Eclipse Bay

Rafe’s eyes. They had both known that it would be difficult to talk to Arizona Snow. But neither of them had allowed for the fact that her logbook for the fateful night might have gone missing.
    “You got any ideas of who might have taken your log?” Rafe asked.
    “I just told you who took it. One of the institute agents.”
    “Huh.” Rafe flicked a glance at Hannah.
    She smiled encouragingly at Arizona. “I don’t suppose you remember any cars that left the institute parking lot that night sometime around midnight and returned before the reception ended?”
    Arizona shook her head regretfully. “Been eight years now. All I recall is that there was an awful lot of activity up there that night. The parking lot was full most of the evening. Lots of coming and going. There was the media, some out-of-town institute agents, and all the innocent dupes of Eclipse Bay who paid good money to cheer for Thornley.”
    Rafe sat back. “Damn. Told you years ago that you should start entering your data on a computer, A.Z.”
    Arizona gave a snort of disgust. “Can’t trust computers. Any kid can break into them and help himself to anything he wants.”
    “Filing your information in hard copy sure didn’t do us much good,” Rafe muttered.
    Arizona raised one massive shoulder in a shrug. She regarded her guests with a crafty gleam in her eyes.
    Hannah turned to Rafe. “Got any more bright ideas?”
    “Let me think.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Jed Steadman mentioned that he might be able to dig up an institute guest list for that night.”
    “Checking the whereabouts of everyone on the list for that two-hour window would take days and days of work,” Hannah said. “Even assuming it could be done at all. And we couldn’t ever be sure of the accuracy. Like Arizona said, it’s been eight years. No one’s going to recall many details.”
    Rafe studied the large topographic map of Eclipse Bay and the surrounding vicinity that was laminated to the surface of the war room table. “Jed might be able to help us out there, too. He covered the reception. He might still have his notes.”
    Hannah thought about that approach and shook her head. “He might have some old notes regarding the most newsworthy people in attendance. But he certainly wouldn’t have kept tabs on everyone in the crowd.”
    “If we’re right, we’re looking for someone who may have been newsworthy, or at the very least, attached to the Thornley campaign.” Rafe rose from his chair. “It’s just barely possible Jed will be able to help us. Worth a try.”
    “Well, it’s not like we have anything else to go on.” Hannah started to rise. “Without Arizona’s log for that night—”
    “Didn’t say there wasn’t a log for that night,” Arizona drawled.
    Halfway to her feet, Hannah paused. “What?”
    Rafe planted both hands on the laminated map and leaned across the table. “A.Z.? You told us that log was missing from your file.”
    A deep, hoarse chuckle rumbled through Arizona. “The original was stolen, like I told you.”
    “Original?” Rafe waited.
    “I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck,” Arizona said with cool satisfaction. “I’ve been in this business a long time. First thing I do when I get back from a recon job is make a copy of my log.”
    Rafe started to grin. “I should have guessed.”
    Hannah felt a small flicker of hope. “Where’s the copy of your missing log, Arizona?”
    “Hidden in the bunker along with all the other copies.” Arizona glanced at the massive multifunctional steel watch on her wrist. “Take a couple of hours to drive to the site, dig out the log, and get back to town. What d’ya say we meet up out at Dreamscape at 1100 hours?”
    “We’ll be waiting.” Rafe straightened. “Thanks, A.Z. I really appreciate this.”
    “Sure. Any time.” Arizona gripped the arms of her desk chair and shoved herself to her feet. “Just glad to see some folks from around here finally start paying attention to what’s going on up there at the institute.”
    “Innocent dupes of the world, arise,” Hannah murmured. “You have nothing to lose but your innocence.”
    Rafe took her arm and headed toward the door. “We’ll keep you informed of everything we discover, A.Z.”
    “You do that.” Arizona hesitated, concern furrowing her forehead. “And you two take care, hear? You’re tangling with the institute crowd now. That means you’re dealing with some ruthless types. Someone up