He knew exactly what I was talking about. "God. I know, babe. What a load of pig swill that was. I've thought about you so often."

I was saying "uh-hun, uh-hun" in what I hoped was my most skeptical tone. "How's Camilla?"

He sighed and I could almost see him run a hand through his hair. "About the same. She treats me like dirt. I don't know why I let her back in my life."

"Must be nice to have the girls home though, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah, that's true," he said. "And we're seeing a counselor. Not them. Me and her."

"Maybe that will help."

"Maybe it won't." He caught himself and changed his tone. "Ah. Well. I shouldn't complain. I guess I did it to myself. I'm just sorry it ended up affecting you."

"Don't worry about it. I'm a big girl. Besides, I've got a way for you to redeem yourself. I thought maybe I could buy you lunch today and pick your brain."

"Sure. I'd love it, only lunch is on me. It'll help assuage my guilt. How you like that 'assuage' stuff? That's the word of the day on my vocabulary calendar. Yesterday was 'ineluctable.' I never did figure out how to sneak that one in. Where do you want to go? You name the place."

"Oh, let's keep it simple. I don't want to spend a lot of time on social niceties."

"How about the courthouse? I'll pick up some sandwiches and we can eat on the lawn."

"God, right out in public. Won't the department talk?"

"I hope so. Maybe Camilla will get wind of it and leave me again."

"See you at twelve-thirty."

"Is there something you want me to research in the meantime?"

"Oh right. Good point." I gave him a quick synopsis of the Costigan shooting, leaving Nola Fraker out of it. I'd decide later how much of the story I could trust him with. For now, I fed him the public version and asked if he could take a peek at the files.

"I have a vague recollection of that one. Let me see what I can dig up."

"And one more thing if you would," I said. "Could you run a check through NCIC on a woman named Lila Sams?" I gave him her two a.k.a.'s, Delia Sims and Delilah Sampson, the birthdate I'd taken off the driver's license, and the additional information I had in my notes.

"Right. Got it. I'll do what I can. See you shortly," he said and hung up.

It had occurred to me that if Lila was running some kind of scam on Henry, she might well have a prior record. There was no way I'd have access to the National Crime Information Center except through an authorized law-enforcement agency. Jonah could have the name run through the computer and get feedback in minutes and at least then I'd know if my instincts were accurate.