A Short-Order Murder

Just yet, Hashem Zayed is not telling the world why he shot Helen Menicou to death in front of numerous witnesses. He sent word back to the Tenderloin that he did not want visitors in the San Francisco County Jail, where he awaits a trial that is scheduled to begin in January. He did not want friends to see him there.

He has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge he faces, likely the signal of an insanity defense. Public Defender Steven Rosen, who is representing Hashem, refused to discuss the case.

Sometime toward the end of July, however, Hashem called Clarke, the hotel manager, and arranged for someone to collect his belongings.

"He was sobbing on the phone," Clarke remembers. "He said he was sorry that he'd embarrassed us like this."

"I can't believe this happened. I can't believe he did this bad thing," she says. "It made me second-guess myself. It made me realize that every one of us could be someone different tomorrow.

"I didn't even know he had a gun."

The Pinecrest is the same warm greasy spoon it's always been, unless you know better. And in that case, it's entirely different.

The smells are still there, the pallets of eggs remain stacked in the kitchen. The menu hasn't changed (poached eggs still are not served), and the folks are still nice, though some of the faces are new. People don't talk about the murder much anymore, unless someone asks about the woman in the photograph hanging on the wall in the middle of the restaurant. And then it becomes apparent that a bit of light is missing from the Pinecrest.