Browsers--the place where she'd gotten the leather-bound Byron. I saw the book, up in the shelf.
B for Byron? Getting another one?
Or meeting someone at the bookstore? If it meant today, she was there now.
It seemed an odd assignation in the middle of a hectic afternoon.
Not like her.
Until recently, if Kohler was to be believed.
Something romantic that she wanted segregated from the hospital rumor mill? Or just seeking out some privacy-a quiet moment among the mildew and the verse.
Lord knew she was entitled to her privacy.
Too bad I was going to violate it.
Only a half-mile from the hospital to Los Feliz and Hollywood, but traffic was lobotomized and it took ten minutes to get there.
The bookstore was on the west side of the street, its facade the same as it had been a decade ago: cream- colored sign with black gothic letters spelling out ANTIQUARIAN BOOK MERCHANT above dusty windows. I cruised past, looking for a parking space. On my second go-round I spotted an old Pontiac with its back-up lights on, and waited as a very small, very old woman eased away from the curb.
Just as I finished pulling in, someone came out of the bookstore.
Presley Huenengarth.
Even at this distance his mustache was nearly invisible.
I slumped low in the car. He fiddled with his tie, took a pair of sunglasses out, slipped them on, and shot quick looks up and down the street. I ducked lower, pretty sure he hadn't seen me. He touched his tie again, then began walking south until he came to the corner.
Turning right, he was gone.
I sat up.
Coincidence? There'd been no book in his hand.
But it was hard to believe he was the one Stephanie was meeting. Why would she call him 'B'?
She didn't like him, had called him spooky.
Gotten me thinking of him as spooky.
Yet his bosses were promoting her.
Had she been talking the rebel line while fraternizing with the enemy?
All for the sake of career advancement?
Do you see me as a division head, Alex?
Every other doctor I'd spoken to was talking about leaving, but her eye was on a promotion.
Rita Kohler's hostility implied it wouldn't be a bloodless transition.
Was Stephanie being rewarded for good behavior-treating the chairman's grandchild without making waves?
I remembered her absence at the Ashmore memorial. Her showing up late, claiming she'd been tied up.
Maybe true, but in the old days she'd have found a way to be there.
