Page 16 (2/2)

"Look at this," she said to Travis after their entrées had been served and the waiter had departed

He frowned at her plate and said, "Soetables"

"Baby carrots, baby squash"

"Where do they get thee of this to’s so pretty How do they ever find the tis that astonished her were things he took for granted, knew that her amazement revealed her lack of experience and sophistication,her seem like a child She frequently blushed, sometimes stammered in embarrass on these marvels Travis s shted by the pleasure she took in new discoveries and small luxuries

By the time they finished coffee and dessert-a kiwi tart for her, strawberries and cream for Travis, and a chocolate éclair that Einstein did not have to share with anyone-Nora had been engaged in the longest conversation of her life They passed two and a half hours without an aard silence, iven Nora’s reclusive life-a love of books was virtually the only thing they had in coenuinely interested in her opinions of novelists, and he had sohts which had eluded her She laughed hed in an entire year But the experience was so exhilarating that she occasionally felt dizzy, and by the time they left the restaurant she could not precisely re they had actually said; it was all a colorful blur She was experiencing sensory overload analogous to what a priht feel if suddenly deposited in the middle of New York City, and she needed time to absorb and process all that had happened to her

Having walked to the café from her house, where Travis had left his pickup truck, they now ’s leash all the way Einstein never tried to pull away fros, but padded along at her side or in front of her, docile, now and then looking up at her with a sweet expression that ood," Travis agreed "So well behaved"

"Usually"

"And so cute"

"Don’t flatter him too much"

"Are you afraid he’ll become vain?"

"He’s already vain," Travis said "If he were anylooked back and up at Travis, and sneezed loudly as if ridiculing his hed "Sometimes it al"

"Soreed

When they arrived at the house, Nora wanted to invite him in But she wasn’t sure if the invitation would seem too bold, and she was afraid Travis woulda nervous old ht to-trust him, but Aunt Violet suddenly loos aboutherself to do what she kneas right The day had been perfect, and she dreaded extending it further for fear so her with nothing good, so she merely thanked him for lunch and did not even dare to shake his hand

She did, however, stoop down and hug the dog Einstein nuzzled her neck and licked her throat once, le before She would have clung to hi had not, by comparison,in the open door, she watched theot into the pickup and drove away

Travis waved at her

She waved, too

Then the truck reached the corner and began to turn right, out of sight, and Nora regretted her cowardice, wished she’d asked Travis in for a while She almost ran after them, almost shouted his name and almost rushed down the steps to the sidewalk in pursuit But then the truck was gone, and she was alone again Reluctantly, she went into the house and closed the door on the brighter world outside

3

The Bell JetRanger executive helicopter flashed over the tree-filled ravines and balding ridges of the Santa Ana foothills, its shadow running ahead of it because the sun was in the west as Friday afternoon waned Approaching the head of Holy Jier compartment and saw four of the county sheriff’s squad cars lined up along the narrow dirt lane down there A couple of other vehicles, including the coroner’s wagon and a Jeep Cherokee that probably belonged to the victih rooine died and the sun-bronzed rotors began to slow, Le toward the cabin, with his right-hand man, Cliff Soames, close behind him

Walt Gaines, the county sheriff, stepped out of the cabin as Le man, six-four and at least two hundred pounds, with enormous shoulders and a barrel chest His corn-yellow hair and cornflower-blue eyes would have lent him a movie-idol look if his face had not been so broad and his features blunt He was fifty-five, looked forty, and wore his hair only slightly longer than he had during his twenty years in the Marine Corps

Although Lem Johnson was a black h he was seven inches shorter and sixty pounds lighter than Walt, though he had come from an upper-middle-class black family while Walt’s folks had been poor white trash froer than the sheriff, the tere friends More than friends Buddies They played bridge together, went deep-sea fishing together, and found unadulterated pleasure in sitting in lawn chairs on one or the other’s patio, drinking Corona beer and solving all of the world’s problems Their wives even became best friends, a serendipitous develop to Walt, "a miracle, ’cause the woman’s never liked anyone else I’ve introduced her to in thirty-two years"

To Lem, his friendship with Walt Gaines was also a miracle, for he was not a man who made friends easily He was a workaholic and did not have the leisure to nurture an acquaintance carefully into ahadn’t been necessary with Walt; they had clicked the first tinized similar attitudes and points of view in each other By the time they had known each other six months, it seemed they had been close since boyhood Lem valued their friendship nearly as e to Karen The pressure of his job would be harder to endure if he couldn’t let off some steam with Walt once in a while