FADE OUT To:
CREDITS...
"What do you think?" Rune asked Sam Healy.
"You wrote that?"
Rune nodded. "It took me a hundred tries. Is it too, you know, flowery?"
Healy said, "I think it's beautiful." He put his arm around her. "Is it ready to go?"
"Not hardly." Rune laughed. "I've got to find a professional announcer to do the voice-over, then spend about three weeks editing it all together and cutting about ten hours of tape down to twenty-eight minutes. Shooting was the fun part. Now the work begins.... Hey, Sam, I was thinking. Anybody ever done a documentary about the Bomb Squad?"
He kissed her neck. "Why don't you call in sick today. We can talk about it."
She kissed him quickly, then rolled out of bed. "I'm already in the doghouse with Larry and Bob. I didn't bring in fresh croissants the other morning."
"This is for House O' Leather? Is that name for real?"
"I just make the commercials. I'm not responsible for the client's poor taste."
She finished her coffee. She sensed him looking at her.
No, it was more of a stare.
No, it was worse than that; it was one of those sappy gazes that men give women occasionally--when they get overcome with this feeling, which they think is love though it usually means they're horny or guilty or feeling insecure. You can die of suffocation under one of those gazes.
Rune said, "Gotta go." And started toward the door with a coquettish smile that sometimes had the effect of throwing cold water on men who were sloppy drunk on love.
"Hey," he said in a low way that made him sound like a cop.
I'm not going to stop. Keep it cool. Keep the distance. There's no hurry.
"Rune."
She stopped.
What I'll do is wink at him, on my way out the door, all flirty and bitchy.
"Come here for a minute."
Wink, girl. Come on.
But instead she walked back to him slowly. Deciding that she wasn't really that late....
Rune sensed it the moment she walked into the office, and what she noticed was not a good feeling.
Rune hung her coat up on the peeling, varnished rack and glanced around.
What was it?
Well, first: The mail was still on the floor. Larry usually carried it to Cathy's desk--well, Rune's desk now--and looked through it.
And there was the coffee machine, which Larry always got going right away, but which was now unplugged and wasn't giving off its usual sour, scorched smell.
And there was Bob.
Who was already in the office--at 9:45! Rune could see him though the bubbly-glass partition.