Most callers are the parents of the missing San Jose physician's young patients, seeking a referral for their children's sore throats and colds in Attari's absence.
Ever since Attari vanished Nov. 7 after leaving the office to attend a medical conference in nearby Alameda, those calls have come in at least once a day, sometimes more, and Connie Maldonado, Attari's medical assistant, is terrified every time. There is no way to know if the calls are related to her boss's disappearance, but Maldonado is sure of one thing: Nothing about the case of the missing 55-year-old pediatrician makes sense.
Friends and relatives are trying to remain optimistic that Attari will be found alive. But it has been 18 days with no word, no sign of Zehra Attari or the gray Honda Accord -- license plate 4MUH810 -- she was driving. Fear is eating at everyone who knows her.
The family continues to search for Attari, making the drive from her home in San Jose to Oakland almost daily. Her oldest daughter, Dr. Ruby Ali, is so stressed she's taken a leave from her medical residency at the University of California at Davis Medical Center, and her younger daughter, Huma, is unable to concentrate on her studies at UC-Berkeley.
Maldonado is alone now in the small, ground-floor office, Monday through Friday, answering the phone, sorting the mail -- and trying to imagine where Dr. Attari could be.
''She just vanished, with no trace, no nothing,'' Maldonado said. ''It was a normal working day. There are a lot of questions with no answers."
Normally, Attari would have left for home at 4 or 4:30 p.m., but she had decided that day to attend a medical conference on insurance at Alameda Alliance for Health.
A nursing teacher in a school next to the office saw Attari get into her car and pull out. But when Maldonado called Attari on her cell phone at 6:05 p.m., all she got was a standard message: The wireless customer was not available.
By 10 p.m. Tasadduq Attari knew something was wrong because he had not heard from his wife. He called his daughters, he called other relatives, he called police, and he called doctors who would have been at the medical conference in Alameda.
Tasadduq Attari has checked the couple's credit and bank cards regularly since her disappearance, and there has been no activity. ''Obviously no one has done this for money,'' he said.
Together for 29 years after an arranged marriage in India, the couple was close, he said. He never minded playing chauffeur for his wife, who did not like driving to new locations by herself. He would have driven her that day, but he was ill.
Maldonado and Attari's family believe the pediatrician left her office Nov. 7 with $630 in cash -- several months' worth of insurance co-payments -- but they still don't believe money is the reason she is missing.
And police are skeptical of an accident. There's been no sighting of her car -- damaged or not -- and searches of the nearby estuary by boat, sonar and helicopter turned up nothing.
He is appealing to police and the media to make sure people in surrounding states are aware of the case and the license plate of Attari's car: 4MUH810.
Maldonado is doing what she can. This tragedy is the second to enter her life in less than a month. Her pregnant niece, Leticia Chavez, and two grand-nieces were killed in San Jose on Oct. 10. Her boss disappeared less than a month later.
Where to call Missing persons unit of the Oakland Police at (510) 777-3211. Zehra Attari family hotline: The family has asked anyone with information about Attari's disappearance to call (877) 4-ATTARI.
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