggesting that I am not is madness.”

But the evidence is right here. Ms. Fay usually listened when requests were fact-based and logical. It’s how Mattie kept Dora off her back for years: once Mattie had been receiving a bunch of notes suggesting she should lose weight. After a long day at school, she finally snapped; she used pencil lead to reveal fingerprints on the notes, put them in a bag, and placed them on Ms. Fay’s desk. Needless to say, she had little trouble from Dora after that.

Elaine and Ms. Fay were still at it. Mattie had tuned out their conversation, but she knew Elaine had lost. This isn’t going to work. “Wait!” Ms. Fay turned to her. “Wait, I’m sorry, my sister’s been upset. We’ve had a rough past two weeks, this won’t happen again.”

She hooked her arm around Elaine’s and stood up, nearly causing her sister to trip. “I’m sorry for wasting your time.”

Ms. Fay nodded. “I’m sorry that you’re upset. But trust me, this is the best step for all of us.”

She dragged Elaine out of the door and down the hallway, ignoring her protests. The minute she stepped into their bedroom, Mattie turned to Elaine. “There’s no point. Just get the cops--”

“That’s not going to work, and you know it! What will they do? Hang up MISSING posters at the train station for a brown guy?”

“If Percy wanted to be here, he would be here.”

“Is that what you tell yourself so you can get on without him?”

Mattie flinched--that stung. Elaine must’ve noticed because when she spoke again her tone was calmer.

“Percy loves us. He might be in trouble, and you and I know the cops aren’t going to help. I need to do this, Mattie, I need to leave tonight.”

Mattie half-laughed. “You’ve been watching too much TV. Just let it go.”

“When Ms. Fay saw the photo, she saw it was Percy. Like even if you have blinders on your eyes you could still see it. There’s something else going on.”

Mattie shrugged. “So just ask her”

“You think she’ll tell us?”

“I’m sorry, but how do we expect to get to SF with nothing in our pockets?”

“Percy’s out there. I’m going to do whatever it takes to find out where he is. All I’m asking for is a few days. And if he’s in any danger, we need to get him out of it fast.”

“And then what? He agrees to tag along.” Mattie’s voice started rising. “Elaine, he’s not coming back.”

“You don’t know that until you try!”

“Do you even know what you’re doing? Ms. Fay has enough dough to prevent us from exiting this house. She has people Elaine. If this pisses her off, we’ll have nowhere to go, don’t you realize that?!”

“Yeah,” said Elaine, “but better that than blowing our one chance to see our brother again.”

Mattie sighed, she knew there was no point. Once Elaine had made up her mind, there was no changing it. Even if it were a life and death situation. Probably one of the few things we have in common. “All right,” she said, “Elaine if you’re leaving tonight, so am I. End of discussion.”

“You just got out of the hospital.”

Elaine frowned at her. “Yeah, but that was for--”

“Doesn’t matter. You’re a minor.”

Elaine did not look happy at this arrangement. “Maybe we can have Caroline or---”

“No.” Elaine couldn’t persuade Mattie out of this one. “Caroline’s not cut out for this and neither’s Michael. They’re not moving anywhere. Elaine if you’re coming with me, you obey my rules understood?”

“Even if they’ll screw us both over?”

“Yes.”

Elaine pouted at her but said nothing. Mattie continued, “We’re going to need all the cash we have plus the envelope Percy left us.”

“And mine too.” Mattie turned to see Caroline at the doorway. I left the door open?!

She sighed. “How much did you hear?”

“Enough to advise you to keep the door shut. You really need to keep your voice down. Now, no arguments.” Caroline dumped a bulging wallet on Mattie’s lap. “Michael’s onboard.”

“Did you ask him?”

Caroline shrugged. “He’ll do anything for your family Mattie. And Percy was his best bro.”

“Caroline--”

“Don’t try giving it back.” She smiled at both of them. “I’ve seen you both go through hell without your brother. You need this. And I’ve got your back.”

Elaine glanced at her sister. “So now what? Pay for a cab and hope we have enough?”

“I was thinking Grand Theft Auto.”

---

They had everything calculated out. Ms. Fay usually went to bed around 11 PM; she often slept eight hours. Based on calculations, she would be in deep sleep; after 11:30 they had to run.

The Prius was fully loaded. Thank goodness.

She pulled out a bunch of printouts from her backpack. “We’re using maps.”

“Wait, what? GPS will get us there faster.”

“Ms. Fay can probably track my phone.”

“Why are we bringing it then?

“You never know.”

