Hidden Talents

the front of the store. He slammed the door so violently that one small bell fell to the floor with a pathetic little tinkle.
    Serenity, Caleb, and Zone looked at each other.
    Zone smiled serenly and slipped her hands inside the sleeves of her robe. “If you'll excuse me, I'll go finish pricing the new supply of yogurt.”
    Serenity watched Zone move off out of earshot. Then she spun her chair around and collapsed into it with a shudder. “What a ridiculous scene.”
    “I don't know about that,” Caleb said thoughtfully. “It had its moments. And Zone's assessment of our wedding plans was nothing short of brilliant.”
    Serenity glowered at him. “A marriage of yin and yang? A soaring, metaphysical connection between male and female? A celebration of the renewal of the life force?”
    “Yeah,” Caleb said. “And the sex isn't bad, either.”
    Serenity raised her eyes to the ceiling. “I do so admire a man who doesn't fall prey to his baser instincts and the lure of lust in the dust, a man whose goals and motivations spring from the metaphysical realm rather than the mundane physical world, a man who takes a cosmic view of male-female relationships.”
    “How about a man who can put two and two together?” Caleb removed the photograph of his parents and himself from his pocket and tossed it down onto the desk in front of her.
    Serenity glanced at the little family portrait. “What do you mean?”
    “Turn it over.”
    Serenity picked up the photograph and looked at the reverse side. It had been stamped with the date and the name of the studio.
    ASTERLEY AND FIREBRACE. PHOTOGRAPHERS TO THE STARS .
    Serenity's eyes widened. “Oh, my God. Asterley and Gallagher Firebrace ? Ambrose and that photographer who tried to rip off some of his equipment after he died were partners at the time this picture was taken?”
    “I should have figured out the connection right from the start.”
    Serenity glanced up and saw the self-recrimination in his eyes. “Yes, I know. You're usually good at that kind of thing.” She smiled gently. “Don't be too hard on yourself, Caleb. This is family stuff. Sometimes we don't always think too logically when it comes to dealing with family relationships.”
    “I've never had that problem myself.”
    “Is that right?” Serenity murmured under her breath. She nibbled thoughtfully on her lip as she studied the information on the back of the photograph. “It looks like Ambrose might have actually met your parents. And you. Weird, huh?”
    “It definitely explains a few things. Like how he knew about the old scandal.”
    “He probably kept track of you over the years because he had once photographed your family. He was always so obsessive with details. When I told him I was going to hire a hotshot business consultant, he naturally thought of you.”
    “Apparently so.” Caleb picked up the photograph and tapped it gently against his palm. “And according to this, he wasn't the only one who knew a lot about me and my family.”
    “Gallagher Firebrace might have known your parents, too.”
    “If Firebrace was Asterley's partner in the old days, he would definitely have known about the scandal.”
    “And Ambrose kept in touch with him over the years. Borrowed money from him. There's no telling how much he might have told him about my plans.”
    “I think it's time I looked up Gallagher Firebrace and paid him a visit.”
    “You think he might be the blackmailer, don't you?” Serenity asked.
    “I think it's a damn good possibility.”
    “I'm going to Seattle with you.”
    “No,” Caleb said.
    “What makes you think that you can stop a cosmic force like me?”

18

    A RE YOU SURE THIS IS THE RIGHT ADDRESS ?” S ERENITY came to a halt on the sidewalk and surveyed the sign in the window of the small, run-down photography studio.
    Caleb pulled a slip of paper out of the pocket of his jacket and consulted the address that he had gotten out of the Seattle phone book. “First Avenue. Yeah, this is it.”
    He glanced at the neon sign that had captured Serenity's attention. In a garish shade of orange it proclaimed: FIREBRACE PHOTOGRAPHY—PASSPORTS AND I.D. PHOTOS—NO WAITING . The No portion of the sign had burned out, leaving the impression that one could expect to wait indefinitely.
    He probably shouldn't have allowed Serenity to come with him, he thought. On the other hand, how dangerous could this confrontation be? Firebrace was, in all probability, the blackmailer, but