Flash

by Jayne Ann Krentz

  He told you, he likes a well-organized life. An affair seems messy and disorganized to him.

  You can’t marry a man just because he thinks marriage is more tidy than an affair.

  Why not?

  It’s not a good reason for marriage, that’s all.

  How do you know? You’ve never tried it.

  I just know.

  What is a good reason for marriage?

  Love.

  Do you love him?

  Yes. Oh, lord, yes, yes, yes.

  Then, what’s the problem here?

  The problem is that I don’t know if he loves me. Maybe he’s got his passion for order mixed up with his passion for me. Maybe that’s what he calls love.

  Ask him.

  Olivia turned on her side and propped herself on her elbow. She gripped Jasper’s shoulder and shook him gently.

  “Jasper?”

  “Now what?” he growled, in the voice of a bear that has been awakened in the middle of hibernation.

  “Are you awake?”

  “No.”

  “I have to ask you a question.”

  “Can’t it wait until morning?”

  “No. Do you want to marry me just because you’ve got your obsessive need to practice good filing habits mixed up with a physical attraction?”

  There was a long silence.

  “Jasper?”

  He opened one eye. “Are there going to be a lot more questions in this vein?”

  “Just this one.”

  “No.” He closed his eye.

  “No, what?” she asked. “No, you haven’t got your filing impulse mixed up with your sexual impulse? Or, no, you don’t want to answer the question?”

  “No, I haven’t got my desire to organize things mixed up with my desire to make love to you. Believe it or not, I can tell the difference between both basic instincts.”

  “Oh, good.” She waited. He said nothing else. “Is that all?”

  There was no response. She realized he had fallen back into the depths of sleep

  30

  Olivia was nervous. Nothing strange about that, Jasper thought the following morning as he parked the Jeep in a space on Second Avenue. After all, she’d already made one mistake with marriage. She was keenly aware of the risks involved. So was he, for that matter. Just one more thing they had in common.

  She wouldn’t panic on him just because she’d had a few qualms about accepting his proposal, he assured himself as he got out of the Jeep. At least, he didn’t think she would panic.

  But deep down he was afraid that he had rushed things. He wished he had the same instinct for timing in his personal affairs that he had in business. It would make life so much more orderly and predictable.

  At least she had not spent breakfast grilling him with more of the strange questions she had asked in the middle of the night. He hoped that meant that his answers had satisfied her.

  But deep down he was afraid he had not told her whatever it was she wanted to hear.

  Of course, she had not told him what he had hoped to hear, either, he thought. He had not realized until this morning that there had been something missing last night.

  He tried to convince himself that he had achieved his goal. Olivia had agreed to marry him. Theirs, clearly, would not be a marriage of convenience. What more could he want?

  The answer had eluded him, so he had done what he always did when his personal life got fuzzy. He focused on other things.

  There was still one loose end remaining to be tied off in the Dixon Haggard affair.

  He walked along the sidewalk toward the storefront office that had served as Lancaster campaign headquarters. No one had bothered to take down the cheerful red, white, and blue pennants that fluttered from the awning. When he reached the front door, he glanced through the window.

  From the outside there was nothing to indicate that Eleanor Lancaster’s run for governor had collapsed last night. People sat at their desks. Lancaster for Governor signs were still plastered across the windows.

  He opened the door and went inside.

  It was like walking into the viewing room of a funeral parlor.

  The subdued atmosphere and hushed conversations told the real tale of disappointment and despair.

  A young woman with long blond hair sat at the front desk sniffling into a tissue. When she looked up, Jasper could see that her eyes were wet with tears. He resisted the urge to say something callous like, hey, it’s only politics. He had a feeling that she would not appreciate his lack of empathy.

  “If you’re from the media,” the receptionist whispered, “I’m afraid Ms. Lancaster is still not available for interviews.”

  “I’m looking for Todd Chantry.”

  “Oh.” She glanced over her shoulder. “He’s in the office at the back. But he’s rather busy …”

  “Thanks.”