Mattie turned her focus to the wheel. Percy had taught her a bit, he once said that she could be the worst driver in the world and still get her license if she had a drop of confidence during the exam. She never got the license, but she knew the basics.

Well they would soon find out. She started the ignition and they went off. Luckily the tank was full so Mattie didn't need to worry about gas - at least for a while. Elaine didn't sleep at all, she was a light sleeper, she never slept in the car, but at the same time both she and Elaine needed their rest. She just kept going on and sometime around 4 a.m. she parked the car in a parking lot at a gas station and set her alarm for 6 a.m. checking again that her phone was on airplane mode. Elaine got the back three seats while Maddie try to sleep in the shotgun.

The next day was the same thing: she was on four hours of sleep but she had no choice but to keep on going. She turned up the radio to hear news and surely enough at around 9 a.m. a disappearance of two girls was reported in Eureka California. Mattie wasn’t overly concerned, disappearances were having all happening all the time, but if this one wasn't resolved within forty-eight hours though, then they had a bigger problem.

San Francisco was hours away but there was no room to turn back now. As she traveled further south the fog of the city became more prominent. Droplets of water gathered on her windshield. Everyone had turned on their headlights, even though it was the afternoon. They drove a few miles inward, just within the range to see the Golden Gate Bridge.

Welcome to San Francisco.

-------

The first thing Mattie felt as she drove inward toward the city was defeat.

It was huge. People were going in and out at every inch in the sidewalk. You could meet your soulmate at a cafe and lose them for the rest of your life.

So where would Percy go?

“Can we get out of the car already?!” Elaine shouted.

Mattie turned toward her sister, ready to fire back, but stopped midway. Elaine had always eaten three meals a day, slept in a bed, and supported Mattie through emotional means. Never in her life did she anticipate that would require running away without so much as a public restroom. She was a light sleeper too which clearly indicated why the car ride wouldn’t work as a sedative.

Elaine wasn’t prepared for this. But she was trying. And she was already apologizing.

“Wait no, I’m sorr---”

Mattie shook her head. “It’s all right. But first let’s get you something to eat.”

------

Lesson one when coming to San Francisco: everything’s expensive. Sales tax was higher than it was in Eureka. Grocery prices were hiked up. Crossing a bridge involved a fee, parking involved a fee, Mattie was sure breathing in a restaurant involved a fee. Mattie stuck to fast food for herself and Elaine; she hated it, especially after a long car drive, but she wanted to be stringent with money. Mainly because SF was guaranteed to drain their wallets soon.  And they were running out of time. they had less than two days before the cops would catch up with them. Mattie picked up the article again. All she could tell from the photo was that it was at a BART station underground. That eliminated some locations in the East Bay but none in San Francisco.

Which brought her back to square one: San Francisco is huge.

She poured over the article Elaine had printed out. They went to the public library and searched the Internet for any other trace of their brother. Putting up with the slowness of the computers required more patience than Mattie expected. It also reminded her about the dwindling populations of the library--free WiFi was partially responsible for that.

They spent the night in the car reviewing options, debating possibilities.

“Maybe he’s hiding somewhere near the beach? He can get away fast if that’s the case.”

“No, this is Percy. If he’s living anywhere, it’s near a university.”

“That makes no sense.”

“Think about it, he was so desperate to go to college. The only way he ran from us is because someone promised him that.”

Elaine shrugged. “Fine then. Where do we start?”

They went to the local library and searched through all the university rosters: SF State, the local community colleges, even colleges nearby such as Berkeley. Mattie even made a list of nicknames Percy had gone by over the years to see if he had registered under an alias. They spent two hours raking the internet before the library closed, and they got shooed out. Mattie seethed, if this happened ten years ago, the library would have been open much longer, and she would have answers by now.

“How can his name NOT be online?! You can’t enroll in college and not get cyber-listed!”

Elaine put her face in her hands. Unusually, she was the tired one. “Maybe...maybe we’re approaching this the wrong way.”

The next day they switched strategies. They went to each and every BART station, found a homeless person, and offered them $50 to keep an eye out for a few days. Caroline’s money was wiped clean but it beat alternative options. Besides BART was the underground transport system which thousands of people used to dodge traffic. If they had any chance of finding Percy, it was there.

And then there were the colleges: SF State, USF. Mattie insisted on the graduate schools as well--just in case.  The schools required lower bribes---student jobs were so underpaid, twenty-somethings were desperate for any source of free cash.

