“I don’t know what we’re to do,” she said. “If an item’s not on sale, I have to take it off the list. I never thought I’d see the day when I’d be clipping coupons.”

“I do that as well,” he said. “I make a game of it, seeing how much I can save from week to week.”

“Sometimes I serve chili with chopped onions over corn bread as our main meal of the day. Fine as far as it goes, but eighty-nine cents for a can of chili beans is too much,” she said. “So-called ‘land of plenty,’ and here you have little kids and old folks going hungry. It’s not right.”

“If you need to go to the market, I’ll be happy to give you a lift the next time I go,” Henry said, riding right over her complaints.

Her small face creased with a tremulous smile. “That would be wonderful. I have one of those wire carts, but it’s too far with my bad ankle.”

“You put a list together. I’ll be making a trip in the next couple of days.”

She turned to look at the house as though in response to a sound. “Joseph’s calling,” she said. “I best go see what he needs. Nice meeting you, Miss.”

“You too,” I said.

She disappeared, and moments later we could see her struggle as she climbed her back porch stairs, clinging to the rail.

“Bit of a sad sack,” I remarked.

Belatedly, he frowned. “Aren’t you home early?”

“I promised Ruthie I’d look for Pete’s financial information. She’s got an IRS audit tomorrow and any relevant documents would be a blessing. I doubt I’ll find ’em, but I said I’d try. There are some old Byrd-Shine files I need to sort through anyway.”

“You need help?”

“Nah. It’s one box. I should have done it days ago, but I forgot.”

He glanced back at the hole. “Water’s still sitting there.”

“Bummer,” I said. “Anyway, I told Ruthie I’d get back to her within the hour. Will I see you later at Rosie’s?”

“I’m attending an adult education water conservation workshop at seven, but I’ll stop by afterward.”

I headed for my front door. I glanced back, noting that Ed the cat had taken himself inside and now sat on Henry’s high bathroom windowsill, his mouth moving mutely in what I took to be a plaintive cry to be let out.

“You just stay where you are. I’m not letting you out,” Henry said.

7

I sat down at my desk and dragged the banker’s box out of the knee-hole space. The lid was askew because the files were jutting up above the rim. It looked like someone had jammed the lid into place, trying to force a fit. Half the file tabs were bent and mangled in consequence. I lifted the box, using the handhold on either end, and set it on my desk.

This was the same cardboard carton in which I’d found Pete’s tape deck wedged some months before. I’d since moved the recorder to my bottom drawer. The old Sony was oversize and had the look of an antique compared to those currently in use. On the cassette he’d left in the machine, I’d found the illegally recorded phone conversation he’d used in the blackmail scheme that eventually got him killed. It really was a wonder he’d lived as long as he did.