Greer gave Russell an accusatory look and stayed close to the open window to let out her breath and suck in more air. “Why you?”

I brought her gently back to the point of her visit. “Yes. Why would you hire me to check up on Alex, instead of some big detective agency?”

“Don’t you want the money?” Greer challenged.

Hell, yes, I wanted the money, and she damn well knew it. I just looked at her, hoping she hadn’t changed her mind.

“You’re a born snoop,” my sister said. “You’ve got a lot of free time, and I trust you would be discreet—and be completely fair to Alex in the process.”

“Any top-flight agency would be discreet,” I pointed out. “Plus, they would have experience and resources.”

Damn it. Whose side was I on, anyway? I could do a lot with an influx of cash like that, and since Geoff had put me off the casinos for a while, this was the only chance I was likely to get.

Greer gave Russell another wary glance, then sat down, all very serious. “Alex belongs to every civic organization in Arizona,” she told me. “I’m afraid any agency I called would tip him off, as a professional courtesy—or just out of spite.”

“Okay,” I said uncertainly.

She opened her shoulder bag—one of those rhinestone-studded numbers with a real gold buckle—and took out a sheaf of papers and her checkbook.

“I don’t have a private investigator’s license, you know,” I felt compelled to say. I do have standards. And I wouldn’t really have framed Alex as a cheater just to collect the ten grand.

Which is not to say I wouldn’t be tempted. I just wouldn’t actually do it.

Greer ignored my statement and handed me the papers. Turned out they were printouts from a computer-generated address book. “I’ve highlighted the suspicious names and numbers,” she said. While I studied them, she produced a fountain pen and opened her checkbook. “I think the one with the star beside it is with him at the medical conference, even as we speak. You’ll need a good camera, and there are bound to be expenses, so I’m giving you a retainer.”

It required all the discipline I had not to lean across the table and get a look at the numbers on that check.

“Right,” I said. That was always safe with Greer. She liked to be right.

“What makes you so sure Alex is running around?”

“All the little signs are there.”

Yeah, I thought, probably the same stuff that made his first wife suspicious when the two of you were scorching the sheets.

“Like what?” I asked reasonably.

“The usual. Suspicious phone calls. Having his mail forwarded to his office. Late hours, even for a doctor.” Something bruised flickered in Greer’s eyes. “I’ll die if she’s pregnant.”

“Whoa,” I said. “Pregnant?”