Her finger traced down the page.

"- Temecula, California. He filed an appropriate change of address, and his checks were redirected to Temecula, where the checks continued until 1975, at which time we discovered that a theft was taking place and terminated the payments."

I looked up, and discovered Marjorie and Brasher watching me.

"What theft?"

Brasher said, "Reinnike moved in 1969, but failed to file a change of address. A man named Todd Edward Jordan moved in, and banked Reinnike's checks-"

Marjorie interrupted. She was guarding the hospital's liability base like a Gold Glove third baseman.

"If Mr. Reinnike had filed a change of address as was required, or contacted us to inquire about his payments, we would have acted immediately to resolve the problem. We were as much the victims here as Mr. Reinnike."

Brasher went on.

"Right, so we continued sending the checks to Temecula, only Reinnike wasn't getting them. Jordan got them. Jordan forged Reinnike's name, and deposited the money into his own account. People do this kind of forgery with Social Security checks all the time. We discovered the theft in 1975, and that's when we terminated the payments, and contacted the police."

"Reinnike just moved away?"

"So far as was known, yes. All we know is what we've read in the file, Mr. Cole. None of us were here at that time."

Marjorie said, "I was in junior high."

I stared at the page as if I were studying it, but mostly I was giving myself time to think. George Reinnike would have gotten a check every month for another nine years, but he had walked away.

Marjorie Lawrence opened the file again, and this time she took out a bound collection of newspaper clippings.

"These were in our files. They're news clippings of Jordan 's arrest and prosecution. Maybe they will help you, Mr. Cole."

Marjorie Lawrence brought me to an empty conference room, and left me with the file.

The file contained eleven yellowed newspaper articles, all clipped from the San Diego Union -Tribune and filed by date. The first piece reported that an unemployed electrician named Todd Edward Jordan had been charged with theft, forgery, and mail fraud for cashing insurance-settlement checks intended for a former tenant of the house Jordan rented. The facts were light, indicating that the reporter had filed his piece before he knew of Reinnike's disappearance. The next story was more interesting. Investigators had been unable to locate George Reinnike, and sources within the Sheriffs Department suggested that Reinnike was a possible homicide victim. Some of the speculations read like lurid noir potboilers.

The next story stopped me cold-

Forgery Victim Still Missing

by Eric Weiss

San Diego Union-Tribune

Six years ago, George Reinnike disappeared from the modest home he rented on 1612 Adams Drive in Temecula. According to his former landlord, Reinnike told no one he was moving. Reinnike not only abandoned a house-he left behind a small fortune in monthly disability payments. Foul play is suspected.

Todd Edward Jordan, 38, has been charged with forging Reinnike's name to cash the monthly checks. Jordan, an unemployed electrician, moved into the house several weeks after Reinnike disappeared in May of 1969. When Jordan discovered Reinnike's mail included a monthly disability payment from the Claremont Insurance Group, Jordan cashed the check. He continued to cash the monthly checks for the next six years.

Sheriffs investigators do not believe Jordan had anything to do with Reinnike's disappearance.

"Mr. Jordan responded to an ad in a local paper, and rented the house. We don't believe he ever met Mr. Reinnike," said Detective Martin Poole of the San Diego County Sheriffs Department.

Reinnike's landlord at the time, Charles Izzatola, knew nothing of the forgery.

"Todd was a good tenant. He was polite, and his rent was on time."

According to Izzatola, Reinnike moved out without informing him.

"The rent was late, so I went to ask about it. The house was empty. They left without saying a word."

Reinnike, who was a single parent with a teenage son, was not well liked by neighbors.

"The neighbors complained about George and his kid. They even called the cops a couple of times. Maybe one of the neighbors got fed up and ran them off."

According to Poole, Sheriffs investigators tried to locate Reinnike when Jordan was arrested, but by then Reinnike had been missing for six years.

Poole said, "A man doesn't walk away from free money like this. Reinnike could have filed a change of address or notified the insurance company. He did neither, and he never came back for his money. I'd like to know what happened."

Anyone with knowledge of George Reinnike or his son, David, 16 at the time of their disappearance, should contact Det. Martin Poole of the San Diego County Sheriffs Department.

I walked the length of the conference room, and listened to the silence. It was a lovely conference room with lush carpet and richly upholstered chairs. The kind of conference room where important decisions were made.

Anyone with knowledge of George Reinnike, his son, David, 16…

I went back to my chair.

Reinnike had lived as a single parent with a teenage son, and that son was not me. I turned to the next article.

The next three stories recounted more or less the same details as Jordan 's prosecution proceeded. Jordan initially denied forging the checks; bank records indicated a steady deposit history of like amounts into Jordan's account; Jordan's handwriting matched the endorsements on the checks; Jordan claimed no knowledge of Reinnike and had never met the man; local homicide detectives failed to establish a connection between the two men. Jordan was convicted. A final sidebar piece appeared with the crime reports, accompanying the story that reported Jordan 's conviction-

No One Waved Good-bye

by Eric Weiss

San Diego Union-Tribune

George Reinnike and his son, David, 16, lived on a quiet street on the outskirts of Temecula for almost ten years. Reinnike, a single parent, kept to himself, paid his rent on time, and often argued with neighbors about his unruly son. Then, one spring night six years ago, the Reinnikes packed their car, drove away without a word, and have neither been seen nor heard from since.

"People move all the time," said Detective Martin Poole of the San Diego County Sheriffs Department. "But this one has us baffled."

The police might be baffled, but when George Reinnike and his son moved away, most of their neighbors breathed a sigh of relief.

After ten years in the small rented house on Adams Drive in Temecula, the Reinnikes had made no friends, and seemed not to care. Many of the problems seemed to stem from Reinnike's son, David.

"George was sullen and unfriendly, and I tried to avoid David," said Mrs. Alma Sims, 48, the Reinnike's next-door neighbor. "I wouldn't let my children play with him."

She recalls the time David Reinnike, then twelve, was walking in the street as she was bringing her own children home from soccer practice.

"David was walking in the middle of the street and he wouldn't move to the side. When I beeped my horn, he started making faces at me, but he still didn't get out of the way. I tried to go around him, but he stayed in front of the car, calling me the most terrible names. He was out of control."

That night, when Mrs. Sims' husband, Warren, went next door to discuss the matter with Mr. Reinnike, Reinnike allegedly threatened him.

Mrs. Sims said, "George was defensive and belligerent when it came to David. No matter what David had done, if you tried to say something, George would act threatening."