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abortion. I didn’t know you at all. You were just some broken-down ex-cop who came to my house looking for Patrick, yet there was something about you. I trusted you immediately. You made me feel safe. I felt this spark between us. I’d hoped you felt it too, but I was hideous. I knew I was just being a stupid, romantic girl. That someone like you would never feel something for a stupid little troll like me.”
    I laughed, shook my head, thinking about how incredibly wrong she was. “You weren’t pretty, Nancy, no. But you were the most honest person I think I’d ever met. Your honesty almost made me dizzy.”
    “Do you know what it was like for me to look in the mirror? God, I hated myself. There were times I regretted that Patrick hadn’t killed me after the abortion.” She was crying now. “All these years later and I’m still that ugly girl. You just don’t see her anymore.” She stood up and removed her new robe. I turned away. “Don’t turn away. Please, don’t turn away. Please, look at me. In a very real way, Moe, this was for you. All the surgery and exercise and dieting, all the pain and hard work, it was so I could have a man like you.”
    “I don’t know what to say to that.”
    Nancy took a step to me, knelt down, and placed her cheek against my thigh. “Don’t say anything. Just come upstairs with me. It’s so chilly out here and we could be so warm together.”
    I found I was stroking her hair. “You were wrong, you know. That day I first came to your house, I did fall a little bit in love with you. My brother and I own a wine store not a mile from here. I used to hope you would come in someday, but you never did.”
    “I know, but you were married then and you had a little girl.”
    “How do you know—”
    “Please, come upstairs with me.”
    “I can’t, Nancy. I’m … I just can’t.”
    “Is it Pam?”
    I shot out of my seat, the force of it knocking her back and to the ground. “What the fuck, Nancy? Are you stalking me?”
    And for the second time that day, I saw the old Nancy in her eyes and expression. “I’m sorry, Moe. I really am. You can’t possibly appreciate how much.” Red-faced, she scrambled to put the terry cloth robe back on. When she got it tied up, she turned to me. “I do want you to find Sloane or, at least, to find out that she’s okay. All the pictures and information you asked for are in a brown envelope next to the front door. There are keys to Sloane’s apartment as well. I’ve also included a retainer check for five thousand dollars. I didn’t know what your rates were.”
    “There’s something about me you
don’t
know?”
    “I guess I deserved that.” She looked at the ground. “I realize now isn’t the best time to ask and that I’ve gone about this all wrong, but would you please give me a chance to explain, maybe over dinner? I promise, no more stunts. No more manipulations. Just dinner.”
    “Swear to me that this thing with your daughter isn’t bullshit.”
    “I swear,” old, ugly Nancy said from beneath the million-dollar veneer.
    “I take it your phone numbers are in the envelope.”
    “They are.”
    “I’ll call you in a few days with a progress report. We’ll talk about dinner then.”
    “Thank you.”
    “Don’t thank me yet, Nancy. First let’s see what’s up with Siobhan.”
    “Will you do one more thing for me, Moe?”
    “Depends.”
    “Just hug me. Just a little. It would mean a lot to me.”
    “Just a hug?”
    “Just a hug. That’s it.”
    I didn’t say a word, but stepped up to her and wrapped my arms around her, my fingers sinking into the thick terry cloth. We stayed like that for a few seconds, her head on my shoulder, our arms around one another, then we pulled apart.
    “Thank you,” she said.
    “I’ll call.”
    I walked back into the house. The envelope was where she said it would be. Funny, it must have been there the entire time. I picked it up, let myself out, and settled into my car. But