Evvie leads me to the food table during the rousing cheer. Our neighbors wait breathlessly until I pick a rugallah. rugallah.

"Good choice. Raspberry," says Mary, and then everyone else dives in.

They're all talking at once. I'm sure the girls filled them in on our exploits during the bingo cruise. I guess they want to hear it again now that I'm back.

"You captured a killer?" Tessie.

"Single-handed?" Irving.

"No, we already told you, we all got him." Ida.

"We got him during a hurricane." Sophie.

"No, it was a tsunami." Evvie.

"A what?" Tessie.

"Didja get a reward?" Hy.

Bella starts to speak, but Ida stops her by slapping a hand over her mouth. Ida faces Hy. "None of your business."

"Congratulations," Barbi and Casey say in unison.

"So where's Jack?" Mary asks.

My head is spinning. Evvie seats me in a chair and shifts the nearby umbrella to shade my face. "Have mercy, she's jet-lagged," warns my sister, always protective of me.

I'm feeling nothing but anger. Anger at all of their nonsense. And most of all anger at myself. I could be in Jack's arms on our island paradise instead of here. Coulda, woulda, shoulda.

Tessie pulls a chair close. "Lots of news here. The Peeper struck again."

Mary adds, "And again and again."

"Dumkupfs," Hy says with disgust. "I told these ladies to pull down their shades. They're just asking for it."

I know I should show some interest. This man, whoever he is, has been frightening many of the women who live on the first floors of buildings throughout the condo. But my heart isn't in it.

Tessie leans over and swats Hy.

"Ouch," he says. Then to me, "You missed my joke. Wanna hear it?"

A chorus of "No" blasts out at him. He ignores it. He circles round me, hands on hips, gyrating his tush as he always does. He begins, "At eight you take her to bed and tell her a story."

Even though I try not to listen, he goes on and on. The group gives up, knowing they can't stop him, and they disperse, ambling back to their other pursuits.

"At eighteen, you tell her a story and take her to bed. At twenty-eight, you don't need to tell her a story to take her to bed."

Irving makes the universal gesture of repulsion, waving his hand. "Feh." "Feh."

Hy gestures back, meaning who cares what you who cares what you think. think. "At thirty-eight, she tells you a story and takes you to bed." "At thirty-eight, she tells you a story and takes you to bed."

Ida reaches out and smacks him with her wet towel. He ducks, not missing a beat. "At forty eight, you tell her a story to avoid going to bed." Hearing rumblings of impatience, he talks faster. "At fifty-eight you stay in bed to avoid her story. At sixty-eight if you take her to bed, that'll be a story-"

Almost as if rehea.r.s.ed, the entire poolside gang (except Enya and Irving) shouts the punch line loudly, cutting him off. "At seventy-eight, what story? What bed? Who are are you?" you?"

Hy walks away in disgust. "I waste my talents on you ingrates."

In spite of my misery, I find myself laughing out loud. Some things never change. I am beginning to feel a little better. I'm here. Whether I want to be or not. So be here, I tell myself. I'm with people who care about me. I'm with my lantsmen, lantsmen, my neighbors, my family. my neighbors, my family.

FOUR.

CATCHING UP.

Since the weather is so pleasant, the girls opt to work outdoors. Evvie called the meeting of Gladdy Gold and a.s.sociates Detective Agency, insisting it was time to catch up with our mail and calls since we've been away. But as nice as it is to see my neighbors and friends, I just can't get with it. I want to care but I don't. Jack is the only thing on my mind. How serious is this fight? Is it something he'll get over quickly? I wish I knew.

We are gathered around a picnic table on the gra.s.s in the shade. Behind us ducks quack as they swim past under the little wooden bridges that dot one of the many ponds around Lanai Gardens. Lucky for me, the girls are all so self-absorbed that they haven't mentioned Jack's reaction to our coming home so early, though I would have expected more response from Evvie. Sophie is applying new nail polish. Something lavender to go with her latest hair rinse. Her ten vials of pills are stretched out in a row. She intends to take them after her nails dry. Bella, our recording secretary, is eagerly waiting to take notes on the meeting. Evvie is catching me up on all the new calls that came in to our answering machine while we were away.

"This one sounds promising," she says. "His wife's become addicted to the shopping channel and she just keeps ordering stuff. But what makes it worse, with her bad memory she orders the same things over and over again. He doesn't know how to stop her."

"Pa.s.s," I say listlessly.

"Tell him to cut up her credit cards," Ida suggests in her toughest voice. She is busy reading the directions on our brand-new cell phones.

After our harrowing experience on the cliffs of Puerto Rico, when I would have sold my soul for a phone, I promised we'd now have cell phones. To my surprise, they've already bought them.

"This is complicated," Ida says. "What's text messages?"

"Who cares," Evvie tells her. "Just learn how to talk on it and get voice messages."

"But this manual is thirty pages long."

"Ignore it. Learn everything on a need-to-know basis."

"What about programming numbers?"

"No," insists Evvie, "we don't need that. We're only going to use it for emergencies."

I pretend to read through my mail, but all I want is to go back to my apartment and cry.

"What about this one?" Evvie asks. "Here's a woman who thinks someone is stalking her."

"Tell her to call the police," I say sharply.

