One June morning, Cordelia Gray arrives at the detective agency office she co-owns with former police officer Bernie Pryde and discovers he has locked himself in his office and slit his wrists. He has left her a note apologizing and explaining he was diagnosed with cancer; he has also left her his half of their failing business, emphasizing “all the equipment” (16), which she realizes is a coded message to remind her to take possession of an illegal gun and three bullets. Cordelia secrets these away then notifies the police of Bernie’s death.

Bernie, like Cordelia, does not have any relatives, so she cleans out his office and his home, where she finds “the sad detritus of a solitary and mismanaged life” (28). Cordelia discovers the agency is on the verge of going under and that Bernie did not own the house where he rented her a room, leaving her virtually homeless and on the verge of bankruptcy. She resolves to keep the agency afloat as long as she can, though she has little optimism.

Cordelia returns from being the solitary mourner at Bernie’s cremation to find Elizabeth Leaming waiting at the office door. When Miss Leaming learns Bernie is dead she prepares to leave, but Cordelia begs her to stay.