Summer in Eclipse Bay

events concerning you."
    "Oh." She mulled that over for a while and then, apparently not knowing what to do with it, let it go. She tightened her arms around her midsection. "Well, it's all moot because I did not steal the painting."
    "I explained that to Eugene and Dwayne."
    "You did?" Something in her expression lightened. "That was very nice of you."
    "That's me. Mr. Nice Guy."
    "I'm serious," she said. "That rumor about me taking the painting sounds quite logical when you think about it. I can see where reasonable people might start to wonder if I was the thief. After all, I am related to Claudia Banner and everyone knows what she did here."
    He said nothing.
    "I appreciate your support."
    "Hey, you're the client. I lose you, I lose my fee."
    "What fee?" she asked warily.
    "Good question. Been wondering about that, myself. What fee?"
    "You're not expecting a fee and you know it," she said crisply.
    "That right? No fee, huh?"
    They were in the woods now, climbing the hillside above the town. The cool, green canopy cut the bright sunlight. He watched for the familiar sign.
    "Stop making a joke out of this," she said briskly. "We both know why you're looking for the painting. You want to help A.Z. and Virgil and the others."
    "Not exactly," he said.
    "What does that mean?"
    "Means, not exactly."
    The sign inscribed with the faded words
Snow's Cafe
came into view. The parking lot was crowded with vehicles ranging from bicycles to Volvos. Most of them, he knew, belonged to students and staff from nearby Chamberlain College. Arizona had catered to that particular clientele since she had opened the restaurant.
    He turned off the road and parked next to a shiny little yellow Volkswagen.
    "You know," Octavia said coolly, "the macho-cryptic private eye talk reads well in your books, but it doesn't go over so great in person."
    "I hate when that happens."
    He unfastened his seat belt and climbed out before she could pursue that line of inquiry. He was not in the mood to explain that the real reason he was playing private eye was because of her. Something Eugene had said came back to him.
How does it feel to be led around by your balls?
    That was Eugene for you, a real relationship guru. Downright insightful.
    He shut the door and started around the rear of the car. By the time he got to her side she was already out of the front seat, moving toward him with a determined stride. She gripped the handbag slung over one shoulder very tightly and there was a dangerous look in her eyes.
    Damn. He was getting hard.
    He opened the door of the cafe and ushered her into the pleasant gloom of the comfortably shabby interior. Tough-looking rock stars of another era, thin and angry and wearing a lot of leather, glared down at them from the ancient posters that decorated the walls. The music piped through the old speakers came from the same time warp as the posters, but the decibel level was kept reasonably low so that you could hold a conversation without shouting.
    Arizona did not spend much time here these days. She relied on employees she recruited from the work-study offices of Chamberlain. She trained a new crew at the beginning of each academic year and she paid them handsomely. The result was a remarkably loyal staff that, in turn, freed her to concentrate on what she saw as her chief mission in life: keeping tabs on the goings-on at the institute.
    "Getting back to the way you
explained
things to Eugene and Dwayne." Octavia tossed her bag into the booth and slid in beside it. "Maybe you'd better tell me precisely what you said."
    "Hard to recall
precisely
what I said." He flipped open the plastic-coated menu.
    Portions of Arizona's bill of fare were occasionally updated to reflect passing trends such as soy products and veggie patties, but mostly A.Z. stuck with the basic student food groups: burgers, fries, and pizza.
    "Talk to me, Nick. I'm very serious here. What did you say to Eugene and Dwayne?"
    "Why is that conversation of such great interest to you?" he asked, not looking up from the menu.
    "Because the more I think about it, the more it worries me. I don't know those two well, but from what I've heard about them, it would surprise me if they took good advice willingly."
    "I tried to provide an incentive."
    She went very still on the other side of the table. "That's what I was afraid of."
    "Look, don't worry about it, okay?"
    "I'm worried." She reached out and plucked the menu from his fingers. "What magic words did you