I checked the next number in the sequence. “And 25 is N, and the name is Taryn,” I said. I knew exactly who this was. “Surname is Sizemore.”

“That’s right. He’s written ‘Santa Teresa, California’ on the line beneath, so she must be local. You know her?”

“She was the plaintiff in the lawsuit I mentioned earlier.”

“Much of this seems to hark back to that lawsuit,” he said.

“Could be coincidental.”

“Possible. Fifth name on the list is Susan Telford, who apparently lives in Henderson, Nevada. Ring a bell?”

“Nada.”

Henry said, “Speaking Spanish now. Very nice.”

I pointed to the next sequence of numbers. “Who’s that?”

“Last name is Janet Macy in Tucson, Arizona.”

“Which doesn’t ring any bells.” I thought about the names for a moment. “I can’t imagine what the relationship is among these women.”

“It might help if you talked to someone in Burning Oaks. Father Xavier would be the obvious choice.”

“I’m not planning to do anything unless I figure out what Pete had in mind.”

“I’m not sure how you’ll arrive at that. I gather he didn’t confide in Ruthie, at least where this business is concerned,” he said. “Is that a copy machine?”

“It is.”

Henry picked up the single sheet of graph paper and the yellow pad, crossed to the machine, and pushed the power button. While he waited for the machine to warm up, he neatly tore off the top two sheets of lined yellow paper, and when the Ready light went on, he opened the cover, placed the first sheet facedown on the glass plate, and lowered the cover again. He pushed Print and we stared, transfixed, as a line of light moved down the page and a copy emerged from the innards of the machine. I didn’t have a clue how the process worked. He then copied the second sheet, and last he made a copy of the grid of numbers.

When he finished, he handed me the originals and folded the copies, putting them in the pockets of his shorts. Indicating the first sheet he’d given me, he said, “That’s the key, written down the left-hand margin; the QWERTY letters with a number value next to each. You come across any other eight-place grids, you should be able to translate. I’m not sure what you’ll do with the names, but I’ll leave you to ponder the possibilities.”

“I’ll do that, and thanks.”

“I enjoyed watching Pete’s mind at work,” he said. “Nearly forgot to mention I had a plumber out this morning to take a look at the irrigation issue. He was full of good advice. He kept saying ‘reduce before reuse.’”

“You already knew that,” I said. “Nothing practical?”

“You want to hear his recommendation? Tear out the lawn. Get rid of all the grass. ‘It’s dead anyway’ was what he said. He recommended Astroturf. Can you imagine it?”

“Well, it would be green all year round.”

“I told him I’d think about it and get back to him. Then I put a call through to someone else. At any rate, I’ll see you back at the house.”