She had made the mistake of believing that she belonged in Eclipse Bay, too, but that had been wishful thinking on her part. She knew that now. Her search for home was still ongoing.
"Just out of curiosity," she continued, "did Laura have a problem with you spending time on your painting?"
Jeremy jerked slightly, clearly startled by the question. His mouth was a thin, hard line. "She called it 'playing artist'."
"One last question. Did you see much of Nick while you and Laura were married?"
Jeremy was quiet again for a while. Eventually he shook his head. "No. Things change when you get married, you know? Laura had her own set of friends. We hung around with them for the most part."
"Yet she still found time to have an affair with Nick?" Octavia spread her hands. "Get real, Jeremy."
"What the hell is this? You think you can just walk into this situation and analyze it without knowing all of the people involved?"
"I know something about Hartes. Lord knows, they've got their flaws, but I honestly can't see any of the Harte men fooling around with another man's wife." She straightened away from the desk. "And after looking at your paintings, I know a bit more about you, too. You can see a person's personality and character clearly enough to translate it onto a canvas. Try looking at Nick with your artist's eye. Ask yourself how you would paint him."
"Hell, you really have got it bad for him, don't you?"
"My feelings for Nick have nothing to do with this discussion." She dug her car keys out of her shoulder bag and went toward the door. "But I will tell you one thing, Jeremy. I won't let you use me to punish him for what you think he did with Laura."
Chapter 13
"Hear you're investigating that missing painting." Sandy Hickson drew the squeegee across the BMW's windshield with professional expertise and flipped the dirty liquid off with a flick of his wrist. "Just like that private eye guy in your books."
Nick leaned against the side of his car while he waited for Hickson to finish servicing it. He studied Sandy through the lenses of his sunglasses. It was felt in some quarters that Sandy had been born to work in a gas station. Legend held that as a teenager, he'd had a penchant for collecting phone numbers off restroom walls, the kind that were preceded by the inviting phrase for a good time call…
Whether Sandy had ever gotten a date using one of the numbers he had found on the grungy white tiles in the station's restroom was still an open question, but one thing was certain: The Eclipse Bay Gas & Go was a nexus point of local gossip.
"You read my books, Sandy?"
"Nah. Nothing personal. I don't read a lotta fiction, y'know? I prefer magazines."
"Yeah, I know the kind of magazines you favor. They've all got centerfolds featuring ladies whose bra sizes exist only in the realm of virtual reality. Talk about fiction."
Sandy did not take offense. He dipped his squeegee into a bucket of water and aimed another swipe at the windshield. "I read 'em mostly for the articles, y'know."
"Sure. Since you know what I'm after, you got anything for me?"
Sandy looked sly. "Been some talk going around about that painting."
"Anything you think I can use to help me find it?"
"Well, now, a few people are saying that you're getting warm." Sandy snickered, evidently enjoying some private joke. "Real hot, in fact."
The snicker became a guffaw.
Nick did not move. Sandy's sense of humor had not matured much since his high school years.
"What have you heard?" Nick asked.
"Heard you were getting it on with the chief suspect, that's what I heard. Whooee. You're hot, all right, my friend. Probably couldn't get much closer if you tried."
Sandy could no longer restrain himself. He laughed so hard he lost control of the squeegee. It dropped into the bucket, splashing dirty water on his shoes. He paid no attention.
Nick watched him for a moment, contemplating his options. The urge to wring Sandy's scrawny neck was almost overwhelming, but he exerted an effort and managed to resist the temptation.
"The chief suspect," Nick repeated. "That would be Octavia Brightwell?"
"You got it." Sandy went into another round of howls.
Nick made himself wait until Hickson's laughter had subsided to a few snorts.
"Who told you that Octavia was the chief suspect, Sandy?"
"Couple of folks mentioned it." Still chortling a little, Sandy retrieved his squeegee.
"Give me a name, Sandy."
"Well, Eugene, for one. B'lieve he mentioned it to me first."
"Eugene Woods?"
"Yeah."
"That would be the same Eugene Woods who is usually between jobs and spends most of his time at the Total Eclipse nursing a beer and associating with his old buddy Dickhead Dwayne and pretending to look for work?"
"That Eugene, yeah." Sandy scrunched up his face into an expression of keen interest. "Why? You wanna talk to him?"
"Yeah. I think I want to talk to him."
Alarm flickered in Sandy's eyes. "Hang on, Nick, I don't know as that's a real smart idea. Eugene ain't changed much since he was a kid. He didn't get that nickname of Mean Eugene for no reason, y'know."
"People change, Sandy. They mature."
"Not Mean Eugene. He's the same as he was back in third grade. Still hold you up for your lunch money if he can figure out a way to do it. And Dickhead's the same, too. Always goin' along with whatever Eugene wants him to do."
"I'll bear that in mind, Sandy."
Nick shoved himself away from the side of the car and walked across the street to the entrance of the Total Eclipse Bar & Grill.
"What does that key open?" Gail asked.
Octavia glanced at the key hanging from the hook inside the storage closet. "I don't know, to be honest. Nothing here in the gallery, that's for sure. I tried it on all the locks. Must have belonged to Noreen. One of these days I'll toss it out. But I hesitate to discard it until I know for certain that it doesn't go to anything important."
"I know what you mean. There's something about a key that makes you think twice before throwing it out, isn't there? Even when you don't know what it unlocks."
"Yes." Octavia shut the closet door and turned around with a smile. "Okay, I think that's it. Any other questions?"
"Not at the moment."
They walked back out into the gallery and went to stand at the window. Outside on the sidewalk several tourists meandered. The day was sunny and pleasantly warm.