Smoke in Mirrors

wanted to see how her first day at Mirror House had gone. Find out if she thought she might actually learn something useful. Compare notes. See if she had any plumbing issues. He hadn’t had much time to get the old cottage in shape for her. He had intended to start major remodeling work after the holidays.
    There was only a light crowd on the footpath this evening. Thomas let Wrench forge a path for both of them through a flock of joggers. People tended to get out of Wrench’s way. For some reason, no one seemed to see him as a reincarnated miniature poodle.
    They reached the footbridge and, as usual, had it to themselves. Serious fitness buffs rarely deigned to take the shortcut across the cove.
    Thomas could not take his eyes off the warm glow that emanated from Leonora’s window. Images of bugs with very small brains drawn to hot lamps designed to fry them to a crisp danced in his head. He ignored them.
    This was business.
    It was a short walk, no more than fifteen minutes from his house to hers. Wrench gave him a curious look when they turned off the footpath to go along the lane that led to Leonora’s front porch, but he did not object.
    They came to a halt at her front door. Wrench sat and did his tongue-lolling thing. Thomas knocked. He promised himself that no matter what happened he would not do the tongue-lolling thing.
    The door opened almost immediately. Leonora stood in the opening. She wore a deep-purple corduroy shirt that skimmed her curves and a pair of black trousers. Hernight-dark hair was brushed straight back from her face and caught with a black cord at the nape of her neck.
    “Hello,” she said. Wary but polite.
    “Evening,” Thomas said. Damn. The woman looks good. Very good. No tongue-lolling, he reminded himself.
    Wrench pushed his nose against Leonora’s hand. She looked down at him and patted him gingerly on top of his head. He grinned.
    She raised her eyes to Thomas. He wondered if she intended to pat him, too.
    “Just thought I’d make sure you got settled in okay,” he said when it became obvious that she was not going to scratch him behind the ears.
    “Everything is fine.”
    He glanced around her, trying to get a look at the living room. “Furniture working out?”
    “Yes. Some of the pieces are a little oversized for the space, but they’ll do for my purposes.”
    He remembered how he had stood in the showroom at the furniture store and made his selections from the three basic rental packages that had been offered. In the end he had gone with the Traditional Rustic Comfort set-up because it had the largest bed and he liked a big bed, himself. What the hell had he been thinking? Not like she would ever invite him to join her in it.
    Contemplating that big bed in her small bedroom was not helpful. Time to change the subject.
    “Had dinner yet?” he asked.
    “No. I was just about to fix something.”
    “Want to join me? There’s a café in town that serves some good fish. Very casual. We can have a couple of drinks. Talk about our, uh, investigation.”
    She pondered that for a few seconds. Then she shrugged. “Okay, I guess that would be all right.”

    “Hey, thanks,” he said. “I really appreciate the enthusiasm, you know? I was braced for outright rejection.”
    “Really?” She arched one brow. “Do you get rejected a lot?”
    “It’s a case of love me, love my dog. Not everyone takes to Wrench.”
    She looked down at Wrench. “You blame your dog when you get rejected?”
    “He doesn’t mind taking the heat and it saves a lot of wear and tear on my ego.”
    “A win-win situation.”
    “Yeah, that’s how I look at it. Why don’t you get your coat and we’ll be on our way?”
    “What about Wrench?”
    “We’ll go back across the bridge and leave him at my house.”
    She nodded, turned, opened the hall closet and removed a long, black, down-filled coat.
    He helped her into it. The small task gave him an opportunity to examine the curve of her neck and get a whiff of her scent. He liked the elegant line of the first and figured the latter for a mix of lemon-infused soap and warm woman. No heavy perfume. He appreciated that. He was not a fan of strong fragrances.
    They walked across the footbridge and along the lane to his house. Wrench gave him a pitiful look when he realized that he was about to get left behind.
    “You know they won’t let you in the café,” Thomas reminded him. “You’ve tried sneaking in before and it didn’t