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his wife?”
    â€œYep.”
    â€œBlond guy, little mustache, glasses.”
    â€œHow’d he pay you?”
    Elmer squinted at me.
    â€œWhat’s goin’ on?” he said.
    â€œJust confirming a few loose ends,” I said.
    â€œThe hell you are,” Elmer said. “Why do you want to know how he paid me?”
    I grinned.
    â€œHard to throw one past you,” I said.
    â€œDon’t forget it.”
    â€œHe pay you cash?” I said.
    â€œWhy do you want to know?”
    â€œBernie has a history of bad checks,” I said. “Just wondered if he bounced one on you.”
    â€œHell no,” Elmer said. “Nobody’s bouncing nothing on Elmer O’Neill.”
    â€œSo his check was good?”
    â€œBetter than that,” Elmer said proudly. “He paid cash. Up front.”
    â€œCash don’t bounce,” I said.
    â€œYou got that right,” Elmer said.
    â€œAnd what, exactly, did he want?”
    â€œFollow the wife. Tell him who she saw.”
    â€œEven another woman?”
    â€œHe wanted a full report.” Elmer smiled. “Men, women, you know it could go either way.”
    â€œElmer, you sophisticated devil,” I said.
    â€œHey,” Elmer said. “It happens.”
    â€œYes it does,” I said. “You have any help?”
    â€œMe? No. I don’t see no reason to split a fee when all I got to do is work hard, and get it all.”
    â€œSo you covered her day and night?”
    â€œPicked her up in the morning, stayed with her until bedtime. Bedtime at home.”
    I nodded.
    â€œNow,” I said. “I’m going to take a guess, and you tell me if the guess is on the money or not.”
    â€œYeah?”
    â€œTo make sure nobody got wind of it, you didn’t report. He called you.”
    â€œYeah, that’s right.”
    â€œNo phone number.”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œNothing in writing.”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œThat raise any flags for you?” I said.
    â€œIt did,” he said. “It sent up a big flag that said, Elmer, you take that cash right down to the bank and deposit it in your account.”
    â€œHow’d he happen to come to you?” I said.
    â€œHe wanted the best,” Elmer said.
    â€œBut how’d he find that out,” I said.
    Elmer squinted at me again.
    â€œThere’s something going on,” he said. “What is it? What’s going down?”
    I thought about it.
    â€œSame guy who hired you to follow Ellen Eisen hired somebody else to follow another woman.”
    â€œMaybe old Bernie’s got a . . .”
    Elmer stopped. He rocked back in his chair and pointed a forefinger which he jabbed at me gently.
    â€œOld Bernie ain’t old Bernie,” he said.
    I nodded.
    â€œSo who the fuck is he?” Elmer said.
    â€œDon’t know,” I said.
    â€œThen why’d you ask me to describe my guy?” Elmer said.
    â€œBecause I’ve seen Bernie.”
    â€œHe tell the other guy that he was that woman’s husband?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œAnd you seen her husband too,” Elmer said.
    â€œYes.”
    Elmer sat some more, squinting. He still had his forefinger extended but now he was slowly making circles with it in the air. You could sort of track his thinking with it. The closer he got to an idea, the smaller the circles.
    â€œThis has got something to do with that company,” he said.
    â€œYou think?”
    â€œKinergy,” he said. “Guy got killed out there.”
    â€œYou don’t miss much,” I said.
    â€œCan’t. Not in this business. You involved?”
    â€œI didn’t do it,” I said.
    â€œYou got a piece of the investigation?”
    â€œI’m a curious guy,” I said.
    â€œYou do have a piece,” Elmer said. “You need any help on it, you let me know. Surveillance. Research.”
    He reached out and patted the computer on his