His mother watched from the window as he loaded the car with everything he would need for his big weekend. He didn’t acknowledge her before he drove off. Earlier in the afternoon, he’d called the Alameda County district attorney’s office from a pay phone and asked to speak with Deputy DA Paige Callen. Ray identified himself to the secretary who answered as one of the contractors who was conducting repairs on her fire-damaged condominium. He claimed he needed her signature on a materials order to continue work. The secretary informed him Ms Callen would be both out of the office and out of town for at least the following two weeks. He asked the secretary for Ms Callen’s phone number and was curtly told she could not divulge that information. He asked where she was vacationing, and was again advised that was also information not to be divulged. Ray thanked her and hung up. He returned home and thumbed through Paige’s address book.