  Jasper walked down an aisle formed by desks, toward the glass-walled office at the rear of the room. The people who sat at the desks did not look up from their somber conversations. Nobody appeared to be doing any work. They were all engaged in rehashing the bad news.

  When he reached the closed door of the small office, Jasper saw that he had been wrong. One person was clearly working and working hard.

  Todd had his shirtsleeves rolled up to the elbows. There was a five o’clock shadow on his face, even though it was only eight-thirty in the morning. He had a rumpled, harried look, as if he had been up most of the night.

  Papers were spread across the desk in front of him. There were two phones in the office. He was using both of them. One was cradled on his left shoulder. The other was pinned to his right ear. There was an ominous expression on his face as he spoke into the phone.

  Jasper opened the door and went into the office.

  “… I don’t give a damn what your computer says. I’m telling you that there was over two hundred thousand dollars in that account yesterday….”

  Jasper closed the door very quietly.

  “I want to talk to your supervisor,” Todd snapped. “No, not the computer room supervisor. I’ll get back to you later if I need you.” He hung up one of the phones and continued talking into the other. “Get me someone who knows what’s going on there. Yes, I’ll hold.”

  Jasper waited.

  Todd glanced at him. His frown deepened. “Something wrong?”

  “Got a couple of questions I thought you could help me with,” Jasper said. He raised a brow to acknowledge the phone Todd still had plastered to one ear. “If you’ve got time, that is.”

  Todd started to respond, but someone on the other end of the line said something that distracted him.

  “What do you mean he’s out of the building?” Todd paused. “All right, all right. Have him call me the minute he returns. In the meantime, see if you can find someone else who can help me. You’ve got my number. If I don’t hear from you in the next ten minutes I’ll call you back.”

  He slammed down the phone and glared at Jasper. “This is not my thing, you know.”

  “What isn’t your thing?”

  “Straightening out the business side of this mess. Hell, I’m a policy and theory man, not an accountant. But as you can see, everything is a little crazy today. And with Haggard in jail—”

  “Dixon Haggard is the reason I’m here today.”

  “Yeah?” Todd took off his glasses and began to polish them absently with a handkerchief. “Sit down. Want some coffee?”

  “No, thanks. I had some before I left—” Jasper broke off. He had been about to say, before I left your sister’s place this morning, but he decided against it. Todd was well aware that he was involved in an affair with Olivia, but somehow it seemed a trifle undiplomatic to flaunt it. “I had some with breakfast.”

  “Suit yourself. I need another cup.” Todd got to his feet and crossed the small office to pour a thick, foul-looking dark brew from a pot. “I’m going through this stuff the way Olivia did after we got word about Uncle Rollie
and she suddenly found herself in charge of both Glow and Light Fantastic.”

  This was probably as good a time as any, Jasper thought. “Speaking of Olivia …”

  “What about her?” Todd raised the mug to his mouth and took a long swallow.

  “I’m going to marry her.”

  Coffee spewed from between Todd’s teeth. “Jesus H. Christ.”

  “I assume that means we have your blessing?”

  Todd put down his mug and reached for a napkin. He eyed Jasper as he wiped his mouth. “Is this some kind of joke? Because if so, your timing is really lousy. This is not one of my better days.”

  “My timing is not always great, except in business, but I can promise you, I’m not joking.”

  Todd sat down heavily. He regarded Jasper with wary eyes. “Has Olivia accepted your, uh, proposal?”

  “Yes.”

  “Huh.” Todd leaned back in his chair. He looked dazed. “Sonofagun.”

  “You know, for an academic think-tank type, you don’t seem to have what anyone would call an expansive vocabulary this morning.”

  “I’m not at my best at the moment.” Todd gripped the wooden arms of his chair and shook his head. “Kind of sudden, isn’t it?”

  “We haven’t set the date, if that’s any consolation.”

  Todd sat forward abruptly. “Look, this isn’t any of my business … Hell, yes, it is. She’s my sister.” He narrowed his eyes. “Are you real sure you know what you’re doing here?”

  “Yes.”

  “Whose idea was this, anyhow?”

  “You could say we held talks on the subject and came to a mutually agreed-upon decision.”

