Payne.
"Roz, place that quartz key light behind him while I get the metal deflector in place." Caroline made a funny face at Justin, who had his hands filled with an assortment of plastic bugs.
Caroline and Roz worked tirelessly as a team, each in perfect timing with the other. Roz maneuvered the child with expert ease, returning him to a posed position time and again while Caroline checked lighting and angles as she snapped picture after picture of her energetic subject.
Wolfe couldn't take his eyes off Caroline as she worked. Her face glowed with enthusiastic zeal, and any fool could see how much she loved what she was doing. She and the camera became one, joined into a single entity capable of producing photographic masterpieces. If Aidan Colbert had done nothing else of any consequence in his life, he could take some credit for having helped this incredible young woman achieve her goals.
Bubbly, blond Kirsten, the other studio gofer, brought in lunch for two on a tray and placed the tray on Caroline's cluttered desk. "Crab cakes," she said. "Enjoy." Her smile flirted with Wolfe, but he purposefully ignored the girl.
When he pulled a chair up to the other side of the desk, Wolfe glanced at Caroline, who gave him a condemning glare.
"What?" he asked.
"Did you have to be so rude to Kirsten?"
"I wasn't rude," he said. "If I'd been rude, I would have told her that she was wasting her time with me. I have no interest in eighteen-year-old girls."
"Oh, I see. No point in encouraging her." Caroline opened the lid on the food container. "Tell me, just what age bracket does interest you?"
Wolfe lifted the coffee mug off the tray. "Definitely over twenty-five."
"How old are you?" she asked.
"Thirty-six."
" Hrnm-mmm ."
"Too old?" he inquired.
"For what?"
"For someone twenty-seven?"
Caroline blushed. "I'm twenty-seven, or at least I will be on Thursday."
"Yes, I know."
"You're not too old." She immediately averted her gaze, concentrating on the food before her.
He'd never been particularly adept at playing games with women, certainly not a lighthearted flirting match like the one he'd just exchanged with Caroline. But with her, he felt different. With her, he was different.
While sipping his coffee, he glanced around her office, taking note of the photos on the walls, personally significant portraits confined to her private space. There were three shots of Brooke Harper and the same number of Fletcher Shaw. Two pictures of Roz, each capturing a vulnerability that surprised Wolfe. And dispersed among the other framed photographs were half a dozen shots of Lyle Jennings at various ages, from a chunky teenager in a baseball uniform to a majestic shot of him in his minister's garb. Glass-enclosed shelving lined the wall space on either side of the unused fireplace. Wolfe surveyed the contents. Clocks of various kinds and sizes. A couple of sculptures. And on a shelf by itself, a small 35 mm camera.
Wolfe set the mug on the tray, shoved back his chair and stood. As if drawn to the object by some magnetic force, he walked across the room for a better look at the little black camera. He peered through the glass, then lifted his hand as if to touch the object. Was this what he thought it was? Could it actually be the camera Aidan Colbert had bought Caroline for her thirteenth birthday?
He sensed rather than heard her when she came up behind him. She was so close he could smell the sweet scent of her delicate perfume.
"That was my first camera," she said, a trace of nostalgia in her voice. "It's my most prized possession."
"An inexpensive 35 mm camera is your most prized possession?" Inclining his head slightly, he glanced back at her.
"Yes. You see, it was a gift."
He nodded, afraid to speak, uncertain he wouldn't blurt out some sentimental hogwash that she couldn't possibly understand.
"Someone very special gave it to me for my thirteenth birthday." She opened the glass door, reached inside and removed the small
"Roz, place that quartz key light behind him while I get the metal deflector in place." Caroline made a funny face at Justin, who had his hands filled with an assortment of plastic bugs.
Caroline and Roz worked tirelessly as a team, each in perfect timing with the other. Roz maneuvered the child with expert ease, returning him to a posed position time and again while Caroline checked lighting and angles as she snapped picture after picture of her energetic subject.
Wolfe couldn't take his eyes off Caroline as she worked. Her face glowed with enthusiastic zeal, and any fool could see how much she loved what she was doing. She and the camera became one, joined into a single entity capable of producing photographic masterpieces. If Aidan Colbert had done nothing else of any consequence in his life, he could take some credit for having helped this incredible young woman achieve her goals.
Bubbly, blond Kirsten, the other studio gofer, brought in lunch for two on a tray and placed the tray on Caroline's cluttered desk. "Crab cakes," she said. "Enjoy." Her smile flirted with Wolfe, but he purposefully ignored the girl.
When he pulled a chair up to the other side of the desk, Wolfe glanced at Caroline, who gave him a condemning glare.
"What?" he asked.
"Did you have to be so rude to Kirsten?"
"I wasn't rude," he said. "If I'd been rude, I would have told her that she was wasting her time with me. I have no interest in eighteen-year-old girls."
"Oh, I see. No point in encouraging her." Caroline opened the lid on the food container. "Tell me, just what age bracket does interest you?"
Wolfe lifted the coffee mug off the tray. "Definitely over twenty-five."
"How old are you?" she asked.
"Thirty-six."
" Hrnm-mmm ."
"Too old?" he inquired.
"For what?"
"For someone twenty-seven?"
Caroline blushed. "I'm twenty-seven, or at least I will be on Thursday."
"Yes, I know."
"You're not too old." She immediately averted her gaze, concentrating on the food before her.
He'd never been particularly adept at playing games with women, certainly not a lighthearted flirting match like the one he'd just exchanged with Caroline. But with her, he felt different. With her, he was different.
While sipping his coffee, he glanced around her office, taking note of the photos on the walls, personally significant portraits confined to her private space. There were three shots of Brooke Harper and the same number of Fletcher Shaw. Two pictures of Roz, each capturing a vulnerability that surprised Wolfe. And dispersed among the other framed photographs were half a dozen shots of Lyle Jennings at various ages, from a chunky teenager in a baseball uniform to a majestic shot of him in his minister's garb. Glass-enclosed shelving lined the wall space on either side of the unused fireplace. Wolfe surveyed the contents. Clocks of various kinds and sizes. A couple of sculptures. And on a shelf by itself, a small 35 mm camera.
Wolfe set the mug on the tray, shoved back his chair and stood. As if drawn to the object by some magnetic force, he walked across the room for a better look at the little black camera. He peered through the glass, then lifted his hand as if to touch the object. Was this what he thought it was? Could it actually be the camera Aidan Colbert had bought Caroline for her thirteenth birthday?
He sensed rather than heard her when she came up behind him. She was so close he could smell the sweet scent of her delicate perfume.
"That was my first camera," she said, a trace of nostalgia in her voice. "It's my most prized possession."
"An inexpensive 35 mm camera is your most prized possession?" Inclining his head slightly, he glanced back at her.
"Yes. You see, it was a gift."
He nodded, afraid to speak, uncertain he wouldn't blurt out some sentimental hogwash that she couldn't possibly understand.
"Someone very special gave it to me for my thirteenth birthday." She opened the glass door, reached inside and removed the small
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