“What in God’s name are you talking about?”

Coltrane hesitated.

He told her everything.

“Photographs?”

“And movies that Rebecca Chance was featured in. But you’re right to zero in on the photographs. They’re what’s truly important. Because Packard took them. Because he hid them.”

“And Rebecca Chance is identical to me?”

“So much so that I thought I was hallucinating when I first saw you.”

“This is… I can’t…” She stared at him. “Show them to me.”

Coltrane blinked in surprise. “What?”

“I want to see the photographs.”

“But I don’t have them with me. I can come back tomorrow and bring-”

“Now. I want to see them. Take me to them.”

Tash’s emotion was so intense that for several moments Coltrane wasn’t able to move or speak. He found himself saying hesitantly, “All right… sure… if that’s what you…”

“I’ll just need a second upstairs.”

“We’ll be going into L.A.”

“You don’t have to worry about driving me back. I’ll follow you.”

“I wouldn’t mind driving you back. It’s just that…” A misgiving nagged at him. It had nothing to do with showing Tash the photographs. If anybody had the right to see them, it seemed to him that she did. His uneasiness came from another source, something to do with the parallel between Rebecca Chance’s stalker and Tash Adler’s stalker and…

Mine. With a shudder, he realized that in order to help Tash, he had to be as cautious now as he had been when Ilkovic was hunting him. He had to put himself in her place, to imagine that he was the person in danger.

“It’s better if I drive you,” Coltrane said.

Tash paused on her way from the kitchen. She looked mystified.

“If someone is watching your house, he’ll follow you when you follow me, and he wouldn’t have much trouble. A Porsche isn’t inconspicuous.”

“That’s what Walt said.” Tash sounded disheartened. “Get rid of the Porsche, or at least rent something bland until this jerk is in prison. I’ve already reduced my movements until I’m practically living in a box.” She shook her head stubbornly. “I’m not going to let that bastard take anything more away from me.”

“But you don’t have to drive the Porsche.”

“What am I going to do, run behind you and bark at your tires?”

It sounded so unexpectedly humorous, they stared at each other and found themselves laughing.

“God, it feels good to do that,” Tash said. “I can’t remember the last time I truly laughed.” It made her radiant.

“Honestly,” Coltrane said, “I think I should drive you.”

“But if he’s out there, he’ll still see the two of us in your car. He’ll still follow.”

“Not if you get in my car while the garage door is down. You lie on the back floor until we’re a distance away. Since he won’t know you’re with me, he’ll stay and watch the house. Have you got any timers for the lights?”

10

AS THE GARAGE DOOR DESCENDED, Coltrane removed his hand from the remote control he had taken from the Porsche and continued backing onto the murky road. He turned on his headlights only after the door was sufficiently low that illumination into the garage wouldn’t reveal that Tash wasn’t in there and wasn’t pressing the control on the wall to lower the door.

So far so good, Coltrane thought. But he knew that a couple of other tactics were required to make the ruse convincing. Pausing at the foot of the driveway, he turned on his car’s interior lights and consulted a map, as if figuring out how to get back to the highway. Anyone watching the house would see that he was alone. Next, he shut off the interior lights and tapped his horn twice, two short blasts, evidently saying good-bye. As he proceeded along the road, his headlights probing the darkness, he glanced at his rearview mirror and saw a lamp go off in a window.

“The timer worked perfectly,” he said.

“It looks like I’m still at home and turning off a few lights?” Tash asked from where she hid on the back floor.

“Yep. And there goes the second one,” Coltrane said, watching his rearview mirror.

“Inspired,” Tash’s voice came muffled from the back.

“Not to be immodest, but I agree. Even so, stay down for a while. I want to watch for any headlights that start following us.”

“Is this…”

Coltrane waited, but Tash didn’t finish her question. “What?”

“Maybe you don’t want to talk about it.”

“How can I know until you tell me?”

“Is this what you had to do when you were running from Dragan Ilkovic?”

The reference caught Coltrane unawares, blunting the satisfaction he had felt in getting Tash out of the house. “How did you know about me and Ilkovic?”

“While you were in the bathroom waiting to get your clothes dried, Carl Nolan told me.”

It felt odd to be having a conversation with someone Coltrane couldn’t see. He made an effort not to tilt his head in Tash’s direction and ruin the illusion that he was alone.

“I knew about what had happened at that movie ranch,” Tash’s voice continued below and behind him. “At the time, there wasn’t much else in the newspapers or on the television news. But when I met you, your name didn’t register. I didn’t make the connection.”

“That’s encouraging. I hate to think that every time I introduce myself to someone new, I’ll always be remembered as the man who shot Ilkovic. I prefer to be known for my photographs, not for killing someone – even if he did deserve it.”

“I’m sorry for asking you to talk about it.”

“No, it’s fine. I can’t pretend it didn’t happen. I used to check for headlights behind me all the time. I used to drive around the block and down narrow alleys and one-way streets – anyplace that would make it unusual for someone to stay behind me. But the timers on the lamps, all that business in the garage, they weren’t anything I’d tried before.”

“It’s reassuring to know you’re inventive.”

“Yeah, but it’s not something I’m overjoyed to find out I’m inventive at. Keep staying down.” Coltrane steered onto the Pacific Coast Highway and checked for any headlights that emerged onto the highway after him. “So far so good.”

“Let’s hope,” Tash’s muffled voice said.

“When you found out what I had done to Ilkovic, did it change the way you looked at me?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“As you put it, he deserved to be killed.”

“That he did.” Coltrane sighed bleakly. “That he did.”

“People you know did change the way they related to you?”

“One in particular.”

“Powerful emotions can be frightening.” Coming from the darkness, Tash’s disembodied voice sounded more faint, almost childlike. “Do you have nightmares?”

“Yes. I thought they’d go away, but they haven’t. I keep dreaming that Ilkovic isn’t dead, that he’s still coming for me. I imagine his hands…”

“I have nightmares, too,” Tash said. “Someone’s reaching for me, but I can’t see his face. Since I don’t know what he looks like, it’s natural that he’d be faceless, I suppose, but it’s worse than that. It’s almost as if he doesn’t have a…”

“Head.”

“Then you understand.”

“That’s in my nightmare also,” Coltrane said.

“This’ll sound odd, but I’m glad.”

“What?”

“You’re the first person I’ve been able to talk to about what I’m feeling and know that you understand. Walt, Lyle, Carl, and the others – I try to explain how alone and afraid I feel, and they tell me they know what I mean. But they don’t know. How can they possibly? They’re big men with badges and guns. Their lives are in control. They’re not being stalked.”

“We’re in a limited club.”

“Not you. Not any longer. But it’s reassuring to know that you survived. I feel safe with you.”

“I hope I don’t let you down.” Again, Coltrane checked his rearview mirror. “I didn’t see any cars pull onto the highway after us. I think it’s okay now for you to sit up.”