I peered in Henry’s screen door and saw him standing at the counter, unloading groceries. I tapped. He leaned over and unlatched the door so I could let myself in. He said, “Have a seat. I’m almost done.”

I found myself peering down the hall. “Where’s Anna?”

“Out looking for work.”

“Enterprising of her. What’s she have in mind?”

“I’m not sure. She went through the classified ads and circled five or six possibilities. Two were downtown, so I told her she could borrow the station wagon.” He sat down. “You’re not big on cousins.”

“Not that one, at any rate,” I said. Ed appeared and hopped up into my lap, the little suck-up. I was sure he was just as attentive to Anna behind my back. I rubbed his ears so he’d like me better than her.

Henry said, “I haven’t seen you since Dietz arrived. I’m looking forward to catching up.”

“Too late. He’s gone again. He took off this morning with his son Nick . . .” I could tell from Henry’s expression, he’d forgotten Dietz had two sons.

While Henry emptied the last brown paper bag and put canned goods away, I took a few minutes to refresh his memory. That recital segued into an account of the latest developments in the drama that had begun to unfold three nights before in my argument with Dietz about Pete.

By the time Henry joined me at the table, I’d skipped from the subject of Pete Wolinsky to Aaron Blumberg’s report about Dace’s death. I also filled him in on the charts I now had in my possession. I reached into my shoulder bag, removed the pill bottle, and put it on the table. “Those are the pills Dace took that he swore were making him sick. Check out the doctor’s name.”

Henry picked up the bottle and read the label through the clear plastic wrap. “Linton Reed was Dace’s doctor?”

“Looks that way.”

“Doesn’t that beat all?”

“I don’t know if it means anything or not. Probably not.”

We tossed the subject around to see what made sense. Like me, Henry was puzzled by the odd crossroads where Terrence Dace’s death intersected Dietz’s surveillance of Linton Reed and Mary Lee Bryce. “There almost has to be something going on there,” he said.

“You think? I can’t decide. It could be just what it looks like: Dr. Reed supervised Terrence Dace’s participation in the drug study and he’s also Mary Lee Bryce’s boss. Big deal.”

Henry said, “Put it that way and it doesn’t seem so strange.”

“Then again, according to Dandy and Pearl, Dace was scared to death of the man.”

“Has anybody else confirmed all this talk of Dace going downhill?”

“Just Dandy and Pearl.”

“You think they’re reliable?”