Evidently the conversation with Sandy was a riveting one. She wondered if Nick was actively pursuing his investigation or just passing the time of day while Sandy put gas in the tank and washed the windshield. It was impossible to tell from this distance.

"I understand that you can't promise anything beyond the summer," Gail said quickly. "But this will buy me some breathing space to look around and try to line up something permanent up at Chamberlain or the institute. I really appreciate this, Octavia."

"Not as much as I appreciate your agreeing to take the position," Octavia said.

"I'm sure a few more questions will come up, but I think I've got the basics down. As I told you, I've had some experience in retail and I've always loved art. In a way, this is a perfect job for me. I'm going to enjoy it."

"You might as well start this afternoon. If you're free, that is?"

"Yes. Mom is looking after Anne. I'll give her a call and tell her that I've started working. She'll be very relieved."

"Good. I've got a lot of things to do in the next few weeks. I'm planning to move, you know. And then there's the Children's Art Show. Also, I have to get started on making arrangements to sell both branches of Bright Visions." The list of objectives had become her mantra, she realized. She ran through it in her mind whenever she felt dispirited or depressed about her life at the end of the summer. It kept her focused.

Gail hesitated. "I know it's none of my business, but do you mind if I ask why you feel you have to sell your galleries and leave the state?"

"I've been sort of drifting for a while," Octavia said. "Trying to decide what I want to do with my future. I don't have all the answers yet, but I've definitely come to the conclusion that I need to move on."

Gail nodded sympathetically. "Believe it or not, I know exactly what you mean. I felt that drifting sensation for a while after my divorce. It was hard to make decisions. But having Anne to support emotionally and financially did a lot to make me pull up my socks and move forward."

"I'll bet it did." She watched Nick across the street and thought that, whatever else you could say about him, there was no denying that he was an excellent father. "Nothing like being responsible for a child to help you put your priorities in order."

"True. Kids come first."

/ wonder if I'll ever have one of my own, Octavia thought. A picture of Carson's laughing face danced through her mind. She pushed it aside.

"I've got a question for you," she said to Gail. "Why did you come back to Eclipse Bay?"

"Anne has reached the age where she's starting to ask why her daddy doesn't come see her," Gail said. "I thought it would be good for her to spend more time with my father. The positive male role model thing, you know?"

"Yes," Octavia said softly. "I know."

Down at the station, Nick had straightened away from his car, preparing to leave. Anticipation crackled through her. She wondered if he was getting ready to drive here to the gallery to give her an update on his progress. Maybe she would suggest that they talk over lunch. Yes, that sounded good. A business lunch. She could leave her new assistant in charge of the gallery.

But Nick did not get behind the wheel of his car. As she watched, he started purposefully across the street, heading toward the entrance to the Total Eclipse.

"What on earth?" She stepped outside onto the sidewalk to get a better look. "Good grief, he's going into that dive."

"Who?" Gail came through the opening behind her. She glanced down the street with a puzzled expression. "Nick Harte?"

"Yes. It's almost lunchtime. Maybe he decided to pick up a sandwich there."

"At the Total Eclipse?" Gail wrinkled her nose. "Good way to get food poisoning, if you ask me."

"You're right." Intuition kicked in. "I'll bet he's following a lead."

Gail glanced at her with open curiosity. "It's true, then? Nick Harte is playing private eye for you and A.Z. and the others?"

"He's not playing private eye. He's making serious inquiries into the situation."

"Hmm. I don't know how many serious folks he's going to find inside the Total Eclipse, especially at this time of day."

"Good point." She'd been in town long enough to have learned something about the clientele of the Total Eclipse. "You know, I don't like the looks of this. Who do you suppose he's going to talk to inside that joint?"

"Well, there's Fred, the owner," Gail said.

"Of course." She relaxed a little. "He tends the bar. Bartenders always pick up useful tidbits of gossip. The hero in Nick's books often consults them."

"And if memory serves," Gail continued dryly, "you can usually count on finding Mean Eugene and his sidekick Dickhead Dwayne in there most days."

"I know who you mean. I've seen them on the street and in Fulton's occasionally. They're always together. I've heard the Mean Eugene name but I hadn't realized the skinny one was called Dickhead."

"Dwayne and Eugene have been buddies for as long as anyone can remember. They tend to reinforce each other's worst characteristics. Eugene calls the shots and Dwayne goes along. It is generally felt in these parts that anyone who would do whatever Eugene told him to do would have to be a dickhead. Hence the name."

"I can see the logic."

"Back in the big city, folks would probably say that Eugene and Dwayne are the products of dysfunctional families. But around here we just call them bums."

Nick pushed open the door and stepped into the perpetual gloom of the Total Eclipse. He removed his sunglasses and let the smell of stale cigarette smoke, spilled beer, and rancid grease envelop him. The combination brought back a lot of memories.

Some things were a given in Eclipse Bay. A guy bought his first condom from Virgil Nash, not because Grover's Pharmacy didn't stock them, but because it was too damn embarrassing to buy a box from Pete Grover. The pharmacist knew everyone's medical history from date of birth and did not hesitate to make his opinion of your sex life clear. And he always tried to get names. Even if you got up the nerve to risk his beady-eyed scrutiny, you faced the very real threat that he would notify your folks or, worse yet, the girl's folks that the purchase had been made.

Showing up here at the Total Eclipse on the day you were finally old enough to buy a legal beer was another rite of passage for young males in Eclipse Bay. By the same token, if you were, still buying a lot of your beers here at age twenty-five or beyond, it was understood that you were never going to amount to much and that you were probably doomed to live out your life at the bottom of the town's social ladder.

Mean Eugene and Dickhead Dwayne were shining examples of the accuracy of that hypothesis. They were in their mid-thirties and still bought their beers here.

Nick gave his eyes a few seconds to adjust to the shadows. The only lights in the Total Eclipse were the narrow spots over the pool tables in the room at the back, the green glass lamp next to the cash register at the bar, and the weak candles in the little red glass holders on the tables. The candles were Fred's notion of ambience.

The place was nearly empty at this time of day. Being seen at the Total Eclipse at any time invited unpleasant comments from the more high-minded members of the community. The comments were always a lot more scathing if you hung out here when there was daylight outside.

But the prospect of societal disapproval did not worry guys like Eugene and his buddy, Dwayne.

Eugene Woods had been born to bully. In high school his size and weight issues had ensured that he went on to become a local football legend and a known thug at Eclipse Bay High. Eugene's post-football years had not gone well, however. The layer of padding that had stood him in good stead on the field had increased in volume, and his brutish ways had earned him an extremely limited circle of friends. Sooner or later his poor work ethic screwed up any job he managed to land.