The Whitcombs' party was already in full swing when Tom and Heather arrived.

Linda and Jake Whitcomb were Heather and Tom's next-door neighbors and best friends. They would have been very hurt if Heather and Tom had not shown up at the party.

Otherwise, the younger couple would never have come. They were not in a party mood. They hadn't even spoken to each other all day.

Heather hadn't meant what she said the night before about looking for someone at the party to take her mind off her troubles. She had always been a faithful wife, had never even dreamed about looking for sex with other men.

But despite herself, this evening Heather was enjoying the usual fawning attention she got from men at parties. The pretty redhead was a good dresser. She looked stunning in a low-cut black sheath dress and black heels. She wore bright-red lipstick and nail polish that finished off her appearance, made her look like a high-fashion model or a movie star. While one man lit her cigarette, another fetched her a drink. Another lavished her with compliments.

For a long time, she paid no attention to her husband who was sitting in a corner quietly getting drunk. This was one time Tom was not enjoying the attentions other men paid to his wife. As he downed one Scotch after another, though, the world looked gradually rosier, until he was feeling on top of the world. Until he decided to share his good feelings with the gathering.