“I know a good deal, yes, but there’s a lot more I don’t know and would like to find out. Are you living in the Caine house?”

“Temporarily,” I said.

“Ah. I visited there several times when Miss Hannah Caine was alive—or rather I should say I called there. She would never permit me to enter and she was never willing to answer any questions about her father.”

“Did you ever talk with her housekeeper?”

“Indeed I did. Or, I should say, I spoke and she listened—very briefly. On the occasions when Mrs. Reddy answered the door, I invariably received no reply at all. The door was always instantly slammed before I could finish asking to see Miss Caine.”

“Do you know about Mrs. Reddy’s other activities?” Father Jackson asked.

“Oh, yes, indeed. I even attended a religious ceremony at her house, but that was before she knew who I was. When she discovered that my interest in the proceedings was of an academic nature, she urged me to leave. But now let me ask you a question, Mrs. Caine. Have you been visited by the General?”

I looked at Father Jackson, then nodded.

“Ah, ah.” Dr. Tully rubbed with both hands now. “You see, I am a detective. It had to be more than curiosity or you would not have come here with your priest.”

“He’s not my priest.”

“We’re friends,” Father Jackson said.

“Wonderful. Have you had lunch yet? Let me take you both to lunch.”

“It will be my treat,” I said.

“No, no, I insist. You can’t know how delighted I am to meet someone who has seen General Caine.”

He locked his office and led us out to his car, a vintage Volkswagen almost as battered as Father Jackson’s Ford. He had to rearrange several stacks of books, taking those from the front seat and floor and adding them to the ones in the back. Then there wasn’t much room for Father Jackson, who sat squeezed into one corner of the rear seat.

Dr. Tully didn’t ask for our preference or tell us where he was taking us, but with a rattle and a roar to equal the Ford, set off in jackrabbit bounds down the exact center of the street, challenging traffic on both sides. He is known here, I thought, that is our only hope.

The restaurant turned out to be a health food establishment, The Realm of Yoga. I shuddered when I saw the sign. Those places have always turned me off. I always wonder if some of the fertilizer has been left on the vegetables, maybe in fear of losing something organic.