Smoke in Mirrors

sidewalk the cold night air seemed to have a calming effect. Kern subsided into a sulking silence. Elissa gave Thomas a shaky smile.
    “Thank you,” she said. “I’m very sorry about this. I’ll take him home now.”
    “Can you handle him?” Thomas asked.
    “Yes. When I get him home he’ll fall asleep. In the morning we’ll both pretend nothing happened.”
    She took Kern’s arm and guided him toward a dark SUV parked at the curb. Kern muttered, but he allowed himself to be stuffed into the front seat.
    Thomas waited until Elissa got behind the wheel, started the big vehicle and drove off down the street before he went back into the restaurant.
    Leonora was waiting for him, an enigmatic expression in her vivid eyes.
    “It was very kind of you to help her,” she said when he sat down across from her.
    “That’s me, Mr. Fixit,” he said.
    “There’s no need to brush it off that way. It was a genuinely nice thing that you did.”
    He looked at the door of the restaurant. “Kern was a colleague of Bethany’s. She admired his accomplishments in the field of mathematics. Practically idolized him, according to Deke. She wouldn’t have wanted to see him humiliate himself or his daughter in public.”

    “It’s getting worse.” Elissa got Osmond through the door of his bedroom. She was shaking now. Her heart waspounding and her breathing was shallow. She could barely contain her rage and frustration. But she knew from previous experience that losing her temper would do no good. “You’ve got to stop the drinking, Dad. You’re killing yourself.”
    “It’s my own business.” Osmond dropped down onto the bed and turned his head toward the wall. “If I want to kill myself, I will.”
    “Please, don’t talk like that.”
    “Get out of here.”
    “I think you should talk to your doctor. Or maybe see a therapist.”
    “What do you know about any of this? Get out of here and leave me alone.”
    The helplessness threatened to swamp her in a sea of despair. There was no point talking to him anymore tonight.
    She went out into the hall and quietly closed the bedroom door.
    It had been a mistake to come back here. She knew that now. What had made her think that she could establish a relationship with the distant man who was her father? Osmond Kern was not interested in family bonds. He lived in a time warp. The singular, defining event of his life had occurred all those years ago when he had published the algorithm and established his reputation.
    Nothing else had ever mattered to him, not even his daughter.
    If she had any sense she would leave Wing Cove and go back to her life as a financial analyst in Phoenix.
    Every time she started to pack, however, she thought of Ed. Strong, dependable, reliable Ed. She did not know if he would ever see her as anything more than a friend, but she could not stand the thought of leaving town until she knew the answer to that question.

    She went slowly along the hall to the door of Osmond’s study and stood looking into the room that seemed to contain the essence of her father.
    The plaque he had received for his work in mathematics hung on the wall. His computer sat on his desk. The bookcase was crammed with volumes and notebooks.
    There were few personal effects. No pictures of her or her mother. He had not kept any of the cards or letters that she had sent to him over the years.
    She sat down in his chair and looked at the computer. She wondered how he had invested the money he had made from his work on the algorithm. He had certainly not asked her to help him with his finances, although she was very good at that kind of thing. She knew that she was not the mathematical genius that he was, but she had gotten some of his talent for numbers.
    What had he done with the money?
    Curiosity made her reach out and boot up the computer.

Chapter Six
    Wrench greeted them at the door. He had a length of badly gnawed rope in his mouth. He dropped it at Leonora’s feet and sat back proudly on his haunches.
    “It’s a very nice rope, Wrench.” Gingerly she picked it up by one end, trying to avoid the section that had been soaked with dog slobber. “Thank you.”
    Pleased that his gift had been accepted, Wrench prowled back toward the living room.
    Leonora followed. And stopped short when she realized that the entire space was infused with warmth and light and rich, vibrant color. Stunned, she halted in the center of the living room and turned slowly on her heel,