Only two ice cream tables for eating in. But for a woman in her sixties behind the counter, the place was empty.

Instant smile. “Vut ken I do for you, Surzz?”

Milo studied the glass case, selected a headache remedy in the form of a raspberry torte the size of a minor Alp as well as a similarly scaled slab of carrot cake.

The woman said, “Und you, Surr?”

The cake looked good so I ordered my own. We sat down with coffee and calories. He looked at my plate and chuckled.

“What?”

“Adonis actually ingests? Finally, I’m a bad influence?”

“You’re always a bad influence. I just happen to be hungry.”

He finished both of his pastries, returned to the counter, said something that made the woman giggle, and returned with a cream-filled something. A single bite obliterated a third of it. He wiped his mouth. “Real cream, not that aerosol crap. Try some?”

I was halfway through my cake. Denser than it looked. “I’m okay.”

“Bah humbug.” He drank, ate, exhaled in contentment, repeated the sequence a few times.

Finally, he paused for a longer breath. “Richard made Ursula out to be Lana Libido but the girls don’t know of anyone she’s dating. There was also no sign they suspected anything about her and Fellinger. So who knows if that ever happened.”

I said, “The girls didn’t live with Ursula and most parents don’t discuss their sex lives with their kids.”

“They also don’t discuss it with spouses, current or ex. So I’m wondering if Richard is a paranoid whack-job or just a devious liar trying to distract us away from himself. Either way, he remains at the top of the chart. And now he’s got a co-tenant. Phyllis Tranh’s got to be the girlfriend he told us about.”

“I’d take that bet. What I found interesting was Ashley’s comment about it not being Daddy.”

“The daughter doth protest too much?”

“She blurted it right after finding out. Sometimes those are the truest statements. Then there was Marissa’s reaction when you asked about business disputes. ‘Not even Phyllis, right?’ ”

“Richard and New Love Interest. Down deep the girls are bothered by the relationship but they can’t deal with it so they say the opposite. You guys have a name for that, right?”

“Reaction formation.”

“Guess it’s kind of like political correctness,” he said. “You know how it is, some simp talking-head goes on too long about racism, sexism, homophobia, I start to look for KKK robes under the bed. Anyway, Ms. Tranh bears looking into and B.H. isn’t too far out of the way. You have time for a spontaneous drop-in on Maple Drive?”

“Sure.”

He fetched himself a refill of coffee, removed his jacket, and fanned himself with one hand. “What about the daughters?”

“What about them?”

“They give off any iffy vibe?”