“You mind if I hang on to this?”

Dandy said, “Sure thing. Terrence knew what you did for a living. He hoped you’d look into it proper if something happened to him.”

“Nothing happened to him except he died,” I said. “At least as far as the coroner’s office is concerned.”

Pearl said, “The man was fifty-three years old! He enrolled in that drug deal and went straight downhill. Don’t you listen? Same thing happened to his friend Charles.”

“Charles was in the same program?”

“Not both at the same time. Terrence went in later, after Charles died.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this before? How many times have we talked about Dace and this is the first I’ve heard.”

“We didn’t know what he died of. He said they’d claim ‘natural causes,’ which is what you just said. He stole those pills and I’m passing them along because he told me to,” Dandy said. “You ought to look into it.”

“Look into what? He’d been trashing himself for years, in prison and out. You can’t do that and then turn around and express surprise at the damage you’ve done.”

Pearl said, “Pills aren’t the only thing he stole.”

I looked at her with interest. “You’re talking about medical charts.”

“How’d you know?”

“Because I have them.”

“He sent you those?”

“He sent them to himself in care of Harbor House. One of the volunteers made a point of giving me his mail.”

Dandy said, “Well, I’ll be. Good for him. We didn’t know where all that stuff went, especially when them Boggarts walked off with his cart.”

“How’d he manage to steal charts? Those are usually kept under lock and key.”

Dandy smiled. “Easy. He made an appointment at the clinic. They put him in a room to take his clothes off before the doctor came in. Nurse left his chart in that slot outside the door. He waited until she left. He opened the door and made sure wasn’t nobody in the hall. Then he took his chart, put it in his shirt, and walked out calm and easy as you please.”

“They figured it out pretty quick, but Terrence was gone by then,” Pearl said.

“He stole another couple of charts as well,” Dandy said.

“Well, I know that. The man was a regular kleptomaniac,” I said. “How’d he manage to steal the other two?”

Pearl laughed. “This is good. This is my favorite story. Remember he had that shirt and glasses belonged to Charles?”

“In his duffel with the picture ID,” I said. “Green-and-yellow plaid.”