Smoke in Mirrors

galleries that lined the opposite side of the street.
    “Mind if I ask you a question?” Alex said.
    “Depends on the question.”
    “Hate to do this. But before I try to impress you with the breadth and depth of my intellect and sophistication, I feel the need to ask you to define your relationship with Thomas Walker.”
    She paused in the act of removing the tea bag from the cup. “My what?”
    “I hear the two of you had dinner together last night. In this town that constitutes a relationship.”
    “I see.” She set the wet bag down very carefully on the saucer. “We’re just friends.”

    “That’s it? Just friends?”
    “Yes.”
    Alex pondered that for a moment and then shook his head. “I don’t know. ‘Friends’ is a vague term, don’t you think?”
    “Is it?”
    Alex lounged back in his chair, long, lean legs extended, and looked at her with his glowing gold eyes. “For instance, a few months back, Walker was friends for a while with another woman who worked up at Mirror House. Close friends. One might even say intimate friends.”
    Meredith.
    She concentrated on taking a sip of tea. It wasn’t bad tea. It wasn’t good tea, either. It had the subtle but distinctive aftertaste that tea made from a bag always had. Not as dreadful as instant tea but not nearly as good as tea made from fine quality loose leaves in a proper pot.
    Okay, stop stalling. You’re supposed to be playing private detective here.
    “I will tell you one thing,” she said smoothly. “My relationship with Thomas Walker most definitely cannot be defined as intimate.”
    Alex nodded. “I just wanted to be sure. I dated Walker’s other friend for a while after they stopped seeing each other. Not sure how he felt about that. Things can get a little too cozy in a small town like this.”
    “Nice to know you’ve got a personal code of conduct that applies to your social life.”
    “More like I’m just damned cautious. I don’t need a rep for sleeping with the locals’ wives and girlfriends.”
    “Bad for business?”
    “Very bad.”
    “I can understand that.” She had nothing to lose by being a little bolder, she decided. “My turn for a personalquestion. What happened to your relationship with Thomas Walker’s other friend?”
    “We didn’t see each other for long. Between you and me, I think she may have had a problem with drugs. She left town a few weeks ago. I heard she was killed in a car crash.”
    She started to pick up her cup again but quickly changed her mind when she realized that her fingers were trembling. She put her hand back in her lap.
    “This woman used drugs, you said?”
    “Can’t swear to it, you understand. She sure as hell never did them in front of me. But the rumors were all over the place after she died.”
    “Where would she get them in a small town like this?”
    “Don’t you read the papers? You can buy that junk anywhere these days. Besides, this is a college town. That makes it even easier.”
    “I see.” So much for getting the name of the local drug kingpin. This detective work was hard.
    “How did you meet Walker?” Alex asked.
    “He’s my landlord.” She was pleased with the way that came out. Very casual. Very innocent. “I met him when I rented my cottage.”
    Alex looked briefly surprised, as if he hadn’t considered that mundane possibility. Then he nodded. Thoughtful now. And maybe less intent. More relaxed.
    “That’s right,” he said. “I think Meredith mentioned that he was into the home improvement scene in a big way. She said he had picked up a couple of the old summer cottages overlooking the cove and planned to remodel them.”
    “I have the cottage that hasn’t been redone yet. But it’s warm and dry and comfortable enough for the short time I’ll be in town.”
    “How long do you expect your project at Mirror House to last?”

    “I’m estimating that it won’t take me more than a few months at most to put that collection online. The original cataloging was clearly done by a pro who devised a unique classification system for the books. It resembles the Library of Congress system to some degree but it’s been greatly enhanced and expanded to allow for nuance and very fine distinctions in the subject—”
    “Where’s home?” he interrupted.
    Apparently Alex was not terribly interested in the details of her professional work at Mirror House. Before she could decide whether or not to invent a false answer to that query, the door of