“The photos are LAPD crime-scene shots, probably purloined from old files. Schwinn was a shutterbug, used to bring his own camera to crime scenes in order to snap his own pictures. On top of that, Marge Schwinn said she purchased three identical blue leather albums for Pierce, over at O’Neill & Chapin. She showed us two but the third was missing and she had no idea where it was. That’s what drew me back here. I wanted to speak to the shop’s owners to see if they’d sold any others.”

“The owner,” he said, “is a lovely woman named Roberta Bernstein, and she’s in Europe. O’Neill & Chapin are her pet terriers.” He pressed a blunt little index finger to his lips. “Sounds like the totality of evidence does point to Pierce . . .”

“But?”

“No buts, Alex. You’ve put together a solid argument.”

“Any idea who he might’ve passed it to?”

He crossed his legs, hooked a finger under the hem of a purple trouser leg. “The only person I ever saw Pierce with was Marge. And as I said, I doubt she’s involved.”

“Because she’s honest.”

“And because Pierce was protective of her, Alex. I can’t see him exposing her to something like that.”

“Sounds like you knew them both pretty well,” I said.

He smiled. “I’m a psychiatrist. I’m allowed to theorize. No, we never really socialized, but this is a small town. You meet the same people over and over. I suppose I’m drawing upon Pierce’s body language when they were together.”

“Protective.”

“Very much so. Marge seemed to take well to that. I found that interesting. She’d never lived with anyone before. Her family goes way back in this region, and she’s taken care of that ranch nearly single-handedly for years. People of a certain age can get set in their ways, not take well to the demands of a relationship. But Marge seemed quite content with domestic life. They both did.”

“Did you know Pierce had been a detective?”

“Marge told me,” he said. “Soon after Pierce moved in. I believe it was at the theater, as a matter of fact. Out in the lobby, during intermission. She introduced me, and we began chatting about a crime story in the newspaper—something down your way, bank robbers, a shoot-out, the criminals had escaped. Marge said something along the lines of ‘If Pierce were still on the force, he’d solve it.’ ”

“How’d Pierce react to that?”

“If I recall correctly, unreactive. Didn’t say much of anything. That’s the way he usually was. Reserved.”

Milo had described Schwinn as verbally aggressive, prone to sermonizing. Lots had changed over twenty years.

I said, “Marge told us Pierce had grown serene.”

“She’d know best . . . so Pierce was Milo’s partner. How interesting. The world grows smaller yet.”