It was almost dark when he went home to his apartment and parked in the garage facing the alley. He was going up the back stairs when the landlady poked her head out the window. “You just missed them,” she said.

“Who?”

“The cable repair people. They just left.”

“I didn’t call any cable repair people,” he said. “Did you let them in?”

“Of course not. They said they would wait for you. They just left.”

Evans had never heard of cable repair people waiting for anyone. “How long did they wait?”

“Not long. Maybe ten minutes.”

“Okay.”

He got up to the second-floor landing. A tag was hooked on his door-knob. “Sorry We Missed You.” There was a check box to “Call again to reschedule service.”

Then he saw the problem. The address was listed as 2119 Roxbury. His address was 2129 Roxbury. But the address was on the front door, not the back door. They’d just made a mistake. He lifted his doormat to check on the key he kept there. It was right where he’d left it. It hadn’t been moved. There was even a ring of dust around it.

He unlocked the door and went inside. He went to the refrigerator, and saw the old container of yogurt. He needed to go to the supermarket but he was too tired. He checked the messages to see if Janis or Carol had called. They hadn’t. Now of course there was the prospect of Jennifer Haynes, but she had a boyfriend, she lived in DC, and…he knew it would never work.

He thought of calling Janis, but decided not to. He took a shower, and was considering calling for pizza delivery. He lay down on the bed to relax for a minute before he called. And he fell immediately asleep.