This is my entry in the
Valentine's Day Story Contest 2023
. Your votes and comments are always appreciated.
All characters in this work of fiction participating in sexual activity are aged 18 or older.
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Part One: The Tail
Del idly flipped through the game screen on his phone, finally landing on solitaire. He glanced up through the windshield, then started flipping cards. He was lucky and unearthed two kings immediately. He made further headway and moved several cards into place in the tableau, revealing an ace in the process. Finally he began flipping the cards in the hand.
He looked up through the windshield again. "Shit!"
Del's target, a trim, elegant woman with an ash blond ponytail, was exiting the building. The odd, dark-haired young man was with her. Del quickly put his phone away, started the gray Prius and watched intently. She opened the passenger door of the Civic and the young man slid into the seat. The woman entered the driver's side and Del heard the engine start. His eyes were already looking behind his own car to pick out potential openings in the traffic.
This case had worried Del from the start. It began with the typical outraged husband looking for evidence that his wife was cheating. He paid the advance fee without complaint. But Del's investigation was not proceeding in the usual way. He'd had his doubts about this case from the initial meeting, where Del flat out challenged his prospective client.
"Mr. Barnett, what exactly leads you to believe your wife is having an affair with this man?"
"Why else would she see him a couple of times a week, and drive him off somewhere? Frankly, she's no longer the woman I married. She's become cold, irritable, looking for any excuse to spend time elsewhere. We're hardly on speaking terms."
"How did you find out about her activities with this man?"
Hal Barnett snorted. "That's the killer. She told me about him."
"Told you what, exactly?"
"That she had a new patient and had to drive him somewhere a couple of times a week. Usually she sees her patients only once a week, so I immediately got suspicious. But the real giveaway was that she had to drive him, because he couldn't come to her office."
"And your wife is a therapist?"
"Yeah. Her office is downtown here in that old bank building."
"But she doesn't see the new patient there?"
"Right. She drives him somewhere else to fuck, obviously. Otherwise the people in her office would hear them."
Del thought that maybe it wasn't at all that obvious. Barnett's story was full of holes, all fucked up.
He later learned from his surveillance that Mrs. Barnett met the young man at her office and then they drove to the other place. It didn't look at all like a liaison. Why would anyone see a lover at a scheduled time during a workday? But given this guy's simplistic mind and cocksure attitude it didn't surprise him that his wife's attitude toward him had changed over time.
Del verified that the wife, Elena Barnett, was a legitimate licensed therapist. Her online reviews indicated she was good at her profession. Why would she jeopardize her reputation over a stupid affair? Del had the feeling that something wasn't at all right about this case.
It took him a couple of days to track the young guy down. His name was Leo Caldwell, and he was only 22. Elena Barnett was at least six years older. Caldwell worked at a shoe store a couple of miles away from his apartment. Del noted that he could get there on the bus. He obviously didn't have his own car.
He had observed the woman and young man four times now, but they didn't spend any time at the typical trysting spots he sometimes saw -- Sybaris, cheap hotels, or the guy's apartment. Instead they went from her office to a small office building converted from a rambling house in a nearby suburb. Del had managed several photographs of them together, but no PDAs or other signs of even the most casual affection. And they were only together for at most a couple of hours in the morning, twice a week.
Del had cased out the other building tenants of course -- two lawyers, a dentist, a piano studio, and another therapist. This made no sense if there was actual hanky-panky going on between these two. All he had was lousy circumstantial evidence, which no competent family court judge would give a single fuck about.
Del was tailing the Honda from a few cars behind. He knew this route by now and was certain they were again heading to the converted office building. Del parked a block away and watched the pair walk into the building. He sighed, got out of his car with his tablet and walked to the coffee shop around the corner to get some work done.
*******
Part Two: Busted
Del was just starting on his coffee when the door opened and the blonde woman came in. Del knew his game and paid her no attention. She ordered a skinny latte and sat two tables away from him. Del felt like she was looking at him, but he didn't dare look up. He was typing a surveillance report. He felt a bit pissed that he hadn't stayed around to see her exit the building, but he wasn't sure that it even mattered. The whole case smelled like a wild goose chase dreamed up by a clueless husband. He resolved to wrap it up with this week's report and let Barnett make what he could of it. He minimized his report of today's surveillance and pulled up a different one, just to be on the safe side.
"You're working awfully hard." The voice was soft, almost caressing. Del jumped a bit. This interaction was unexpected. He looked up into soft blue-gray eyes.
"I'm sorry, Miss..."
"Mrs... Mrs. Barnett, Elena Barnett. I don't mean to disturb you, but I wonder if you mind if I ask you a question."
Del shrugged. If he brushed her off it might look even more suspicious than if he talked to her. He had never spoken to a surveillance target before and decided to just let it play out. "All right, go ahead and ask." He didn't offer his name.
"Have you been following me?" Her voice was perfectly calm.
Shit. There it was. Del had the immediate feeling that he couldn't bluff his way out of this. But maybe, he could play the client confidentiality card.
"I've been hired for an investigation. I'm not at liberty to discuss the nature of the investigation, or who it might involve. Client confidentiality, you understand." Del tried to remain detached and professional. Those eyes were making it difficult.
Elena smiled. Del had the uncomfortable feeling that she was a full step ahead of him. "I'm familiar with the constraints of client confidentiality. I asked you because I'm concerned with protecting my own client's confidentiality."
