Orchid Blues (Holly Barker 2)

"You guys get tired of Chinese and pizza?" she asked, letting herself in through the beach door.

"I got a steak here for you," Harry replied. "How do you like it?"

"Medium rare. Did you get any wine?"

"I bought a mixed case," Harry said, nodding toward the carton. "I figured we'd be here long enough, and I was getting tired of beer." Harry flipped a steak over.

"Eddie, what did you get from the compound today?"

"Zip," Eddie said. "I don't even know whether it's working."

"Don't you think you'd better find out?"

"Harry, you'd better call somebody," Eddie said.

"I'll call my contact at home after we eat," Harry replied. "I'm not too exercised about this. It's early days in this surveillance."

"I don't want to miss a thing," Holly said. "You know, I thought Ham would be here by now."

"Maybe he went home to change or something," Doug said.

"Maybe, but he's been here by sunset just about every night."

They dug into their steaks and baked potatoes. "The wine's nice," Holly said.

"Australian," Harry replied. "Black Opal."

"I'll try to remember that." She suddenly remembered that she hadn't opened a bottle of wine since Jackson's death.

"The scrambler phones came," Harry said. "I got one for you, too, so we can talk between the houses without having to worry about ears."

"Good," Holly said. She looked at her watch again. "I'd like to call Ham. He shouldn't be this late."

"No good, Holly. The bug is still on his phone."

"Oh, yeah," she said, and resumed eating.

They were scraping the plates when Holly stood up. "I'm going out to Ham's," she said. "Something's wrong."

"Doug, go with her," Harry said. "Meantime I'll make that call."

Holly and Doug walked next door with Daisy to pick up Holly's car, and shortly, they were driving north on AlA.

"I've never seen Ham's place," Doug said. "I hear it's nice."

"It sure is. My former boss left it to him." She took a left and drove over the North Bridge, then turned left onto the little dirt road that led to Ham's island.

"Don't park too close to the house," Doug said. "That bug's still in place, and I don't want them to hear car doors slamming."

Holly parked well away, then led Doug to the house, opening the door with her key. She used a flashlight instead of turning on the lights, walking softly around the place. Everything seemed to be in order, except that Ham was not there. She motioned Doug outside.

"You think he hasn't been back here tonight?" Doug asked.

"That's what I think."

"Maybe they asked him to stay for dinner, and he couldn't say no."

"I hope that's what happened," Holly said. "Come on, let's get back to your place. Maybe he's turned up."