My aunt Rachel was bewildered and unsure of what she wanted to do, whether to support Peter through his upcoming legal travails or take her girls and start over without him. Peter was staying in Chicago for the time being, renting a studio apartment on the Northwest Side. Petra wouldn’t talk to him, and he and Rachel weren’t talking often.

When Petra decided at the end of a week that she wanted to return to Chicago, Rachel flew back with her to spend a few days with her at her loft. My aunt made me take them to see Kimathi at Curtis Rivers’s shop. Rachel wanted to see for herself the person who had suffered on Harvey Krumas’s behalf. Kimathi was in agony in our presence, and Rivers ushered him out after a few minutes.

“I’m so sorry,” my aunt kept whispering. “I’m so sorry.”

Rivers nodded with his usual grim expression and didn’t say anything. Rachel blinked at him helplessly. She finally asked if Kimathi needed any financial help … would they send him to a good therapist or find him an apartment if she footed the bill?

“We’re looking after him. He doesn’t need your help.”

Rachel turned to leave, her legs unsteady as mine when I’d been with Kimathi and Rivers. I followed her, and was startled when Rivers touched my arm just before I triggered the train whistle.

“That red bag, Ms. Detective. It’s working well for you, is it?”

I nodded warily. I had brought the bag with me, and a check for five hundred and thirty dollars, which I’d laid on the counter while Rivers was taking Kimathi into the back of the shop.

“You earned it, I figure. Use the money to help some other poor bastard.” He stuck the check into one of the bag’s outer pockets and pushed me through the ropes before I could say anything.

My aunt was silent while we drove back north, but when I stopped in front of Petra’s place she said, “It’s so hard to know what to do. You think you’ve married one man and it turns out to be like one of those bad movies where Goldie Hawn learns the man she thought she married was someone completely different. I’m so … so derailed in my life, I hired a detective to make sure Peter and I were legally married. Peter’d concealed so much from me, I thought he was capable of hiding another wife and family.”

“What will you do?” I asked.