"A little bit," said Schulz, leaning back in the chair. "How do they work? Do you play them with your friends?"

"Well, you roll different kinds of dice," Arch began with characteristic enthusiasm, "like ten-sided, twenty-sided, or thirty-sided, see, to figure out what character you're going to be. Then you decide on the attributes. Well, I mean, you roll the dice again to see about that stuff. There are charts and things for the different abilities. For the characters, I mean." He looked at Schulz sympathetically, not unlike the way he had looked at Patty Sue on the drive over. "It can get pretty complicated," he said.

"Mm-hmm. Then what do you do?"

"Well," said Arch, "then you, like, go on adventures." I thought this must be boring for a police officer, but he repeated, "Adventures."

"Yeah," said Arch, "with the other characters. You can play with up to five people. Usually I just play with one. One guy will make up the dungeon or whatever it is you're going to do, and then you go through it to see what happens to your character. You use the dice for that, too."

Now Arch was relaxed. Good work, Schulz.

"Do you play with the kids in your class?" asked Schulz.

"Some of them," said Arch. "It's really pretty hard. Most kids aren't interested."

Schulz shifted in the small chair. He reached down and flicked invisible bits of lint off his oatmeal-colored sweater. He asked, "Did you ever play with your grand- father?"

"Oh no," said Arch. "He's much too busy."

"Your grandmother?"

"No. She's sick a lot."

"Your mom? Any other grownups?"

"No." Arch raised his eyes to me apologetically. "My mom's really not interested in it. Neither is my dad. Usually just kids like it. Like my friend Todd Druckman. He's in sixth grade, too." He thought for a moment. He said, "Ms. Smiley was interested in playing."

"Ms. Smiley," said Schulz, "whose house we're in."

"Yeah. She was my teacher last year. She's dead."

"Right. And that's why we're here, isn't it? Because Ms. Smiley died and everybody misses her."

"I guess."

"Do you like to help your mom with her food business? To work on parties like this one?"

Now it was my turn to cross my legs. I couldn't imagine where this was going.

"Well," said Arch slowly, "I don't exactly like it. But I do it when she asks me."

"Like today."

"Yeah."

"Do you think you're good at helping her?"

"Oh yes," said Arch confidently. "I know all about serving."

"What was your job at this party?" Schulz asked.

"The drinks. Coffee, tea, and lemonade. Not the wine," he explained as he pushed the glasses back on his nose, "because I'm too young."

Well, thank God he added that, I thought. At least I didn't break that law.

Schulz gave me a brief smile. "Did you stay over at the coffee machine?" Schulz asked. "The whole time, I mean."