The Girl Who Knew Too Much(83)

“Think Mr. Fontaine will talk to me?”

“Only if Mr. Ward tells him to talk to you.”

“I need to call Oliver.”

“There’s a house telephone behind the bar.”

“May I use it?”

“Help yourself.”

Irene moved around behind the bar and reached for the receiver.

“Thanks, Willie,” she said. “You’ve been very helpful.”

Willie held another glass up to the light to check her polishing job. “Happy to be of service. Out of curiosity, how do you plan to persuade Miss Picton to meet with you in private?”

“I don’t. I’m going to stage an ambush.” Irene concentrated on the telephone. “Please connect me with Mr. Ward’s private office. Thank you. Yes, I’ll wait.”

Willie smiled to herself.

“Something amusing?” Irene asked.

“I was just thinking that you’re a good influence on the boss.”

“A good influence? Are you joking? I found a dead body in his spa and I nearly got him killed.”

“You wouldn’t believe how he’s perked up since you arrived at the hotel. You’ve done wonders. A regular tonic.”





Chapter 46




Elena appeared in the office doorway.

“I just received Detective Brandon’s list of guests who recently checked in at the other hotels, inns, and B and Bs in town,” she said.

Oliver looked up from the list of new arrivals at the Burning Cove Hotel. “Several of the so-called singles from back east on my list are actually traveling with a personal maid or a private secretary. I’ve excluded them. That leaves me with eight names. How many on Brandon’s list?”

“Another twenty in all, but most are from California—L.A. or San Francisco for the most part. Our hotel gets the majority of the East Coast crowd here because, like the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Biltmore in L.A., we are quite well-known.”

“The benefits of advertising. Thanks, Elena.”

This was, he concluded, probably one of the few times in the history of the industry that the proprietor of a hotel hoped his establishment’s reputation for elegance and service had served as a lure to attract a killer.

Never a dull moment these days. Not with Irene around.

Elena put the list on his desk and went back to the doorway, where she paused and gently cleared her throat.

Oliver looked up again, suddenly wary.

“What is it?” he said.

“I just wanted to say that you are looking very well today.”

“Have I been looking unwell previously?”

“No, sir. It’s just that you seem to be in excellent spirits today. Especially considering the circumstances.”

Nothing like hunting for a killer to put a man in an upbeat mood, Oliver reflected.

“Probably the three cups of coffee I drank at breakfast,” he said.

Elena chuckled. “No doubt.”

“Remember, not a word about these lists and the people on them.”

“Understood.”

She was about to close the door but stopped when the outer door burst open. Chester charged into the front office.

“Where’s Oliver?” he demanded.

“Right here,” Oliver called through the opening. “Come on in, Chester.”

Chester rushed into the room, bristling with excitement. He had Atherton’s notebook in one hand.

“Wait until I tell you what’s in this thing,” he said.

“Sit down,” Oliver said. He looked at Elena. “That’s all for now. Thanks.”

She left, closing the door quietly behind her.

Chester put the notebook down on the desk and dropped into one of the chairs. “What do you know about radio waves?”

“I know how to turn on a radio and I know how to turn it off. Why?”

“Radio waves are a form of electromagnetic radiation and they have several very interesting properties. Most metal objects, for example, reflect radio waves.”

“So?”

“So the British and the U.S. military have been conducting secret research designed to see if radio waves can be used to detect airplanes at a considerable distance and ships at sea.”

Understanding began to dawn. “I’m listening,” Oliver said.

“The work is still in the experimental stage. I’m told the Brits are ahead of us because they’re so damned worried about Germany. But other nations, including Russia, Germany, and Japan, are also doing research in this area. There are serious limitations with the current equipment—the antennas are huge and the wavelengths are too long—but, theoretically, utilizing a pulsing technique and shorter wavelengths, it should be possible to build a compact device that would allow radio waves to detect ships at sea.”