"Sideways" by Rex Miller

From: Private Eyes, ed. Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins. Signet, 1998.

In this departure for horror writer Rex Miller, Missouri P.I. Terry Kochenge recounts his relationship with Ann Stranucella, from his boyhood crush, to the the time Ann's father, the chief of police, hired him to follow her suspecting she was a drug addict, to her tragic suicide.

Coming from a law enforcement family, Terry himself is non-confrontational. You might even say a coward. He learns all the trivia of Ann's life, but has almost no insight into any trends that might have led to her death. Perhaps too much of the story is spent on background, Terry telling readers that real P.I. work isn't as seen on TV, but perhaps the message of this story is how difficult it is for one person to really know another, especially when blinded by love.