Mattie felt her mood dampen as she saw more of San Francisco. This city used to be beautiful. Elaine was obsessed with it for a bit, she went through reading “phases”. One day it was ancient Egypt, the next it was the Protestant Reformation, and so on. Sometimes Mattie would pick up anything that was lying around and look through it herself. There were photos of wonderful things: parades, races, festivals, fundraisers for people who needed help.

It used to be the center of social change. It was the place where the mayor had defied the higher courts and ruled that a couple could marry regardless of gender. It was where the AIDS epidemic first ended, forcing the rest of the nation to proceed. It all worked. Everyone was willing to pitch in to help the city grow and become what it was. But then people were scattered. Everyone wanted to live there and rent soared. If you couldn’t pay that, then you ended up in the streets. And people were okay with that. That was when everything changed from “we” to “I”. People complained about taxes. No one trusted the government anymore, and besides why should their money go toward lazy people who spent their welfare on potato chips? Rent was hiked up even more to shoo the poor out. Unions disbanded, they weren’t receiving legislative support anyways. Most government programs, federal and state, were dissolved. Education, healthcare, the list went on. If you didn’t have the money to pay for it you were screwed. It was as simple as that.

And law enforcement. True every nation had their issues with that. But at this point, Mattie couldn’t fathom why they still existed. It started years ago, when governments federal and state alike started passing laws that the public couldn’t swallow. Random drug tests. Targeting certain races.  Stop and frisk. All in the name of “preventing terrorism.” But all of it went after the poor in the end. But the top one percent got away with embezzling funds, the police weren’t wanted in that department. And as police salaries were cut, so were their patriotic loyalties. Now the police worked for themselves. Pay them enough and you’ll get what you want. But “enough” is different everywhere. And there were no limits, once you were in a cell, you needed a top lawyer to get you out. That is if you survived the waterboarding and prison rape. Both were still “cruel and unusual punishment”. But what good does that do when you and your barely- affordable attorney can’t prove that to the jury?

All of this was going through Mattie’s head as she and Elaine walked down Lake Merced Boulevard. Perhaps that was what caused her to give the rest of her sandwich to a homeless man sitting at the corner of the street. His eyes widened as he took it from her, his hands trembling. For Mattie it was saddening that this gesture was rare.

“Hey,” Mattie turned to see a slightly tanned, curly-haired man grinning at her. He was of a robust build and had a spark in his eyes---almost identical to Elaine’s. Based off his facial features and skin tone, appeared to be of European descent, and he spoke like the locals.  “That was nice of you.”

Mattie shrugged. Is basic human decency something to be proud of now? She was about to walk away, but then she saw his sweatshirt. “Wait, do you go to SF State?”

“Yeah, why?”

Mattie took out the photograph she had of Percy. “I’m trying to find my brother.”

“Find as in he’s kidnapped?”

“We don’t know,” said Elaine before Mattie could talk, “And the cops haven’t been helpful.”

The man laughed. “They have different priorities now. And you think your brother will be chilling in college instead of going to nightclubs?”

“You don’t know my brother,” said Mattie before regretting it. That came out nastier than intended, and she needed this stranger’s help. Elaine stiffened next to her, she clearly noticed that too. “Wait, no I’m sorr--”

“Don’t be,” he said, “I shouldn’t have said that. I’m Garrett by the way, where are you two from?”

“I’m…” Mattie hesitated slightly, would giving her real name cut their trip short? “My name’s Devina and this--.”

“You’ve got to do a lot better than that.”

Mattie raised her eyebrows. “Excuse me?” she said, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

“If you’re trying to stay incognito, then do a better job putting your fake identity together.” He stared intensely at the two of them. “And if you want my help, you need to be honest with me.”

“Forget it,” said Mattie. She turned around, only to face Garrett again.

“If you’re on the run for killing someone I might have an issue with that.”

Mattie rolled her eyes. “No, we’re not, can you knock it off? We’re just looking for our brother.”

“Our brother. So you two are sisters. You both look underage, so I’m assuming runaways?” Mattie nodded, at this point they stood no chance at running from him. And if he had a high-speed vehicle on him, then they were screwed for sure.

Garrett shrugged. “Fine by me. Can I see the photo again?” Mattie passed it over, and he held it for a good minute, causing Elaine to interject: “Does he look familiar?”

“Hmm...he’s not one of those guys who plays the guitar every morning…”

“What do mean by that?”

“I take BART every day to work, I could’ve sworn I saw this guy somewhere.”

Mattie squinted, trying to detect a lie. What were the signs again? If they continue talking after you shut up, body language, check for sweating, fidgeting. But none of that was on this man.

