Smoke in Mirrors

immediately after the first dose,” he said.
    “I hope so.”

    “This feels very bizarre.” Leonora raised the binoculars to her eyes and peered through the lenses. “I’ve never actually spied on anyone before.”
    Thomas kept his set of compact, high-powered binoculars trained on the front door of Alex Rhodes’s rented house. The cottage was old and weather-beaten. It was located in an isolated stand of trees nearly a mile from the center of Wing Cove. Rhodes apparently liked his privacy.
    “Obviously you’ve led a sheltered life,” Thomas said.
    “Obviously.” She swiveled the binoculars. “I assume the big black SUV is Alex’s?”
    “Yeah. The guy has a thing for black.”
    “What about the little tan compact?”
    “Probably belongs to his client,” Thomas said.
    “Recognize it?”
    “No. Be interesting to see who gets into it, though.”

    “I wonder if we could get arrested for this,” Leonora said.
    “Watching Rhodes’s house? Doubt it.”
    “If we do get picked up, I want you to remember that this was your idea.”
    “You were pretty eager to come along, as I recall.”
    “Okay, I’ll admit that the way Alex approached me this afternoon was very suspicious. And I certainly didn’t want you coming out here without me. But I don’t see what we’re going to learn by watching his clients come and go.”
    “You’re bored, aren’t you?”
    “A little,” she admitted. “I’m also cold. This fog is getting thicker by the minute.”
    “I warned you this might take some patience.”
    “I’m not the patient type.”
    Thomas adjusted the focus a hair. “I’ve noticed.”
    She paused a beat. “I take it you are the patient type?”
    “I don’t believe in rushing around unless there’s a really good reason and, in my experience, there rarely is.”
    “Hmm.”
    She fell silent for a while but he could tell that she was fidgeting.
    “It will be dark soon,” she said eventually. “Might be hard to drive home if this fog gets any heavier. How long do you intend to stay out here?”
    “Long as it takes.”
    She lowered the glasses. “You don’t plan to stay out here all night, do you?”
    “You’re free to leave anytime,” he said mildly. “It was your idea to come out here with me.”
    She groaned. “I’m whining, aren’t I?”
    “Yeah, but that’s okay. You’re good at it.” He continued studying the view through the lenses. “I wonder why Rhodes has the shades down on all the windows.”

    “The shades?” She raised her binoculars again and aimed them at the house. “You’re right. They are all down, aren’t they? Well, your brother keeps his shades down, too.”
    “Yeah, but I think it’s because he’s depressed and he likes to spend a lot of time on his computer. Rhodes didn’t look depressed to me and we know he’s not on the computer because he’s got a client in there. Which leaves one other likely possibility.”
    “What’s that?”
    He lowered the glasses. “Wouldn’t surprise me if Rhodes was the kind of therapist who sleeps with his female clients.”
    “You don’t think much of him, do you?” she said.
    “ ‘Never trust a guy who wears yellow contact lenses’ is sort of a Walker family motto.”
    She thought about that. “Probably as good as any other family motto.” She broke off suddenly. “There she is.”
    “Who?”
    “Alex’s client. She just came out the front door. She’s headed for her car.”
    “A woman?” He snapped up the binoculars. Tendrils of fog lay heavily in the driveway but there was still enough light left for him to make out the stiff-shouldered, tawny-haired woman getting into the tan compact.
    “Elissa Kern,” he said. “Think he’s screwing her?”
    “As a highly trained academic librarian, I refuse to leap to conclusions without supporting evidence. But I must admit that scenario would certainly explain the covered windows.”
    “Damn. Poor Ed Stovall.”
    “The police chief? Why are you feeling sorry for him?”
    “Because I got the impression he’s lusting after Elissa in his own anal-retentive way.”

    “Oh.” She lowered the glasses. “That would be sad, wouldn’t it?”
    “Yeah, but it’s not our problem, luckily. We’ve got our own problems.”
    He watched Elissa’s compact disappear into the fog. Then he switched the binoculars back to Alex.
    Rhodes waited on the porch until Elissa’s car was gone. Then he turned and went inside the house. Thomas was just about to