The girls look at me, surprised at my p.r.i.c.kly answer, so unlike me. I sigh. I'd better be careful and not take my frustration out on them. I don't want to answer any questions about what happened between me and Jack.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Evvie says, throwing the girls an anxious look, which I pretend not to notice.

"So tell Gladdy what we were talking about for you," Bella says to Evvie. Always the peacemaker, she knows it's time to change the subject.

Evvie sits up taller and gives me a perky grin. "I decided I am finally ready to start dating again. I simply must get out of my rut." She runs her fingers through her fading red curls. "Time to wash that gray right out of my hair."

Sophie, who changes her hair color with her moods, applauds. "Bravo."

"I mean, look how happy you are with Jack. I've just been stubborn. Now I'm ready to spread my wings and fly." Evvie leans back in her deck chair and spreads her arms wide. "Adventure, here I come."

Oh, my dear sister, if you only knew.

Sophie adds, "We've been making lists of what things she should try. Like maybe she puts an ad in the personals in the Sun-Sentinel. Sun-Sentinel."

"Or join a matchmaking service." Bella grins at the thought. "Then you can lie about your age like everyone else does."

Evvie adds, "I'm even toying with the idea of getting a computer and doing that on-line dating, like with Match.com."

Sourpuss Ida gives her opinion: "Waste of time and money."

"I don't care. I'm ready and Glad will help." She turns to me. "Won't you? You're the expert."

Luckily, before I can sputter some kind of inane comment, I am saved by a familiar voice.

"Good afternoon, ladies." Sol Spankowitz bears down on us, full set of false teeth gleaming. He carries the inevitable racing form, so he must be on his way to meet his racetrack buddy, Irving. "Welcome home. I only just heard you were back, and I couldn't wait to welcome you personally." All of this is directed at Evvie, who makes a face showing her displeasure.

"You look so tanned and healthy," he says, looking down at her chest as usual. She pulls up her halter top to hide any cleavage showing, then reaches over and pushes Sol's chin up, so he's forced to look at her face.

The lack of any positive response doesn't stop him. "I was thinking maybe I could tempt you into a little breakfast date tomorrow?"

"Date. He said the magic word," says Bella excitedly.

"I'll call you this evening and we'll make plans." With that he waves his farewell and jauntily strolls away.

"And my phone will be off the hook," Evvie says under her breath. She shoots Bella a dirty look. "He's not what I had in mind."

Bella is practically jumping up and down. "I can't believe it. You said the date word and a minute later, you're asked."

"So, Miss Popularity," Ida says caustically, "what Prince Charming do do you expect to show up on your welcome mat?" you expect to show up on your welcome mat?"

Evvie thinks for a few moments, trying to find the right words. "I want someone . . . someone debonair. Worldly. A man who'll sweep me off my feet. Maybe even handsome. Someone who'll understand me. Not like that pathetic schlepper, Sol."

Bella says, "So give him a broom and he'll sweep."

Sophie looks up from swallowing her pills as she mixes yet another metaphor. "Look at him like a practice trial."

"Look at him like the loser he is," adds Ida, negative as usual.

Evvie scowls. "I'd rather have the heartbreak of psoriasis."

I can't sit another minute. I stand up. This date talk is driving me crazy. "I think it's time we dealt with the problem of our Peeping Tom. Let's go to the office and find Greta Kronk's file."

"Right." Evvie jumps up. "We have to find the drawing labeled 'sneaky peeky.' It may identify the guy who's been peeping in all those apartments."

Greta Kronk had been a longtime resident of Phase Two. After she died, on a hunch I suggested we keep all her sketches. I sigh. I still bemoan the fact that the police refused to do an autopsy on her. We later proved she was murdered. If we'd found out earlier, we might have been able to save the next victim.

Bella is confused. "What?"

Ida says, "Remember when poor crazy Greta was smearing paint on our doors and cars, she always left a nasty little poem? And then when we went to her apartment, we found out she did sketches to match the poems?"

Bella smiles. "Now I remember, when you remind me."

Sophie says, "I can't go. Mah-jongg. And Bella, you're playing, too."

Ida tells us she has to write letters to her grandchildren. We all avoid commenting since we know what little good that will do-they never answer any of her mail.

Evvie puts her arm through mine. Meeting is over. Thank G.o.d.

The condo office, where all the Lanai Gardens records are kept, is really not much more than a large broom closet. Actually, board members converted part of one of our many storerooms for this purpose. An old wooden desk, an unmatched chair, a two-drawer file cabinet, a bulletin board, and that's about it. Evvie looks up at me from where she is searching the lower file drawer. "It's not here."

"How can that be? It has to be there."

She wipes the dust off her hands. This place is only cleaned when someone thinks about it, and that isn't often. Evvie looks through the mess of papers on the desk as well. "Nope. The Greta Kronk file is gone, along with the poems and sketches she did of almost everyone in Lanai Gardens. You think the Peeper took it?"

"Who else?"

"But the office is always locked."

"And the key is always under the mat. Probably fifty people know that, and just about that many knew all about Greta's pictures, too. Try and keep any secrets around this place."

We secure the door when we leave, and yes, we put the key under the mat.

I glance up toward the third-floor catwalk, where my apartment is, and catch a glimpse of a couple standing there.

They see us at the same time. "Mrs. Gold?" the man calls down.

"Are you waiting for me?"