“I kept trying,” said Kleffer. “Not crazy stalking—I waited a week, then another. Why? I can’t tell you exactly, but something about her. She was different from the freaky chicks I meet at work. Old-fashioned, you know? Maybe it reminded me of my family, I don’t know. Solid people, my grandparents have a farm … I don’t know, who ever knows why you do things?”

I said, “So you kept calling.”

“And each time Kathy answered and we talked and that encouraged me to keep trying, maybe be more of a normal guy.” Kleffer laughed. “I grew out what hair I have, kind of a straight-dude look, you know? I figured if I ever got to see her again I’d wear long sleeves.” Rubbing his inked arm. “I don’t know why I did all this shit to myself in the first place.”

I said, “How many calls did it take before she said yes?”

“Four. I took her to a chamber music concert, then to a straight-guy steak house, nothing radical. We had fun talking, there was rapport, you know? I dropped her off and was okay with a cheek kiss. Eventually, it got more … we got involved.”

“Until …”

“Until Kathy broke it off. Why? Can’t tell you that, either.” Kleffer smoked, coughed, looked at the cigarette and shook his head and murmured, “Killing myself … after she dumped me, I went back to drinking, to being my asshole shithead self. I even went to her work to try to convince her to come back, she works for old people, I thought they’d have heart attacks but thank God they didn’t. Thank God Kathy didn’t file a complaint for stalking. I already had a couple of problems—losing my temper in bars. But you probably know that.”

Milo said, “How many times did you go to her office?”

“Just twice—I know, that’s two more times than right. I kept calling her, wanting to know why.” His eyes grew moist.

I said, “Did you ever get an answer?”

“She never came out and said it but there was another guy, had to be.”

“Why?”

“She started acting different. No time to hang out, too busy. She wasn’t nasty about it, just … when I was with her, she wasn’t really there. Like she was seeing me different. And when I asked her if there was someone else, she never said yes or no, just changed the subject.”

“Did you try to find out who he was?”

“We have to get into that?”

I smiled.