“Yes, I have,” Reznick said.
“It’s a helpless feeling, ain’t it?”
Reznick nodded.
“So is this feelin’ ya get when you know somethin’s real wrong, somethin’ outta your hands. Somethin’ bad.”
He liked to tell a story, this Mo Carey. Reznick wished he would pick things up a bit. “What was your somethin’ bad?” Reznick said.
“Melanie wasn’t out with her friends – she was out with… well… someone else.”
“Any idea who?”
“None.”
“You want me to find out?”
“Yeah, that’s right. On top of her goin’ out so much, she’s been buyin’ stuff. Just things now and then. But they ain’t all that cheap, you know? A dress here, some perfume there. Pricey stuff. And I don’t know where she’s gettin’ the money. Then I got to thinkin’… maybe she ain’t buyin’ ‘em. Maybe somebody’s buyin’ ‘em for her.”
They stopped talking to eat more coleslaw and beans and ribs. Then Carey said, “I don’t know where she goes, but I think her girlfriends do now. I think they’re all in on it, tryin’ to hide it from me.”
“You think she’s seeing another man?” Reznick said.
“What else would she be doin’ at night?”
“You might be surprised how many bad things people can get up to at night without having affairs. You want me to follow her?”
“Yeah. I don’t know when she’ll go out again. Maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow night. She comes home from work, throws somethin’ together for my dinner, feeds the kid, and she’s gone. Usually by six-thirty, seven o’clock. Not every night, but often enough for it to be… well, you know, outrageous. Here she is my wife, and I hardly see her anymore. I pick the baby up on my way home from work – she stays at my mom’s during the day – then go home. I get there ‘bout the same time she does. Before I know it, she’s gone again.”
“Give me your address in Happy Valley, tell me what kinda car she drives,” Reznick said. “I’ll wait for her to leave, then I’ll follow her. I’d also like a picture of her, if you have one.”
Carey stopped eating and wiped his hands and face on the paper towel. He took his wallet from his back pocket and started looking for a picture.
“What kind of work you do, Mo?”
“Construction. I’m workin’ on the new jailhouse in Redding.”
“Ah. And your wife?”
“She works in a dentist’s office.” He handed Reznick a picture of Mrs. Carey.
“What’s her name?” Reznick said.
“Alicia.”
Reznick nodded.
The woman in the picture was smiling, but she had the kind of face that would look angry and mean if she weren’t. She was a plain woman with straight, stringy, dirty-blonde hair. She had a broad face with small blue eyes perched above chubby round cheeks that became more pronounced when she smiled.
“Look,” Carey said. “Before we go any further, I gotta know – how much is this gonna cost me?”
Reznick told him his rates and how much he’d need up front.
“Okay, well, that’s a little steep for me. But I’ll handle it.”
“I assume you want me to start right away,” Reznick said.
“Tonight, if you can. Like I said, I don’t know if she’ll go out or not. If she ain’t gone by seven, she’s probably not goin’.”
“How has this affected your marriage?”
Carey shook his head. “We ain’t had sex in a long time. She’s never interested. That’s another thing makes me think she’s seein’ someone else. Hell, she don’t even seem that interested in our little girl. And she’s been actin’, I dunno, kinda… kinda unstable lately. Mood swings, know what I mean? One minute, she’s fine. The next, she’s yellin’ and screamin’ at me, or even our daughter. Then, the next minute, she’s cryin’. Real weird. I been tellin’ her to see a doctor, but she won’t do it, says there’s nothin’ wrong with her.”
Carey had stopped eating and wiped his hands on the paper towel. He was getting himself worked up. His big hands closed and opened and closed into fists as he spoke.
Reznick decided to change the subject. “What’s your little girl’s name?”
“Brandy Michelle.” Carey smiled then and his hands relaxed. “Brandy Michelle Carey, and she’s the most beautiful thing you ever did see.”
“I’m sure she is. Does she notice her mother is gone so much?”
“Oh, hell, yeah. She’s always askin’, ‘Where’s Momma? Where’s Momma?’ And I don’t even know what to tell her.”
“And you’ve confronted your wife about this?”
“Oh, yeah. And it always turns into a fight. Next time I talk to her about it, I want to be able to show her pictures, tell her I know exactly what she’s up to, and she better stop it or I’m gonna get a divorce.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Reznick said. “You don’t want to start talking divorce until you know what she’s up to. Now, let’s get those things I need, and I can get started tonight.”
Eleven
The phone inside the trailer was chirping when Anna and Kendra got back from running errands. Anna hurriedly unlocked the door and went inside, a bag of groceries in one arm. She answered the phone while still holding the bag.
While Anna talked on the phone, Kendra stayed outside and played with her new pet – a tiny pale-tan Chihuahua she had named Dexter. The little dog had fallen in love with Kendra at once when she first held him in the animal shelter. Dexter had licked her face frantically and quivered and wiggled in her arms. The dog was not unlike Conan, the main difference being his lighter color.
Anna came to the door. “That was the temp agency,” she said. “I’ve got a job this afternoon, but I have to go right away. I’m going to get dressed, okay? You gather up whatever you want to take to Aunt Rose’s.”
Kendra stomped a foot. “But Maah-meee! You said the next time you had to go out, you’d leave me to take care of myself.”
“Not this time, honey, I’m in too big a hurry, okay?” She disappeared from the doorway.
Kendra bent down and scooped Dexter up in her arms. She went inside, where Mommy was unloading the groceries into the refrigerator.
“Mommy, you said you’d seriously consider it,” Kendra said. “And this is perfect! It’s daylight. You can go straight to work instead of taking me to Aunt Rose’s. And it’ll still be light when you get home, light for a long time. If you get off at five. Will you get off at five?”