“My brother has no peer group. When I first hired Peaty I noticed him staring at Billy like Billy was some kind of freak. I told him to stop doing that and he did and after that he was friendly to Billy. I figured he was kissing up to me. Anyway, that’s probably what Billy’s responding to. Anyone who treats him like half a man is his buddy. After you guys dropped in at the office, he told me you were his buddies.”

Over in the Cadillac, Billy started rocking.

I said, “He’s pretty upset for having no relationship at all with Peaty.”

“My brother has trouble with change.”

“Learning someone you know has been murdered is serious change.”

“Yes, of course, I’m not minimizing it. All I’m saying is it’s harder for Billy to process that kind of thing.” He shook his head. “Shot to death over a stupid argument? Now that Billy’s not listening, can you tell me what really happened?”

“Same answer,” I said. “I wasn’t protecting Billy.”

“Oh. Okay, sorry. Look, I’d better go calm him down, so if— ”

“You’re sure Billy and Peaty didn’t associate.”

“I’m positive. Peaty was a janitor, for God’s sake.”

I said, “He’s been to Billy’s apartment.”

Brad’s lower lip dropped. “What are you talking about?”

I repeated what Annalise Holzer had told me.

“Lost articles?” he said. “That makes no sense at all.”

“Is Billy absentminded?”

“Yes, but— ”

“We were wondering if Peaty stopped by at your instruction.”

“My instruction? Ridiculous. As far as I knew, he didn’t drive, remember?” Brad wiped his brow. “Annalise said that?”

“Is she reliable?”

“God, I sure hope so.” He scratched his head. “If she said Peaty dropped by, I guess he did. But I’ve got to tell you, I’m astonished.”

“That Peaty and Billy would associate?”

“We don’t know they associated, just that Peaty dropped things off. Yes, Billy’s absentminded but usually he tells me when he’s left something and I tell him don’t worry, we’ll get it tomorrow. If Peaty did drop something off I’m sure that’s where it ended.”

He looked over at Billy. Rocking harder. “First Nora taking off and now this...”

I said, “They’re adults.”

“Chronologically.”

“Must be hard, being the protector.”

“Mostly it’s no big deal. Sometimes it’s a challenge.”

“This is one of those sometimes.”

“This is a real big sometime.”

“At some point,” I said, “we’d like to talk to Billy about Peaty.”

“Why? Peaty’s dead and you know who shot him.”

“Just to be thorough.”

“What does it have to do with Billy?”

“Probably nothing.”

“Is Peaty still a suspect for that girl’s murder?”

“Still?”