'She says she and Christopholous are, or were, lovers, that whoever was following Christopholous was probably jealous of his love for her, or hers for him, she wasn't clear about that.'
'Really,' Susan said.
'I didn't know about that.'
'Apparently Christopholous didn't either,' I said.
'He was puzzled at the suggestion.'
'What did he say when you quoted Jocelyn?'
'I didn't. I'm trying not to say more than I need to say in this deal. At least until I get some idea of what I'm talking about.'
'That seems prudent,' Susan said.
'I don't think Christopholous was lying,' I said.
'Why would he? There's no reason he shouldn't date Jocelyn. He's divorced.
She's divorced.'
'She's widowed,' Susan said, 'not that it makes any difference, I guess.'
'She told me she was divorced.'
Susan widened her eyes.
'Really,' she said.
'She told me she was widowed.'
'You know any details? Husband's name? Where they were married? How he died?'
Susan shook her head. One of the logs settled in the fireplace.
The momentary flare brightened Susan's face, and threw a shadow that made her eyes seem even bigger than they were.
'No. Just that he died 'tragically' before she joined the company.'
I leaned back a little and stretched my legs out toward the fire and put my arm around Susan's shoulder.
'Jocelyn appears to lie,' I said.
'True,' Susan said.
On the floor Pearl opened her eyes and stared at me with my arm around Susan. She thought about that for a moment, then, seemingly from the prone position, jumped up on the couch and insinuated herself vigorously between us.
'Pearl appears to be jealous.'
'Also true,' Susan said.
Pearl leaned into Susan in such a way as to get most of my arm off of Susan and around Pearl. I looked at her. She lapped me on the nose.
'As a mental health professional,' I said, 'do you have a view on Jocelyn?'
'I think she might be nuts,' Susan said.
'Could you put that in terms a layman can understand?'
'Well, she seems to have some unresolved conflicts which center on men, particularly men in positions of power or authority, or perhaps merely older men.'
'Is it too early to suggest that she might have some sort of problem with her father?'
Susan smiled at me.
'Yes,' she said.
'It is too early.'
Half sitting, half sprawled between us, Pearl shifted her weight from me onto Susan.
'Is it too early to suggest that Pearl has unresolved issues about being a Canine American Princess?'
'No. I think we have empirical support for that diagnosis,' Susan said. Pearl lapped Susan's ear. Susan turned her head, trying to escape. Pearl persisted.
'Though perhaps it is not an unresolved issue.'
We sat quietly for a while.
'Maybe she was following Christopholous,' I said.
'You think?'
'One of the things stalkers get out of stalking is a sense of power over the person they are stalking.'
Susan nodded.
'And, thinking of it in this light, it was an odd remark, that the stalker was stalking Christopholous because the stalker was jealous.'
