After Suze had taken off, he was interrupted by one of his patrols who’d found some kids slashing tires in a west-side mall lot, and then a holdup in a park on the south end of town. By the time he got back to me, he’d lost his train of thought.

“Sonia,” I said helpfully. “Two whiz-kid brothers.”

“Oh, yeah. Sonia was the ugly duckling, only she never turned into a swan. When she and Tyrone—my brother—were in school together, she used to spy on the kids who were dating. She was lonely, she was ugly, who knows what was driving her? She started making up stories about having a romance with some mystery man in her father’s department. It was embarrassing to listen to.

“I don’t know all the details, but there’ve been a lot of hospitalizations. When she was younger, she tried to make a go of it out east somewhere—thought she was a singer or an artist, I forget what—but it all fell apart, and she came toddling home. Kiel and his wife finally got fed up, turned to tough love. She’s supposed to be living at St. Rafe’s, only she keeps sneaking out and ending up drunk. They should boot her out, but I guess Dr. Kiel still has plenty of pull in the town.”

“Dr. Kiel? He’s a doctor?”

“Well, yeah, he’s a professor up there, with all the degrees and everything.” Everard stared at me, puzzled at my urgency.

Cady had started to ask about a doctor when Gertrude Perec cut her off. I’d assumed it was an M.D., because at the University of Chicago, where I’d done my degrees, there’s a kind of inverted snobbery about the title “doctor”: it’s only for M.D.s. Ph.D.s are Mr. or Ms., and they call you out pretty sharply if you violate the code.

“Do you know Gertrude Perec?” I asked.

“I know who she is,” he said cautiously.

“Do you know if she has a connection to Dr. Kiel?”

He shook his head. “It’s a small town, but still, eighty thousand people give or take, we’re not the KGB with the details of everyone’s love life or whatever. Or the NSA, come to that. What’s Ms. Perec got to do with this?”

I flung up my hands. “I have no idea. I have no idea about anything right now, except that I’m so bone tired I can’t think. Can I leave? Do you need anything else from me?”

“Just the address where you’re staying. And, you know, until we see what’s going on with Sonia, I’d appreciate it if you stuck around town for another day or two. Give you a chance to look at the cemeteries. We have two.”

“Five.”