Smoke in Mirrors

safe-deposit box,” Leonora said quietly.
    “Where the hell are you going with this?”
    “One of the items was a book titled Catalog of Antique Looking Glasses in the Mirror House Collection . It’s over forty years old. There are a lot of black-and-white photos of old mirrors inside.”
    He thought about that. “Meredith must have taken it from the library at Mirror House. Wonder why she ripped it off?”
    “I have no idea. She had no interest in antique looking glasses as far as I know. There was something else in the box, too. An envelope. It contains photocopies of some clippings of newspaper accounts of an old murder case.”
    A twinge of icy premonition drifted through him. “How old?”
    “The murder occurred thirty years ago there in Wing Cove.”
    “Thirty years ago? Wait a second—are you talking about the Sebastian Eubanks murder?”
    “Yes. Know anything about it?”

    “Hell, yes. Not exactly a secret here in town. A local legend, as a matter of fact. Sebastian Eubanks was the son of Nathanial Eubanks, the man who established the original endowment for Eubanks College. The story goes that Nathanial was brilliant but very weird. Committed suicide. His son, Sebastian, was also very, very smart. A mathematician and major-league eccentric. He was shot dead one night at Mirror House some thirty years ago. The murder was never solved.”
    “That’s it? That’s all you know?”
    “What else is there to know? It happened three decades ago and, as I said, they never caught the killer. It’s not like there’s anyone around who still cares about what happened. The Eubanks family line ended with Sebastian. You say Meredith had some clippings of the story?”
    “Yes.”
    “Why the hell would she have been concerned about an old murder case?”
    “I have no idea,” Leonora said softly. “But Bethany Walker may have been concerned about it, too.”
    He went very still. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “The clippings were in an envelope that is imprinted with Bethany Walker’s name and the address of an office in the Department of Mathematics at Eubanks College.”
    For a few seconds he just stared at the fog-bound cove, trying to make sense of that information.
    “Meredith must have gotten hold of some of Bethany’s professional stationery. I don’t know how she managed that. We cleaned out Bethany’s office. Deke burned all of the unused stationery that had her name and address on it.”
    “There was a short note from Meredith in the safe-deposit box. It says that she found the clippings together with the book in Mirror House. She makes it clear thatshe intended to send them to you and your brother once she was safely out of your reach in the Caribbean.”
    “She found them?”
    “Apparently.”
    “Where?”
    “I don’t know. The note doesn’t say. Just somewhere in Mirror House.”
    “Huh.” He tapped one finger on the window edge, looking for some connections. He didn’t see any right off. “All right, send them to me. I’ll see if they mean anything to Deke. Let’s get back to our other business.”
    “My finder’s fee? Forget it. I’m not interested in your money, Mr. Walker.”
    “What does interest you, Miss Hutton?”
    “Finding out who murdered Meredith.”
    For a split second he thought he hadn’t heard her right.
    “Who murdered her? What the hell is this? She died in a single-car traffic accident down there in L.A., remember?”
    “I don’t believe that anymore,” Leonora said firmly. “Not after the rumors of her using drugs and not after finding these clippings in an envelope with Bethany Walker’s name on it. Not after what you said about your brother concluding that Bethany was murdered and the drug rumors surrounding her death.”
    “Damn it—”
    “Something is going on there in Wing Cove. I intend to find out what that something is.”
    “Fine. You want to play private eye? Be my guest. It’s a free country. All I care about is the number of that offshore account. Tell me what you want in exchange for that information and we can both get on with our lives.”
    “Yes, well, it’s not quite that simple,” she said carefully. “I’m afraid that what I want in exchange for this number is your help.”

    “My help? What do you expect me to do?”
    “I need your cooperation and assistance, Mr. Walker. You know Wing Cove. I don’t.”
    “Listen closely, Miss Hutton. The answer is not just no, it is hell, no. Got it?”
    “I thought