She hits one more button, almost with flourish, and then sits back. “The records are available. Get your paperwork organized, and then you can have them.”

“Are there separate files on the Floyds? Surely you can tell me that much.” Perhaps one Floyd is in worse shape than the other. I might as well hone my approach.

She exhales heavily, vacillating. Will she throw me a tidbit? She really shouldn’t.

“If I’m coming back with a court order, I need to know what I’m asking for.”

Another long, irritable sigh before she surrenders. “The husband’s file was closed a while ago.”

“Oh? And the wife’s?” She watches me pick up my ID card carefully. I don’t make eye contact.

“We had to reopen hers. Hers was active until about ten months ago.”

About ten months ago? I try hard to keep my expression neutral.

“Thanks a lot,” I say, turning. “I’ll get back to you with paperwork as soon as possible.”

“You do that,” she calls after me.

I leave, pulling the door tight behind me. Outside, the sky’s brightened and the wind has dropped. I sit down on a low wall beside a fire hydrant to catch my breath and calm down. What I’ve just done is, I suppose, illegal. It could get me in trouble, but already I’ve stumbled upon a fact that would affect any judgment of Evelyn’s capacity to parent. She’s been struggling much more recently than Minerva made out. My guess? With drugs. Once an addict … And did Minerva lie about that on purpose to make herself look good? Or does she really not know? Either way, I’m onto something now. If I can persuade Morris there’s more at play here, I might find real ways to help Buster.

I reach for the cell phone in my pocket. It’s not long before Sully picks up.

“Hey,” he says. “Do you need another coffee already? You must be missing me.”

“No, it’s not … I mean, I am, but it’s not that.” I laugh a little, as if I’m not wound up. I can do this. I’m doing the right thing. I can have a positive impact with this case. “Sully, I need your help on something. It’s about the family I was telling you about earlier.”

“Anything,” he says, and I hear him close a door, muffling out all the surrounding sound. “You know that.”

“I just need you to put the Floyd names into your system. See if anything comes up.”

“Morris has opened an investigation on them? Alex?”

“He will. If I bring him new info. Please, Sully, can you just run their names?”