“You remember what Cameron was like at eleven?” Tolliver asked. “I didn’t know her then. But I bet she ran off, too, huh?”

“No,” I said. “We were still safe when Cameron was eleven.” Though probably the signs of our parents’ dissolution had been there by then, we’d just been too young to interpret them. We’d still been cocooned in upper middle class assurances. “Maybe Mariella and her friend went to join the circus,” I suggested. “Or travel with a rock band.”

“I think you’re being old-fashioned,” Tolliver said. “Girls now want to be fashion designers or supermodels.”

“Well, Mariella will never make it,” I said. The last time we’d seen our sister Mariella, she’d been on the short and plump side, and models notoriously aren’t. It was a little early for her to have gotten her growth spurt.

“They’ll call Mark next,” Tolliver said. His older brother lived not too far from Will and Iona.

“Poor Mark,” I said. He always helped other people, and he needed a break himself. His first marriage had failed spectacularly and quickly, and he’d been dating a string of losers ever since. Mark was a nice guy, and he deserved better, but he always sought worse. “We should call him tonight.”

“Good idea. Well, here we are again.”

The little house seemed drenched in gloom today. Jay Hopkins might have a hard time selling the place, though the paint was fresh and the yard in good condition.

Jay Hopkins was as thin as his ex-wife had been. I had a fleeting image of their skeletons clacking together during sex, an image I was quick to banish from my mind. He was sitting on the front steps, so I was able to get a good look as we crossed the yard. Helen’s ex had the malnourished face of a longtime drinker, and he could have passed for anywhere between his probable age—which would be in his early forties—and sixty. His hair was sparse and silver-blond, and he smoked with quick jerks of his hand.

“Thank you all for coming by,” he said. “You must be the psychic lady.”

“I’m not psychic,” I explained, for maybe the thousandth time. I started to add I wasn’t a lady, either, but that would become evident, and the topic bored me. “I just find bodies.”

“I’m Tolliver Lang, Harper’s brother.” Tolliver extended his hand. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“My whole family is dead now,” Jay Hopkins said, matter-of-factly. “Both my daughters, and my wife. You couldn’t get a much bigger loss than that.”

I groped around mentally for something to say, but came up speechless. Maybe there just wasn’t anything.

“Have a seat,” Jay said, when the pause became painful.

“Before I do,” I said abruptly, “I have a question for you. Did your wife leave Teenie’s room just like it was?”