“Your source wouldn’t by any chance be his brother, Stephen, would it?”

Cap’s face fell. I’d guessed right. Then suddenly he brightened again. He’d obviously thought of a different angle. “All right, but you got no idea what he wanted, or what he said. Only I got that. So? What’s it gonna be?”

Another twenty left my reluctant hand.

Cap grinned. “He called himself doing a wellness check, and I got a real earful, let me tell you. Yakked his head off. Tells me Tim suffered from real bad depression and got into drugs big-time before he supposedly straightened himself out. Sounded like looking after him was a full-time job for the family, what with them bailing him out of one thing after the next. This Stephen says he even spent time in a mental institution. And, well, considering what he did to himself . . .”

“Why’d he stop in here? Why not go straight to Tim’s boat?”

Cap shrugged. “You’ll have to ask him. Never saw him before, or since. The family couldn’t even be bothered to talk to the cops when they found the body and boat drifting. They sent their lawyer. Guess that’s how those people handle things. This Stephen talked a blue streak, though, like I said. Left his card and asked me to call if I saw anything strange. Guess it looks like he nailed that on the head.”

This time, it was my turn to eye the jar, as I wondered how much Cap had gotten from Stephen Ayers in return for promising to make that call.

“I could show you the card,” Cap said, “but it’s gonna cost ya.” His eyes danced. He wanted another twenty. Fat chance. I had Jung. He knew Stephen and how to get in touch with him.

I smiled. “I don’t need to see it. Anyone else come in here asking about Tim, besides Stephen?”

Cap clamped his lips shut. So far there was forty dollars in the jar and a question hanging. Cap stood there, hand on the jar, mouth closed, waiting me out. I’d stiffed him on the last exchange. The set of his jaw told me he wasn’t about to let that happen again. The seconds ticked by. Only a wide streak of stubbornness kept me from dropping more money in the jar, and the money wasn’t even mine. I was spending Jung’s retainer, but still it galled me to give it up. My eyes narrowed. Cap didn’t look at all worried that I might not play along.

“Okay, let’s try this one,” I said. “You mentioned visitors?”

“One particularly interesting one,” Cap said. And that’s all he said.

I glowered, slowly peeled off another twenty, watching as his glacial expression warmed. He was a greedy old goat.