Harvey mumbled something under his breath, then poked his head into the house. “Norma!”

From inside, “What?”

“Get out here!”

“What is it?”

“That policeman’s here again.”

Silence.

Then Duckworth heard someone stomping through the house, and seconds later, Norma was at the door.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Good day, Ms. Lastman,” he said. “Do I have that right?”

Norma’s right cheek twitched. “You can call me Norma.”

“But your last name is Lastman? That’s what you told me the first time I was here. That’s what Eleanor—Mrs. Beecham—said your name was, too.”

“Yup, that’s right,” she said, stepping out of the house and onto the lawn.

“She was telling me,” Duckworth said, “that after you’d been working here a while, you discovered that the two of you are actually related to each other. That she’s your aunt.”

Norma nodded slowly. “She said that?”

“Yes, she did.”

“Well, yeah, we did find out there was a connection.” She smiled nervously.

“She said your father was her brother. What was his name?”

Norma didn’t answer immediately. Duckworth could almost see the wheels turning. “It was Sean,” she said. “Sean Lastman. But I never really knew him.”

“That’s quite something,” Duckworth mused. “Must have brought you closer together. I mean, you weren’t just employee and employer any more. You were niece and aunt.”

“You could say that,” Norma agreed.

Duckworth asked, “You ever been married, Norma?”

“Sorry?”

“I said, have you ever been married?”

“No. Me and Harvey, we’re probably going to get married.”

Harvey, coming out of the house carrying a couch with the other man’s help, smiled in their direction.

“Soon!” he said.

“Harvey doesn’t like to rush into anything,” Norma said, laughing and shaking her head.

“Yeah, some men are like that,” Duckworth said. He tipped his head toward the van parked in the driveway. “That’s yours, right?”

“Hmm?”

“Not the big rental, the regular van. Harvey said yesterday that it’s yours.”

She nodded. “Yeah, it’s mine.”

“What’s funny,” Duckworth said, “is that I ran the plate to see who it was registered to, and you know what name came up?”

Norma said nothing.

“Norma Howton. So what I’m wondering is, if you were born Norma Lastman, and you’ve never been married, why’s your van registered in the name Norma Howton?”

Norma struggled with a response. “Um, maybe you called it in wrong. There could be a mistake.”

“I don’t think so.”

Harvey emerged from the big cube van. “What was that?”

“Just asking your girlfriend if her last name is Lastman or Howton,” Duckworth said.

Harvey and Norma exchanged a nervous look.