What are they doing here? Are they going on vacation? Ella wondered. She wished they’d simply chosen to have sex in a hotel nearby the church. There was no reason to come all the way out here for a little somatic rendezvous. It wasn’t like they could go on a weekend getaway, considering Mr. Dhar had to get back to his wife before she became even more suspicious than she already was. 

Ella was glad when Mr. Dhar pulled into the parking lot of a strip mall. She had become tired of the chase, and anxious he’d drive into a neighborhood and spot her. A strip mall was a much easier place for her to blend in. She drove past the strip mall, then took a u-turn and drove right back to it, in time to see where the pair was going. They were walking into a small restaurant; Ella parked at the opposite side of the spacious parking lot and walked up to the storefront of an overpriced athleisure boutique, pretending to window shop.

Ella slowly and inconspicuously (she hoped) made her way over to the restaurant the pair had entered. She saw they had an outdoor lounge, with a sign reading “Please seat yourself.” She sat down and pulled a magazine out of her purse, appearing to rifle through it as she glanced up and noticed the pair sitting at the rooftop bar. Amazingly, she had managed to choose a seat with a perfect view of the pair.

“What can I get for you?” An overdressed waiter had appeared in front of Ella. She looked up, startled.

“Just a glass of water,” she responded.

The waiter looked annoyed. “You have to buy something to sit here,” he told her. Ella looked around. She was the only one sitting outside in the cold. 

“Coca-Cola,” Ella told him. The waiter sauntered off, a pretentious air about him. Under normal circumstances, it would not at all be out of character for Ella to get into a loud and public argument with the waiter, speaking angrily at him for acting as though he were better than her. Today, though, Ella had other things on her mind. She was too distracted to engage in that sort of behavior with a stranger; it was easier to appease him and proceed with her mission.

Ella didn’t want to seem too suspicious, sitting outside in the cold while everyone else was inside. She tried desperately to think of a reason she’d be sitting outside that people in this uppity town would believe. She could say she was walking her dog but, seeing as she had no dog with her, that certainly wouldn’t be very believable. She tried to think like a suburban housewife who’d married an older, rich man, which was the most plausible alter ego she could come up with. Perhaps she’d be doing some sort of special, rich person diet that required her to spend a lot of time out in the cold. Ella deemed that story to be the most suitable for her purposes.

Ella wondered if a young, suburban housewife who’d married into wealth would bother reading a cheap fashion magazine. They’d probably be reading a magazine on health and wellness, or stocks, or reading classic literature on an e-reader, she thought. Ella shook her head. She was becoming too invested in her character and it was distracting her from the task at hand. 

Just then, Ella looked up at exactly the right moment. Mr. Dhar had his arm around the mystery woman’s waist, and was speaking animatedly to a nearby man in a business suit. Knowing pulling out a digital camera would be far too suspicious, Ella took her smart phone out of her pocket and raised it, moving her head around and pretending to use it to take selfies, while the camera was actually pointed at the pair. She snapped a couple shots of Mr. Dhar with his arm around the woman, talking to the businessman, but it felt like she was waiting a long time for anything more to take place. Too long, in fact, for vanity to make much sense as a cover-up.

Ella lowered the phone and pretended to be texting someone, while actually typing random letters into a notes app. She kept glancing up, hoping apprehensively that they’d finally kiss, so she could be done with this anxiety-inducing trip and have the evidence she needed to get paid. What she was not expecting was for the three people to suddenly begin descending the stairs. Ella scrambled up from her seat, throwing a couple dollars on the table and briskly walking over to the closest store to pretend to look inside, her hands clasped behind her back and rocking back and forth on her heels, like an indecisive window shopper.

Ella waited for the sound of footsteps to fade before she glanced around the parking lot. The three were evidently headed toward Mr. Dhar’s car, and paying no attention to her at all. Ella quickly strode over to Lon’s car, head held high in what she assumed was pretentious suburban rich person-like fashion. She waited a little while before following Mr. Dhar this time, afraid the additional member of their party would notice her and raise their suspicions. After a few minutes, she peeled out after them, so late she almost lost them. She caught up to them, though, and stayed several car lengths behind them so she wouldn’t lose them. They were driving rather quickly, and Ella struggled to keep up without weaving in and out of lanes, which she feared would only make her more conspicuous.

