Gayle made the right onto Morrison Street, and, having trained at the hands of one of the great all-time masters of the surveillance drive-by, immediately slowed down, cut the lights. I was deeply grateful for her technical competence. Not to mention her moral support and understanding. I was in desperate need of it now.

On the initial approach to the house, we saw Donald’s car, as expected, parked out front. And even though it was not a surprise, even though I knew with absolute certainty that he was there, that we would find him there, it was still a shock. Neither my mind nor my body had gotten used to the idea that he was, and had been, for God knows how long, cheating on me with her. And I didn’t know if it ever would.

Instead of going past the house this time and parking under the big oak tree, we pulled in just before it, behind a giant four-wheel-drive Expedition (or Excursion, or Escalade, or Escapade) SUV that provided us excellent cover. Gayle shut the engine off, then reached behind her to the back seat.

“I wasn’t sure how long we would be here, so I packed a little snack in case we get hungry.”

Out of the bag came bottled water, apples, Ziploc baggies filled with cheese slices, expensive crackers, Swiss chocolate.

“Unless there’s a pair of night-vision binoculars in there, I’m not interested,” I said.

“Can you see anything?” Gayle asked.

I suddenly saw movement into the living room—silhouetted figures, which were clearly Donald and Adrienne, behind the thin sheer curtains.

“Okay. They’re in there. In the living room.”

Gayle’s hands clutched the Ziploc baggies of food tightly.

I craned my neck, contorting myself in the front seat against the dashboard and the curved windshield. “But I can’t see what they’re doing.”

“They’re probably talking.”

They certainly had a lot to talk about. I scanned the house, tried to figure out if there was a way I could go out there, hide in the front just below the living room windows, peek and listen, but the azalea bushes were too low, too sparsely planted. Unlike the giant SUV, they would never cover me. Then I noticed the left side of the house, toward the back, where the kitchen was. Big bushes. Thick and dense and just the right height.