“Okay. Just stop thinking crazy, okay? What you just said is crazy. It has no reference to you. I’ll tell Levine myself how I dug up this stuff about Lederer and the Quinns. That real estate man has my name and shield number. There’s no reason for me to be anything but completely up front with everybody all the way around. That goes for you, too.”

“Do you have time to call Long Island City High School?” Devlin asked.

“Thanks. I’ll butt out when you want me to, but I’d rather butt in. I’m going to identify myself to those people, too. You have to make a record. What was just done to your answering machine says that whoever is setting you up has wheels still in motion. Think about talking to Harry Levine ASAP.”

Without responding, Devlin said good-bye and hung up.

Whatever Loncaric saw in Devlin’s eyes caused him to half rise out of his seat. The fish had been served. “I went ahead without you,” Loncaric said, “but before I started, I worried about your dish getting cold. Then I remembered that it was cold poached salmon, so I worried about it getting warm. You look like shit. We clergy worry about our effectiveness ministering to our flock.”

“I can’t tell you a thing,” Devlin said. He remembered that before John’s call they had been talking about Eileen’s reaction to the consequences of Brennan’s murder. “If you want to know what will be on Eileen’s mind, I know she’s going to ask me if I’ve tried to get in touch with Maryellen, and if not, why not? Eileen is one of those people who wants to stay in touch with everybody they’ve ever met, no matter what has passed between them.”

“And that makes you uncomfortable because it’s more than you’ve ever asked of yourself. Your life would be much more manageable if you had stayed in touch.”

“You know as well as I do that I had no choice about Maryellen.”

“Her father just made it easy for you,” Loncaric said, going at his food.

“All right, but even now I have trouble looking at the person I was with Maryellen. I’m ashamed. I’m still ashamed.”

Loncaric put down his fork. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I said what I did. I’ve heard enough about Jim Brennan from others to know what kind of pressure you were under. Well, maybe I don’t know. But I have an idea.”