'Really, Doesn't Crime Pay?' Summary

The narrator lives in a respectable brick house with her husband, Ruel. Ruel hopes that this new home will be a new beginning for himself and his wife, allowing them to forget the difficult past. The narrator recalls meeting Mordecai and how he talked to her about the stories he writes. The narrator, an aspiring writer, shows Mordecai twenty years worth of writing she has hidden throughout her home because her husband does not approve of her writing. When Mordecai expresses his approval of her writing, the narrator becomes his lover. Soon after, Mordecai asks to take some of her writings, suggesting he might be able to get them published. Mordecai disappears soon after.

The narrator, under pressure from her husband, goes to a doctor to find out why she has not become pregnant. While...