Frampton sat back in his chair and swiveled away from me and looked out his window. 'You know you've got me over a barrel,' he said.
'I do.'
'You know I don't want to tell Marlene that we wouldn't hire you.'
'I know,' I said.
'Will you require a contract?'
'Handshake's fine,' I said.
'That's foolish,' he said. 'You should have a contract.'
'I know,' I said. 'I just wanted to see your reaction.'
Frampton looked at me thoughtfully.
'You are a little different,' he said. 'Aren't you?'
A ll the answers to that question seemed dumb, so I didn't give one.
'We'll draft a contract and you can run it past your attorney,' Frampton said.
'Okay.'
'Are you prepared to begin now?' Frampton said.
'Sure.'
'Very well,' he said. 'What do you know.'
'Marlene wants me to catch her husband cheating on her.'
'Anything else?'
'Nope.'
'What would you like from me?'
'Her husband's name; his address, home and business; a couple of different pictures of him; description of his car, plate number. And maybe your reaction to her suspicions.'
He reached into a file drawer and took out a big manila envelope and tossed it on his desk in front of me.
'Pictures,' he said. 'Of Trenton Rowley. He's forty-seven years old. He and Marlene live here, in Manchester. The address is in the envelope. So is his business address. He has several cars, I don't know what kind. I don't have the plate numbers. His business is off Totten Pond Road in Waltham. Company named Kinergy, got their own building.'
'Kinergy?' I said.
Frampton shrugged. 'I have no idea what it means,' he said.
'What do they do?'
'Energy trading of some kind,' Frampton said.
'That doesn't mean they run a power plant,' I said.
'No, no. They're traders-brokers. They buy power here and sell it there.'
'Gee,' I said. 'Just like the legislature.' Frampton smiled a little.
'Kinergy,' he said, 'is an enormously successful company.'
'And what does he do there?'
'He's the chief financial officer.'
'Mr. Rowley is wealthy?'
'Yes. And he has a lot of clout.'
'Yikes,' I said. 'Do you folks represent him as well?'
'Oh God no. Obviously we couldn't represent both sides in a divorce, but, even if we could. No, no. The company does business with Cone, Oakes, and Baldwin. I would assume they might represent him as well.'
'What about the last part of my question?'
'What do I think?'
I nodded.
'Trent Rowley has, for a long time, gotten everything he wanted. He has always given Marlene everything she wanted.'
'So do you think he's cheating on her?'
'I don't know. I think he would if he wanted to.'
'Marlene have any evidence?'
'I don't know. She says she knows he's cheating. But she adds nothing of substance to the accusation.'
'Doe she have much of substance?'
