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"Oh my Well, what’s all this? Aren’t you a sweetie pie!"

Henry had prepared a plate of canap?s He’s one of those people who can whip into the kitchen and create a gouroods from the back of the cupboard All I have at the back of s

Lila’s red fingernails formed a tiny crane She lifted a canape and conveyed it to her mouth It looked like a toast round with a bite of smoked salmon and a dab of dilled mayonnaise "Mmm, that’s wonderful," she said, ertips, one by one She wore several crusty diaether with rubies, and a square-cut ee stamp, with diamonds on either side Henry offered me the plate of canapes "Why don’t you try one of these while I fix you a mint julep?"

I shookand then I have work to do"

"Kinseys a private detective," he said to her

Lila’s eyes got big and she blinked in wonder!" She spoke effusively, i more enthusiasm than etiquette required I wasn’t nearly that thrilled with her and I’m sure she sensed it I like older women as a rule I like almost all wo by nature, aly candid when it coiddy and flirtatious She’d despised ht

She looked at Henry and patted the chaise pad "Now, you sit down here, you bad boy I won’t have you waiting on me hand and foot Can you believe it, Kinsey? All he’s done this afternoon is fetch me this, fetch me that" She bent over the canape plate, enthralled "Nohat is this one?"

I glanced at Henry, half expecting him to shoot me a pained look, but he had settled on the chaise as co over at the plate "That’s smoked oyster And that’s a little cream cheese and chutney You’ll like that one Here"

He was apparently about to hand-feed her, but she smacked at him ineffectually

"Quit that You take one for yourself You are spoiling the life out of et fat!"

I could feel ether Henry is fifty years older than I am and our relationship has always been completely decorous, but I wondered if this was how he felt on those rare occasions in the past when he’d spotted so out of my place at six AM

"Talk to you later, Henry," I said,toward ed into a tank top and a pair of cutoffs, laced upattention to myself I walked briskly one block over to Cabana, the wide boulevard that parallels the beach, and broke into a trot The day was hot and there was no cloud cover at all It was now three o’clock and even the surf see in off the ocean was dense with brine and the beach was littered with debris I don’t even knohy 1 was bothering to run I was out of shape, huffing and puffing, s on fire within the first quarter-s felt like wood I always run when I’uess that’s why I did it that day I ran because it was time to run and because I needed to shake the rust and stiffness fro, I’ve never been a big fan of exercise I just can’t think of any other way to feel good

The first mile was pure pain and I hated every minute of it Mile two, I could feel the endorphins kick in, and by one on forever I checkedwatch It was 3:33 I never said I ift I slowed to a walk, pouring sweat I would pay for this on the morroas relatively sure, but for the moment, I felt loose, my muscles soft and warm I used the walk hoain, evaporating sweat had leftforward to a hot shower The patio was deserted, e side by side Henry’s back door was closed and theshades were drawn I let myself into my place with the key I carry tied to s, slipped into a robe, and puttered around for a while, tidying up the kitchen, cleaning off my desk Finally, I donned a pair of pants, tunic top, sandals, and cologne At 5:45, I grabbedup

I checked the directions to Bobby’s house and turned left on Cabana toward the bird refuge, following the road as it wound into Montebello, which is rumored to have more millionaires per square mile than any other community in the country I don’t know if that’s true or not The residents of Montebello are aestates are interspersed noith middle-class homes, the overall impression is of ance harking back to a time ealth was handled with discretion and material display reserved for one’s financial peers The rich, these days, are audy imitators of their early California counterparts Montebello does have its "slu of clapboard shacks that sell for 140,000 apiece