“I was inspired by Ava Gardner. Do you know who she was?”

“Actress. She was in The Killers,” said Bruxton, “and The Sun Also Rises.”

I was impressed. “I wouldn’t have taken you for a fan of old movies.”

“I’m not. But I like Hemingway. Those two pictures were pretty good, unlike some of the crap they made out of his stories. Like, To Have and Have Not—I mean, throwing Hoagy Carmichael and a bunch of songs into a Hemingway story? Screw that.” Bruxton dragged on his cigarette and I wondered if the style was inspired by Bogart before it became a habit. “So what was the Ava Gardner thing?”

“She got sick of Hollywood, and she’d filmed a couple of movies in Spain and loved it there, so she decided to up and move. It was a pretty gutsy thing to do. She really lived it up there, partying with bullfighters…”

“You know any bullfighters?”

“No,” I laughed. “I write books.”

“Books, plural?”

“Three. The Spain guidebook, then city guides to Madrid and Barcelona.”

“In one year?” Bruxton stared at me. “You wrote all that?”

“Don’t sound so impressed.” I was a little bit flattered by his astonishment. “They’re only guidebooks. After the Spain book, I took the research I did and recycled it for the city guides.”

“Still… that’s really something.”

If only he knew. Half the guidebook writers I’d encountered did all of their research from the comfort of their own living rooms, thanks to the Internet. Before I could disillusion Bruxton about the travel-guide racket, my cell phone rang. As I pulled it out of my bag, I recognized Martin’s number. I was tempted not to answer in front of Bruxton, but curiosity got the better of me. “Yes?”

“Lily, sweetheart,” said Martin. “Did I catch you at a bad time?”

“No, it’s fine.”

“I was wondering if there was any news about your sister?”

“No,” I lied. This wasn’t the time to share what Sarah had said. My voice was terse, but I was hemmed in with Bruxton there, pretending not to listen. “Sorry, I’m in a police car right now.”

“Really? So you can’t say much,” said Martin playfully. “Don’t tell me you got yourself arrested. I know how bad you can be.”

“You’d find that amusing, I suppose.”

“You in handcuffs, Lily? Better than amusing.”

I hoped Bruxton didn’t notice me blushing. “I hope you’re calling for a reason.”

“I found my notes,” Martin said. “But calling them ‘notes’ gives them a status they don’t deserve. Basically, it’s a card I scrawled on. I’ll give it to you when we have dinner tonight.”

“Excuse me?”