I retrieved my laptop from the bedroom. “I know this probably isn’t how you want to start your day, but have I got an obituary for you.”

That got one eye open. “The shrink? What’s his name?”

“Alexander Gorevale,” I said, and slid the computer in front of him. It took Jesse a very long time to read the piece. I held my breath, tapping my foot against the sofa. “What do you think?”

“The ole coot OD’ed on somethin’? Suspicious.”

“He OD’ed on Viagra.”

“Holy moly.” Jesse’s eyes went round. “It’s amazin’ the creep never got himself a bullet between the eyes.”

“Maybe this isn’t poetic justice, but it’s close.”

“If he was dosin’ up on Viagra, there musta been some girl around. Somethin’ fishy about it.” Jesse took a long swallow of coffee. “There’s somethin’ downright wrong about every angle in this thing. Your sister. Your ex. That girl who drowned in your sister’s apartment.”

“She didn’t drown, remember?” I reminded him of what Bruxton had told me the night before.

“Doesn’t change a thing,” Jesse argued. “Makes it weirder. Like someone wanted it to look like Claudia was dead. You think Tariq killed that ole coot your sister hooked up with?”

“No.”

“But you flat-out asked him if he did it,” Jesse pointed out.

“It was just that Tariq sounded so happy about Gorevale being dead.” I hadn’t told Jesse what Claudia had hinted at, how he might have killed someone in Pakistan. “Claudia and Tariq haven’t been a couple in a long time. She dated other men. She lived with another guy and Tariq didn’t shoot him or anything.” If Gorevale had died violently, I would have suspected Tariq’s hand in it, but there was no way he’d poisoned the shrink with Viagra.

“Okay, forget that theory.” Jesse gulped more coffee. “Hold up, I’ve got another. Tariq’s frantic about finding Claudia. What d’you think he’d do to that girl in the apartment if she refused to tell him where Claudia was?”

“He’d threaten her.”

“Imagine Tariq and one of his goons showing up at your door? Maybe that’s why she had a heart attack. Maybe she did die unexpectedly. Fine. But whoever sunk her in the bathtub knew about your mama. That’s a pretty short list of folks, but Tariq’s on it.”

❖