Chapter 12

Bret drives to Matt Kellner’s house, enters the unlocked pool house, and finds it unusually clean and stripped. He notes a Foreigner 4 poster, missing drugs, and a pad with “RM” and a disconnected phone number, which he assumes is Robert Mallory’s. He pockets the note and, overcome, also steals a pair of Matt’s clean underwear. Outside, he sees the drained pool and recalls earlier intimacy.

In the yard, Bret meets Matt’s sedated mother, Sheila, who is bewildered about “what happened” and mentions extensive bruising on Matt’s face, chest, back, and legs. She floats a flimsy surfing explanation, revealing how little she knew her son, then directs Bret to her husband.

Inside, Bret meets Ronald Kellner, who initially mistakes him for Robert. Ronald, suspicious yet desperate, shows Bret crime-scene photographs: Matt’s bruised, drowned body; a deep arm gash; and a head wound exposing bone. He questions drug use and reveals the autopsy found approximately 6,000 mg of methaqualone (Quaaludes) and LSD, plus the largely undigested contents of Matt’s aquarium.

Ronald explains that he had serviced Matt’s Datsun before the disappearance and checked the mileage after the car’s return; it had only been driven about ten miles, contradicting the alleged Crystal Cove trip. He then shows photos of Alex the cat decapitated and crucified on a column, implying a staged tableau inconsistent with someone immobilized by Quaaludes.

Ronald theorizes that someone was with Matt, fed him drugs, struck him, and placed him in the pool, and that the backpack was planted at Crystal Cove. When Bret cautiously brings up Robert Mallory, Ronald bristles, saying Robert was in Palm Springs and denied knowing Matt. Bret, terrified and numb, leaves the house.

Driving home slowly, Bret collapses into self-destruction: Valium, vodka, and weed. He makes incoherent calls to Susan, rebuffs Debbie’s worried check-in, and finally passes out, trying to obliterate the horrific images and revelations.