his third attempt.
Bevel here. What was Faulkner’s last novel?
The Reivers.
And Hemingway’s?
Old Man and the Sea.
Styron’s?
Sophie’s Choice.
Did Nelson’s last one have more than one title?
Don’t know.
“Pulse” is a nice title.
The book is pretty good too. What’s our risk here, on this site?
Are you a techie?
No, a cave man.
We’re safe. But you can assume some nasty folks are watching you.
Same ones who got Nelson?
Yep. Put nothing in writing. Assume they’re listening to your calls.
This is pretty intense.
So are they. Look at Nelson. Gotta run. 2 pm tomorrow.
Bruce stared at the screen until the entries faded. When it dawned on him that they were indeed gone forever, he scribbled down as much as he could remember. He left the store and walked to a wine bar where he ordered a seltzer water and pretended to read a magazine. He decided he would not tell Noelle until later. It could be a significant moment in the Nelson mystery, or not.
No, it had to be significant.
Little progress was made the following day during their second exchange. Bruce asked:
Why the letter?
We need to talk but not sure if we can.
About Nelson?
You catch on fast.
Look, if you want to talk, then let’s do it. So far we’re just dancing.
That’s probably safer.
Do you know who killed him?
I have a pretty good idea.
Why keep quiet?
Oh that’s much safer, believe me. Now there’s another dead body.
Am I expected to respond?
A young lady in Kentucky.
Again, I’m treading water.
Better go. Same time tomorrow.
Bruce tried to print the exchange but the site wouldn’t allow it. He quickly scribbled down the words.
The following day, Bevel was a no-show. Same for the day after. Bruce did not want to alarm Noelle, so he didn’t tell her.
2.
Two days later, Bruce flew to Washington Dulles and went to his hotel room near the airport. Three hours later, Nick Sutton arrived by car and brought a girl with him, which Bruce had not anticipated. Nick assured him she would not get in the way and had family in the area.
After a leisurely semester abroad in Venice, Nick was drifting through his final weeks at Wake Forest and claimed to be in a funk at the prospect of leaving college. Bruce had little sympathy and told the kid it was time to get off his ass and find a real job, not the usual summertime bookstore gig where he split his time between reading crime novels and stalking college girls on the beach. Nick wanted to write fiction for a living and do it the old-fashioned way, with a big advance that allowed him to work at a leisurely pace of a few pages a day before long lunches and plenty of booze. His dream was to become a famous writer and hell-raiser at a young age, much in the tradition of Hemingway, Faulkner, and Fitzgerald, though he planned to put aside literary aspirations and write mysteries that would sell. Bruce thought he had talent but was already worried about his work ethic.
They quickly retired to the hotel bar and ordered sandwiches, without the girl. Bruce summarized the developments in the state’s investigation, of which there were few, and described his own efforts to solve the crime with Alpha North Solutions. Nick loved the idea of hiring a secretive security outfit to handle an investigation that the police were in the process of botching.
Bruce wanted him in the room because, so far, his