There was nothing to say. The two men were on a casualty claims case in which the claimant swore that he was one hundred per cent disabled, but he was spending his days fishing for marlin. A lot of money was involved and the company wanted to try for a settlement. One of the parties to the policy contract was trying to cheat the other, but Leland did not know which, or care. As often as not in these cases it was the contract that was bad, but that didn’t concern Leland, either. He had never lied for a company, and a company had never made a statement to a client only to learn that the information Leland had supplied was in error.

Florence said, “There’s a strange letter from R.F.D. One, Fayetteville, which I looked up on the map. It’s down in Franklin County. A man says people are breaking into his house at night.”

“Throw that out.”

“Shall I tell Mike you’re here?”

He said, “You have to talk to Sheila and Patsy.”

“I saw that when you came in.”

“The important thing is, did Miller? I couldn’t hang around to find out.”

“I took a look,” she said. “He didn’t, but she did. Mrs. MacIver. She was a little confused.”

“She could be a little confused, anyway,” Leland said.

“Don’t judge her too quickly,” Florence said. “She’s not stupid. I’ve been watching her. She doesn’t enjoy Mr. Miller’s company. She keeps her responses to him short—Yes, Please, and No, thank you.”

“She’s about six months along, isn’t she?”

“You know as much about it as I do. For her sake, I hope she is.”

Florence didn’t care for her. Leland said, “What’s the matter with her skin?”

“I’ve been thinking about that. She had acne, but she’s had her skin treated since. It’s possible that she had her face planed. That’s a mild plastic surgery where they shave off the scarred layers of your skin.”

Leland grinned and toasted her again with the coffee container. “Your skin, maybe, but not mine.”

“Did you ever see such dark eyes? Her hair is naturally jet black. She has it on her wrists. Her wrists are delicate, but they’re hard, too. She’s worked hard.”

“Enough. How did you like Captain from Corsica?”

“Mention it again and I’ll quit, I swear.”

“Did he steal from you?”

“Oh, yes, all three nights. What about you? He didn’t take from Mike the last two times, but he did the first, when Joan was driving and Mike was sitting over on the other side.”

“He didn’t take from me,” Leland said, sorry that the man was a thief.

“Do you know what you have to do this afternoon?” she asked.