Eventually, the car did end up on a stretch of road leading to a neighborhood. As the traffic thinned out, Ella became even more worried of being seen. She waited until Mr. Dhar was entirely out of her line of focus before slowly entering the neighborhood. She was glad she was at least in Lon’s car. Her car would have garnered far too much attention in the bourgeois neighborhood. Ella caught up to Mr. Dhar quickly, or at least his car; he was parked outside of a house. Ella nearly passed it before slowing down and turning around in a nearby driveway. She wondered if she ought to park down the street and get out and walk, or park nearby and risk them noticing that her car was the same one they’d seen on the road near them the past several hours. 

Unsure and slightly frantic, Ella called Lon, but he didn’t pick up. Ella made sure her phone was on silent and looked around the car. Isabella’s scarf in the back seat caught her attention, and she quickly picked it up and wrapped it around some of the magazines that had been in her purse, creating a cylindrical shape that might barely pass as a baby if no one was looking too closely.

Ella slowly got out of the car, cradling the magazine-scarf concoction, and put her phone to her ear. She bounced the “baby” as if comforting an infant, while cradling the phone between her shoulder and her ear. From a distance, she could pass as a distressed mother on the phone with her husband. She walked down the road, eventually getting close to the house where the three were inside. She stopped a little bit away, saying random words into the phone and cradling the scarf. She had found a spot with a good view of the windows. One of Ella’s talents was finding good windows to spy at people through, a talent which was helpful to both private investigators and stalkers, but luckily she was the former.

Unfortunately, Ella could barely see through the window, as a curtain covered over half of it. Still, she had very keen eyes, and she could definitely make out the shape of a woman sitting on Mr. Dhar’s lap. Ella excitedly raised up her phone, acting as though she were lifting it up in an effort to get a signal, and took a few photos. She zoomed in on the photos, and could tell that it was indeed Mr. Dhar, with the mystery woman on his lap. She took photos of his car out front, as well as the address and exterior of the house, for good measure, all the while pretending to be struggling to get a signal while cradling her baby in the other arm.

Ella was filled with excitement. This was what being a private investigator was all about-finally getting the evidence you needed, finally breaking the case-even if it was just a cheating spouse. Ella grinned internally, but made sure to contain herself externally, so as not to attract any unwanted attention. She was about to leave, but thought she’d stick around another few minutes, just in case-for all she knew, this could be some sort of scandalous sex triangle she didn’t want to miss out on catching footage of.

Suddenly, the businessman was pouring some sort of powder onto the coffee table in front of the pair. Ella was confused by this, and slowed her bouncing of the baby. She watched, puzzled, as the businessman nonchalantly pushed the powder around with what seemed to be a credit card, then her eyes widened as Mr. Dhar handed the woman a rolled-up dollar bill. He must’ve rolled it when Ella was distracted, and Ella barely got her phone ready in time to catch a shaky shot of the woman leaning down with the bill to her nose to suck up the cocaine.

Ella was dumbfounded. This was the last thing she had expected to see. She managed to catch a few photos of Mr. Dhar doing the same, then quickly walked off before she was caught. She threw the scarf into the backseat of Lon’s car, shakily buckled up, her adrenaline running high, and drove quickly out of the neighborhood. She didn’t even bother to turn on the GPS until she was back on the highway.

Ella had not foreseen cocaine being part of the pair’s rendezvous. She wondered if she’d left too soon--perhaps they had been planning some sort of drug-fueled sex party, or wild night involving more substances, or maybe they were planning on selling some of their stash--it was impossible to say now. Ella briefly scolded herself for being too frightened to stick around a little longer, but reasoned with herself that she’d simply return some day soon to stake out the house another time--that is, if she could keep Mrs. Dhar from showing her cheating husband the photographs and ruining everything.

Ella was so distracted; she barely noticed she was nearly out of gas until it was almost too late. She made it just in time to a gas station before the car stalled in front of the pump. Ella shook her head, promising herself she wouldn’t mention this little predicament to Lon. She walked inside to pay for the gas, then came back out to the car, just in time to see a shiny red Ferrari rear-end Lon’s modest Honda. To say Ella blew up would have been an understatement.