"I dont know what to do. I think my husband's having an affair," Mandy said. "Can you help me?"

DCI David Smithers, the retired police inspector, looked sympathetically at the well-dressed woman sitting in front of him, yet tried not to be bored. He had never imagined since he opened his private detective agency last year that he would be inundated with such enquiries. He missed his life as a bobby on the beat. He had started this business because retirement was driving him crazy, but now it looked to be preferable. He could count on the fingers of one hand the amount of enquiries he'd dealt with that were not about wayward spouses.

"Why do you think he's having an affair?" David said.

"Well. He's been working very hard recently, I'd say for about the last year or so. He started going away on business, probably about the same time every month. That's not normal, is it?"

"Well, I don't know," said David. "It sounds suspicious."

"And recently, he's started to go away more often. I asked him about it and he just got angry."

 "Well what did he say?"

"He asked me to leave him alone. He said that sometimes he needs to get out of his skin. Well, it's not making me very happy."

"I'll see what I can do, Mandy," David said. He would get onto this tonight. He showed her to the door and started reading the paper, which featured a story about sheep being attacked and going missing. If only he would be asked to investigate something like that, that would be far more interesting.

Later that night David drove to Mandy's husband's work and watched the man get into his car. The full moon was high in the cloudless sky, perfect for a romantic tryst later that evening. These people he was paid to investigate were sadly getting more action than he was. He followed the blue Vauxhall at a safe distance.

The man turned off at a roundabout; the opposite direction from Mandy's house. David followed him, mildly curious as the man did not seem to be heading to the town centre.

At last he slowed down near a field full of cows. David watched from across the road as the man stopped the car by the farm gate and changed into walking boots. He got out and started to trudge along the muddy path. David followed him cautiously, taking care to remain silent, not to be seen. He would rather have been somewhere else but David needed to earn some extra money, his copper's pension wasn't enough.

The sky was starting to darken. David followed the man for what seemed like hours, as he walked deeper and deeper into the forest. He was starting to get tired, his legs weren't what they were. Perhaps he should turn back home and begin writing his report for Mandy. Something kept him going; for once real curiosity about what the man was doing.

Mandy's husband stopped, and sat down. David checked his watch; it was 8pm. Had he really been following the bloke that long? It was dark and he could no longer see him, or any signs of life. At least he still had his phone. The hairs on his neck started to prick up.

Out of nowhere he heard howling.