He hung up, and Bryn watched him nervously as he strode thoughtfully back to the table. "Okay, Bryn.
This is it. At sunrise we'll head back to your place and wait for the phone to ring. You'll arrange an exchange for the pictures and Adam. It has to be a public place--near a phone. As soon as they drop Adam, you'll drop the pictures. If you were supposed to seduce me into agreement, this person will expect me to be near you. And they'll know that I'm in on it somehow. I'd have to be after they shot at me, right?"
"I...suppose," Bryn murmured. Then she added hopefully, "And that will be it?"
"No, that will not be it! Who's your friend who did the pictures?"
"His name is Kelly. His shop is Kelly's Kodak."
"Call him."
"Now?"
"Now."
"But--"
"Tell him you'll be bringing the original negatives back and having a set of prints made. That way we can return everything and still have them, but no one will see any activity in your darkroom until Adam is returned and they presumably have everything."
Bryn rubbed her temple. He was right, and she knew it. She just didn't want to see it. She stood up.
"Lee, I'm afraid. This guy seems to know everything that I do. He specifically demanded the negatives.
What if he finds out that I've ordered more prints?"
"He won't. And we need them, Bryn. We have to figure this out."
"Lee! If we bring the photos by--"
"We won't, Bryn. Bryn! Pay attention to me. I don't want you doing the pictures, because someone might very well be watching your house right now. But if Kelly--''
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"Lee--"
"Bryn, it's all right. You and I will not go near Kelly's. Mick has the pictures; he'll get them dropped off.
Now this whisperer of yours might have a pretty decent spy system going, but he can't possibly watch you and me and the rest of the world, too."
Bryn was silent for several seconds. His thinking was rational and reasonable. He was right, she was sure. She was just so frightened.
"All right," she said at last. "I'd better call Kelly quickly. But what do I say? When will Mick bring the pictures?"
"Tonight."
Bryn nodded bleakly. Mick had the pictures. No matter how efficiently she had burglarized Lee's house, she would never have gotten them that way.
Kelly moaned and groaned when she called him, but she pleaded sweetly and he promised to do his best. Lee called Mick, spoke to him briefly, and then he and Bryn foundthemselves staring at each other across the table again.
"We're going to have to start thinking and remember everything that happened at that country club," Lee told her.
Bryn lifted her hands and grimaced. "Everything was happening at the country club. Dirk Hammarfield was there, and that PGA tournament was going on. But that's what I don't get. What could I have gotten on film?A lot of sloping hills and velvety grass?"
"That politician is slippery."
"Hammarfield?"
"Ummm.He was nosing around theFultonplace."
"He wasn't nosing around!" Bryn protested. "He says he's a great fan of yours. And I think he'd like you to endorse him."
"Maybe," Lee said with a shrug. "But I think he's slippery."
"He's polite."
"Charming?" Lee mocked dryly.
"More so than some people I know," Bryn snapped too quickly in response to his cynicism.
"I see. And golfers are far more charming than drummers, too?"
There was an edge to his voice. Bryn shivered slightly. Apparently he had seen the news the night that she was shown smiling and chatting away with Mike Winfeld.
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"Yes," Bryn said tightly. "The golfers I've met are far more charming than the drummers of my acquaintance."
He didn't reply. He stood up and stretched, picking up his cup to rinse it out in the sink. Bryn bit her lower lip miserably. Why was she still being so hostile? He had bent to her wishes as far as a man like him could possibly do. He might have called in the police....
"I'm going to rig up the front door. This whisperer of yours seems to be a fairly dangerous fellow. He shot the door right off its hinges. Then..." He paused, staring at her, and she couldn't begin to fathom his expression. "Then I'm going to go to bed," he told her curtly. "There are three guest rooms upstairs. Take your pick."
"I don't think I can sleep," Bryn murmured.
"Then go lie down and think," Lee advised."About the pictures. Think of anything at all that might have been in the backgrounds.''
He rummaged beneath the sink and came up with a hammer, nails and a skein of wire. His golden gaze fell on her enigmatically; then he walked out of the kitchen.
Bryn sat at the table for a while, her emotions playing havoc within her. Where was Adam? Was he all right? She had to believe that he was. She had to live on the hope that he would be returned to her tomorrow. She would have the pictures. She would give them back....