I told him. He nodded.
“And you’ll fi nd out?” he said.
“Yes.”
“I don’t want her to know,” Doherty said.
“I’m pretty slick,” I said. “Where do you live?”
“No need to know that,” he said. “You can pick her up at school.”
“And tail her home,” I said.
He nodded.
“Of course,” he said. “Six thirty-six Brant Island Road in Milton.”
I looked at the picture.
“Good likeness of her?” I said.
“Yes,” he said. “She’s fifty-one, looks younger. Five feet, seven inches, a hundred and thirty pounds. She’s in good shape. Works out. Drives a silver Honda Prelude. Mass plate number ARP7 JD5.”
He reached into the slim briefcase again and brought out a printed sheet of paper. He put it on the desk beside her photograph.
“Her teaching schedule,” he said. “Concord College, you know where it is?”
“I do.”
“Her office is in Foss Hall,” Doherty said. “English department. It’s on the schedule.”
“How about you,” I said. “How do I reach you?”
“I’ll give you my cell phone,” he said.
I wrote it down.
“Where do you work?” I said.
“You don’t need to know that,” he said. “Cell phone will get me.”
I didn’t press it.
“You want regular reports?”
“No. When you know something, tell me.”
“If she’s doing anything out of the ordinary,” I said, “it shouldn’t take long to catch her.”
He nodded.
“I don’t think she’s having an affair,” he said.
“Sure,” I said.
“When can you start?”
“I’m away for a couple of days,” I said. “I’ll start Tuesday.”
He didn’t move. I waited.
“She’s not . . .” he said finally. “I can’t see her having an affair . . . she’s not that interested in sex.”
“I’ll let you know,” I said.
He nodded and turned and headed for the door. The way his jacket fell, he might have been carrying a gun behind his right hip.
2.
It was late september on Cape Cod, and the summer people were gone. Susan and I liked to go down for a couple of nights in the off-season, before things shut down for the winter. Which is how we ended up on a Sunday night, eating cold plum soup and broiled Cape scallops, and drinking a bottle of Gewurztraminer at Chillingsworth in Brewster.
“When someone says that their mate is not interested in sex,” Susan said, “all they can really speak to with authority is that their mate is not interested in sex with them.”
“I’ve never made that statement,” I said.
“And with good reason,” Susan said.
“It sounds like sex to me,” I said.
“And it sounds like he fears that it is,” Susan said.
“He fears something,” I said.
“And he’s reticent about himself,” she said. “Didn’t want to tell you where he lived. Won’t tell you where he works.”
“Lot of people are embarrassed about things like this,” I said.
“Are you?” she said.