“Why do you take BART every day?!” Elaine piped.

“Transfer student. Working when I’m not studying.”

“Oh.” Mattie didn’t know what to say. The lifestyle sounded exhausting, toxic even, but he somehow pulled it off with a smile on his face. She wrote down her phone number and handed it to him along with a twenty-dollar bill. “If you see anything, call me or shoot me a text?”

Garrett smiled at her. “Will do miss. And take this back.” He placed the cash back in Mattie’s hands. “You probably need it more than I do.”

“What do you mean?”

His facial expression grew dark. “We shouldn’t be having to do this, getting private detectives to help us out. That’s the job of the police and everyone sworn to protect us.”

“Then why--”

“I want to help you. And being a decent human being shouldn’t require any money.”

Mattie swallowed, encountering these type of people were rare. She tried to smile at him: “Nice to meet you.” She walked off with Elaine, ignoring him asking for her name.  

They weren’t as lucky with the other locations. A few of them refused on the spot, suspecting a scam. Most of them accepted the bribe with a grumble, but to some extent Mattie couldn’t blame them. No one had much to be happy about these days.

They went for the  Internet too. All the websites they could think of, they posted a missing person advertisement with the photo Elaine had obtained. They went for social media, all under fake accounts of course. Mattie tweeted at celebrities, hoping they might help spread the word, but she doubted that would work. Based off their feeds, actors seemed more fond of puppies than desperate families.

After that, it was back to brainstorming. There was the option of putting up missing posters all over the city, but it would drain the money they had left and reveal their location to Ms. Fay immediately. At some point Mattie lost her energy and lay down in the back seats, listening to Elaine while trying not to doze off.

“Do you think she’s called the cops?”

“Huh?” Mattie looked up from her dinner of Fruit Loops. She and Elaine were barely holding it together in terms of food; food stores were going by the minute and eating nourishing food was a luxury. At one point Mattie considered picking leaves off random trees and going for that---at least that didn’t contain ingredients that would give you hypertension and diabetes ten years later.

“Ms. Fay.”

“Maybe..that or she’s handling it on her own. It’s not like she’s poor or anything, she’s more efficient than the police. She might’ve paid them off though.”

Elaine bit her lip, she was seemed lost in thought. “How?”

“What?”

“How does she have that much money?”

“I don’t know Elaine, you’re asking these questions to the wrong person.” Mattie slumped back, she was worn down physically and emotionally.

“She works at a law firm, but honestly did any of us have an idea of what she did?”

“Who knows Elaine, maybe she’s a drug dealer who’s high all the time. Seriously, drop it, I’m tired.”

Elaine mumbled something, causing Mattie to snap: “Night!”

------------

“Any calls?” asked Elaine. They were parked close to Golden Gate Park. The city was fascinating, if Mattie weren’t constantly thinking about whether the cops would find them, she would’ve been excited to see it.

She remembered seeing photos of this place dated years ago. There was lots of green, lots of happy faces. Now it was patches of weeds. The few people who were walking appeared shifty, as if they were expected to get beaten up. Most of them were people of color, and with cops at every intersection, Mattie could see why.

“No calls, texts, emails from anyone. Nothing.” Mattie slumped against the seat, it was only a matter of minutes after which they had to discard her phone before the GPS was traced. With cellular network services being a corporate monopoly, that service could be horrid, but the provider would still earn their millions. Most of the time Mattie would’ve been furious, but this time it worked to their advantage. Worse signal meant a time buffer. But after that, it was running again and back to square one.

Her eyes travelled to the left car mirror. There was a grey car near the curb behind them with its ignition running behind them--except it had been their for the past ten minutes. Mattie felt her stomach drop. “Buckle up,” she told Elaine. She took off at max speed, opting for less common routes and difficult turns. After another ten minutes she checked the mirror again.

It was still tailing them. Crap.

“Elaine, we’re being followed!” She noticed Elaine turn her head toward the back as she nearly avoided a collision while trying to turn right. The car honked at her angrily, and she headed toward the main road. “Mattie, look!”

What?! When they hit the stoplight, she finally got a good glimpse at him. Mattie felt her abdominal region tighten.

You could’ve called us b*****d.

If he wanted confrontation, Mattie would give it to him--at his own risk. She pulled the car aside and walked over to his vehicle as he parked. “Do we have a problem?!” she nearly yelled.

“We might.” Garrett pulled out his phone and held it out for them to see.

Mattie found herself looking at a photo of herself.