Shortly after leaving his shed on the north side, Rick Corday pulled his blue Volvo into the two-stall garage of a handsome suburban home with wood and stone accents, the closest neighbor being half a block away. In the windy night, the place was dark and just a bit ominous. But maybe that was because Rick lived here and knew about the basement… And what went on in the basement.
He went in through the kitchen door, glad to be home. He enjoyed this place, its sunken great room with fireplace and built-in bookcases and adjoining formal dining room with built-in china cabinets.
He went to the bathroom, relieved himself, washed up, and then took off his suit and did one hundred one-handed pushups. Then he changed arms and did one hundred more.
In his underwear, he sat on the edge of the double bed and dialed the phone, glancing at the brocaded gold wallpaper and Louis XIV furnishings that lent the room a formal if rather stiff elegance.
The air-conditioning made everything chilly. Too chilly, probably, for some people. But coldness had a productive effect on Corday and so he appreciated it.
On the night-stand between the beds, he saw the note, the note that told him that his best friend, his good and true lover, had been cruising again.
He dialed a long-distance number.
'Hello,' said Adam Morrow.
'I'm ready to roll,' Corday said.
'Goddammit, Rick. I asked you to wait until I was there.'
'Everything's ready. We may not get this opportunity again.'
Adam decided to stay as cool as possible. 'So it's going well, then?'
'Professionally,' Corday replied, getting that hurt tone in his voice, 'everything is going fine.'
'What's that supposed to mean?'
'It means that the job is doing fine,' Corday said.
'The job is doing fine,' Adam echoed, 'but we aren't, is that it?'
Corday didn't want to say it, loathed his bitchy side, but couldn't stop himself. 'You know when you asked me to take some of your clothes to the cleaners? A note fell out of your pocket.'
Silence. Then, 'Are we reading each other's private mail now?'
'It's not private mail. It fell out of your pocket!'
'Same thing.'
'Seems you and some guy named Wyn became very good friends when you were in Miami a few weeks ago.'
Silence. 'I'm a lot better than I used to be.'
'True. Now you're only unfaithful every month. It used to be you were unfaithful every week.'
'You need to concentrate on the woman, Rick. Forget about us for the time being. We'll work it out.'
'Right,' Corday said. 'We'll work it out.' Then, 'You think you'll ever change?'
'I want to change. For your sake.'
'You should want to change for your own sake.'
Laugh. 'You've been watching Oprah again, haven't you?'
'I'm serious.'
'So am I, Rick. You listen to all that touchy-feely crap on TV and you think that's how everybody should be. A lot of very good relationships include one or both of the partners getting a little strange tail on the side. It doesn't mean that the relationship has to end.'
'So you're going to keep right on doing it?'
Sigh. 'I'm going to try not to, Rick. On that I give you my word. I'm going to try not to. That's the best I can tell you. That I'll try.'
Rick hated himself when he sulked. Professional, that's what he needed to be now. Professional. 'I'll see you in the morning then?'
'I'll be landing around ten o'clock.' Silence. 'Rick?'
'What?'
'I'm sorry you feel betrayed. It didn't mean anything to me. The guy's a dork.'
'Right.'
'He is. God, he peddles TV time. Some closet fairy who likes to strut around and tell you how he knows half the Miami Dolphins personally.'
'Do you want me to save the note?'
'Now what the hell do you think? I just told you what a dork he was, didn't I? Burn the goddammed thing.'
'With pleasure,' Corday said.
A few moments after hanging up, Corday had another one of his blackouts, a phenomenon that sometimes followed arguments with Adam.
He had to grab the back of a chair to steady himself. All was cold yet sweaty darkness as he clung to the chair to keep from falling over.
And from somewhere within himself came a voice crying out to him. He could not understand the words to this voice, but he knew that it was saying something vital and urgent.
After a time, Rick Corday went into the bathroom and threw up.