later discoveries however , there is more to the story of rowan which has surfaced only in the last few years one part of that story is entirely personal and no concern of the talamasca the other part of it has us alarmed beyond our wildest expectations as to what may happen to rowan in the years that lie ahead allow us to deal with the insignificant part first in 1985 , the complete lack of any social life on the part of rowan aroused our curiosity we asked our investigators to engage in closer surveillance within weeks , they discovered that rowan , far from having no social life , has a very special kind of social life including very virile working-class men whom she picks up from time to time in any one of four different san francisco bars these men are predominately fire fighters or uniformed policemen they are invariably single , they are always extremely good-looking and extremely well built rowan sees them only on the sweet christine , in which they sometimes go out to sea and other times remain in the harbor , and she rarely sees any one of them more than three times though rowan is very discreet and unobtrusive , she has become the subject of some gossip in the bars she frequents at least two men have been embittered by their inevitable rejection by her and they talked freely to our investigators , but it became apparent that they knew almost nothing about rowan they thought she was 'a rich girl from tiburon ' who had snubbed them , or used them they had no idea she was a doctor one of them repeatedly described the sweet christine as 'daddy 's fancy boat ' other men who have known rowan are more objective 'she 's a loner , that 's all i liked it , actually she did n't want any string attached and neither did i. i would have liked it once or twice more maybe , but it 's got to be mutual i understand her she 's an educated girl who likes old-fashioned men ' a superficial investigation of twelve different men seen leaving rowan 's house between 1986 and 1987 indicated that all were highly regarded fire fighters or policemen , some with sterling records and decorations , and all considered by their peers and later girlfriends to be 'nice guys ' further digging also confirmed that rowan 's parents knew about her preference for this sort of man as early as her undergraduate years graham told his secretary that rowan would n't even speak to a guy with a college degree that she only went out with 'hairy-chested galoots , ' and one of these days she was going to discover that these non-compos-mentis apes were dangerous ellie also expressed her concern to her friends 'she says they 're all cops and firemen and that those kind of men only save lives i do n't think she knows what she 's doing but as long as she does n't marry one of those men i suppose it 's all right you should see the one she brought home last night i got a glimpse of him on the side deck beautiful red hair and freckles just the cutest irish cop you ever saw ' as things stand now , i have put a halt to this investigation i feel we had no grounds to pursue this aspect of rowan 's life further and indeed , the bars in which rowan picks up her cops and firemen are so few that asking questions about rowan truly violates her privacy by drawing attention to her , and in some instances our questions have encouraged rather degrading talk on the part of crude men , who actually knew nothing about 'rowan , but claimed to have heard this or that vulgar detail from someone else .