Eye of the Beholder

living in the Northwest all of his life, he should find himself so content here in Avalon. There was something deeply satisfying about watching a full moon rise over the desert.
    He hoped a coyote would howl at some point. It would add just the right touch. Plus, it would make a pleasant change from listening to Alexa. She had not stopped talking since they had sat down to eat.
    "We've got to move slowly on this, Trask. We've got to be very sure. You can't just accuse Webster Bell, of all people, of murder. The man is a guru to thousands. People look up to him."
    He decided that he'd had enough of Alexa's litany of caveats, warnings, and arguments. He was starting to lose patience. He wanted to make some solid plans, but he was having a hard time getting past her demands for caution. It was a wonder she hadn't made herself hoarse.
    She pushed aside her unfinished flan and sat forward.
    "Listen to me," she said very earnestly. "You're a businessman. You know as well as I do that we've got to stick to the facts, and we don't have very many of those yet."
    "The Dimensions Institute is at the bottom of this, I can feel it. It's the single common denominator. Everything comes back to it." He was getting bored listening to himself repeat his own counterarguments. "And Webster Bell is the Dimensions Institute."
    "I'm not denying that everything we've got so far points to a connection. All I'm saying is that we've got to get some hard evidence before you go riding off on your big horse to challenge Webster Bell to a gunfight out in front of the saloon at high noon."
    He was briefly amused. "I'm from Seattle . We don't do gunfights at high noon. We prefer a more subtle approach."
    "Oh, yeah? What's subtle to you?"
    Trask shrugged. "There are a variety of alternatives. A man can accidentally fall off a ferry in the middle of Puget Sound and disappear into water so cold and deep that the body might never be found. Or he can go for a hike in the Cascades and never return. Then there's the ever-popular skiing accident or boating disaster ..."
    She stared at him with mounting horror. "My God, you're serious. Trask, you can't possibly mean that you would ... would ..."
    "Relax. I'm not interested in getting myself sent to prison on a murder charge. I've got other plans for the rest of my life."
    "I'm very glad to hear that." She flopped back in her chair. Her eyes were still wary. "You've got a business to run."
    "Among other things." For the first time since Jennifer had left him for her software zillionaire, it occurred to him that maybe he did want to do something else with his life besides add a few more fantasy resorts to the Avalon chain. Like what? he wondered.
    Alexa scowled ferociously across the patio table. "Trask?"
    Like make love to Alexa, he decided. That would be as good as any other way of filling up the empty places in his life.
    "Trask? Did you hear me?"
    "Sorry. My mind wandered. What did you say?"
    "I said, what about using your private investigator to get the information you need?"
    "I called Okuda this afternoon. Told him to start digging around in Bell 's background. I also asked him to find out what happens to Guthrie's estate now that he's dead."
    Alexa raised her brows. "I hadn't thought about that. He had no family as far as anyone knows. I wonder who takes control of his finances? "
    "That's the big question at the moment."
    "There's another looming issue."
    He cocked a brow. "Liz Guthrie?"
    Alexa tilted her head. "Still no word on her whereabouts?"
    "No. Phil says it'll take him at least twenty-four hours to locate her, maybe a little longer if she's trying to stay hidden."
    "She still isn't answering her phone, so I think we can assume she didn't just go out to the store."
    "Yeah, I think that's a reasonable assumption." Trask watched the moon rise above a rocky spire.
    "I wonder where Liz fits into this thing," Alexa said after a while.
    "I don't know yet. But there is one indisputable fact. She has ties to the Dimensions Institute."
    "So she takes some guided meditation seminars." Alexa lifted one shoulder. "Big deal. Half of Avalon has been involved in a Dimensions class at one time or another. I took a course at the Institute myself, after I moved back here."
    That startled him. "You did?"
    She gave him a fleeting grin. "Mom and Lloyd thought that it would be a good way for me to meet people. They're worried because I don't have much of a social life."
    "Guess they'll be surprised when they get