The Shadow Hunter

probably slept less than four hours a night. Assessing her with the maximum objectivity possible, Kris could not see what attraction this scrawny, bony, peppy young thing could possibly hold for her fifty-one-year-old husband. But of course there was no real mystery about it. Howard liked them young.
    It wasn’t Amanda’s fault. Howard behaved the same way around secretaries, flight attendants, and the women stationed at cosmetics counters in department stores. Kris had found her husband’s roving eye ruefully amusing at first. Not anymore.
    “Kris? You still among the living?”
    “What?”
    “You drifted away for a second.”
    “Sorry. Just thinking.”
    “Yeah, I remember when I used to have the luxury for reflective moments. Now I hop on the ulcer express in the morning and don’t get off till dark. Speaking of which, it’s time for me to punch out. And time for you to review the rundown with Consuelo.” Consuelo Martinez produced the ten o’clock newscast and the public affairs program that followed.
    “I already did.” Kris held up a loose collection of yellow script pages. “Got my lines right here.”
    “Until they’re changed at the last minute. Which they inevitably will be. ’Night, Kris.”
    She started to walk away. Kris stopped her. “Amanda. I want to apologize for Howard. The way he was acting the other night.”
    “Howard? He’s a sweetheart. He was fine.”
    “It seemed to me he was…sticking too close. Smothering you.”
    “He gets a kick out of the technical stuff, that’s all. He’s a big kid, asking me to explain how every button works. Okay, it can be a pain in the ass, but it’s cute.”
    “I used to feel that way,” Kris said. “But I think, in your case, he’s interested in more than pushing buttons.”
    Amanda stepped closer. “What’s that mean?”
    Kris wondered how much she should say. She and Amanda were not exactly friends—their personalities were too contrary for true amity—but they had worked together for two years, and two years in TV news was a time period measured on a geologic scale.
    “The thing is,” Kris said slowly after looking around to be sure no one was listening, “Howard’s kind of unreliable.”
    Amanda frowned. “How am I supposed to interpret that?”
    “The obvious way.”
    “You’re saying he goes out dancing behind your back?”
    “That’s what I suspect.”
    “It sure doesn’t seem like him. He strikes me as the old-fashioned sort.”
    “Appearances can be deceptive. He has a wandering eye, but I don’t know if it’s gone beyond that. It could have.”
    Amanda pursed her lips, not shocked, merely intrigued. “You mean he might be…you know…right now?”
    “I can’t say. It’s just a suspicion.”
    “Based on?”
    “Too many unexplained absences. Too much driving around aimlessly. He says he’s breaking in his new car. It’s possible. He does love his toys. But I don’t know. And once I walked in on him while he was sending e-mail, and he shut down the program fast, as if it was something he didn’t want me to see.”
    “E-mail love notes?” Amanda looked dubious.
    “Haven’t you heard of cybersex?” Kris shrugged. “It’s a new millennium. People don’t send sonnets anymore, or even regular love letters, I suppose.” Except for Hickle, a voice at the back of her mind added.
    Amanda shook her head. “Have you discussed this with him? Does he know you’re on to him?”
    “He doesn’t know anything. Courtney, our housekeeper, is my informer. She confided in me after…after Howard came on to her.”
    “Right in your own house? Divorce the bastard.”
    “We can work it out.”
    “Not if you two don’t start talking.”
    “We will when this stalker thing is over. When it’s taken care of.”
    Amanda sighed. “I thought you two were a happy couple. You know, the kind who get a perfect score on the
Cosmo
compatibility test.”
    “I used to think we were. Now I don’t…I…” She couldn’t talk about this anymore. “Look, I just wanted to say I’m sorry if he was getting in your way last night.”
    “Forget about it.” Amanda glanced at her watch. “I’ve gotta run, but tomorrow if we have time, let’s talk, okay? Heart to heart?”
    Kris smiled. “I never took you for the sob sister type.”
    “It’s an unfamiliar role for me, but I can handle it.” She gave Kris’s arm a comforting squeeze. “Hang in there, kid.”
    Kris watched her walk away. She knew there would be