Page 37 of Close Up

He patted the small compartment behind the front seat that had been custom-made for Rex. The dog obligingly moved. When Vivian slipped into the passenger seat, he rested his head on her shoulder. She reached up to scratch his ears.

“TheCourieroffice is on Park Street,” Vivian said. “Hurry. It’s late but with a little luck I can still make the morning edition.”

Nick shook his head and got behind the wheel. He fired up the engine and put the Packard in gear. “Should I point out that you’re wearing a nightgown and a pair of slippers?”

“I’m also wearing a trench coat. Don’t worry about my modesty. All Eddy will care about is the photo.”

He pulled away from the curb and took one last look around the street. The excitement was over. There were only a handful of people left. Whoever had thrown the firebomb through the window would have disappeared by now.

“Do you really think that we’ve got a chance of identifying the person who started that fire?” Vivian asked.

“Maybe,” he said.

She glanced at him. “I won’t be able to develop all of my pictures tonight. If Eddy does let me use his darkroom he’ll only allow me to process a couple of photos, just the ones that will look good in theCourier. I’ll have to wait until I can find a darkroom in Burning Cove to develop most of the crowd scenes.”

“It’s a long shot anyway.”

“Got a piece of paper and a pencil?”

“Glove box. Why?”

She opened the glove box and took out the small notebook. “Photo editors are more likely to buy if you do the hard work of writing the headline and caption for them.”

Ten minutes later Nick pulled up to the curb in front of a nondescript office building. A small, middle-aged man with shaggy hair and a pair of spectacles opened the door. He reeked of cigar smoke and alcohol.

“Vivian,” he said. “What have you got for me?”

“House fire,” Vivian said. “Here’s your headline.”

She handed him the slip of paper she had torn out of the notebook.

Eddy scowled at what she had written. “Mysterious Arson in Neighborhood Where Dagger Killer Was Captured. Coincidence?” Eddy looked up. “Damn. I’ll buy a couple of shots. The Dagger Killer may be dead but he still sells papers. Let’s see the prints.”

“I need to develop my pictures first. My darkroom went up in flames tonight.”

“Yeah, yeah, go on.” Eddy waved her down the hall. “You know the way.”

Vivian disappeared through a doorway. Eddy eyed Nick.

“Is she wearing a nightgown under that coat?” he said. “And slippers?”

Nick smiled. “Yes.”

“Photographers,” Eddy said. “Anything for a picture.”

Chapter 15

It was almost dawn before they got on the road to Burning Cove. Vivian’s rush of nervy energy was starting to fade. In its place came a dose of reality. Someone really had tried to kill her tonight.

“Mind if I ask what’s in that lockbox you grabbed on the way out of the house?” Nick asked. “Cash? Jewelry? Valuable papers?”

Vivian took her attention off the view of the highway that she had been contemplating through the Packard’s windshield and glanced at Nick.

He was piloting the car with the ease and skill of a man who was accustomed to controlling a powerful vehicle; a man accustomed to controlling a lot of powerful things, she thought. A gun. A dangerous-looking dog. His secrets.

At the moment the dangerous dog did not appear fearsome. He was braced in the cramped back seat, savoring the scents carried on the breeze. It was obvious that he loved riding in the car. Vivian reached and gave him a couple of pats. He spared a moment to lick her hand.

It was going to be a long drive. She had never been to BurningCove but she knew that it was situated on the coast nearly a hundred miles north of Los Angeles. She had seen the newspaper photos of celebrities enjoying the pleasures of the exclusive seaside community. The town was far enough away from the city to have its own personality but close enough and glamorous enough to serve as a playground for movie stars, socialites, wealthy industrialists, politicians, and the occasional mobster.

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