  Todd folded his hands on the desk. “You’re positive the idea did not originate with Olivia?”

  “What makes you think it did?”

  “Damn it, Sloan, you know what’s bothering me here. I mean, in addition to the speed with which it’s all happening, that is.”

  “Why don’t you just come out and say it?”

  “All right, I will.” Todd gave him a very direct look. “Let’s go to the bottom line, as you business types like to say. Uncle Rollie always treated her as his second-in-command. My sister has been known to go above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to what she feels are her responsibilities to the family.”

  “I’m aware of that.”

  “Is there any possibility that she may have put the idea of marriage into your head because she’s convinced that she can protect Glow and Chantry family interests by marrying you?”

  “No.”

  Todd blinked owlishly. “You’re, uh, sure of that?”

  “Positive.”

  Todd cleared his throat. “What makes you so certain?”

  “A couple of reasons. First, I asked her if she was marrying me in hopes of controlling Glow through me.”

  Todd looked flabbergasted. “You asked her that straight out?”

  “Well, she raised the issue first. I could tell that it was worrying her that everyone would think Glow was the reason she had agreed to marry me. So we discussed it.” And when she had stopped laughing, he had made love to her until all she could say was his name over and over again as she convulsed in his arms.

  “I see. What’s the second reason you’re so sure she didn’t agree to marry you on account of Glow?”

  “Olivia and I have a working arrangement. She knows that, whenever possible, I will consult with her before I carry out crucial decisions at Glow. But she understands that as long as I own fifty-one percent of the company, I will make the decisions that affect it.”

  “Huh,” Todd muttered again. He unclasped his hands and began to massage the back of his neck. “There’s probably something more I should say here, but I can’t seem to think of it.”

  “Maybe it will come to you later.”

  “Where is Olivia, anyway? At Light Fantastic?”

  “No. She’s on her way down to the waterfront pier warehouse where the Lancaster fund-raiser was going to be held. She told Bolivar and a couple of her staff to meet her there so that they can start taking apart the stage and the decorations.”

  Todd nodded wearily. “She probably wants to get that big lighted flag and the sound system equipment out of there as quickly as possible.”

  “I think she has visions of trying to sell one of the other candidates on the idea of using them for a rally.”

  “That’s my sister.” Todd smiled slightly. “Always got an eye on the bottom line.”

  “Yes. Mind if I ask some questions about Dixon Haggard?”

  “What?” Todd scowled. “Oh, sure. What about him?”

  Jasper glanced at the calendar on the wall. “I’d like to know where he was on the twenty-sixth of last month.”

  Todd followed his gaze to the calendar and frowned. “Why?”

  “Because I’m trying to tie up a few loose ends. Olivia can tell you that I tend to be a little obsessive about details.”

  “I’m not sure where he was.” Todd squinted slightly, concentrating. “As I recall, he was out of town on campaign business for a couple of days around that time.”

  “Do you know where he went?”

  “No. I just remember him saying something about accepting a check from a big out-of-state donor. Some VIP he had to deal with personally.” Todd sighed. “A lot of important people had their eye on Eleanor as a future candidate for Congress or even the White House.”

  “Any way of finding out exactly where he went?”

  Todd thought about it. “I guess we could check the travel records.”

  “I’d appreciate it.”

  “This is important?”

  “Yes,” Jasper said.

  “Hell, why not. It isn’t as if I’ve got anything else to do today except deal with the bank, the media, and a bunch of sobbing campaign volunteers.”

  Todd got to his feet and went to a tall black file cabinet that stood against the wall. He opened a drawer and started rummaging through the files.

  Jasper rose and crossed the room to join him. “How’s Eleanor handling things?”

  “She’s in seclusion.” Todd did not look up from the files. “Won’t talk to the press. Won’t even answer the phone.”

  “You don’t sound too empathetic.”

  “I’m pretty disgusted, if you want to know the truth. The least she could have done was come down here to say thanks to her faithful troops.” He nodded toward the small group in the other room. “They worked their tails off for her, and she just walked out on them the minute things got rough.”

  “You really think she could have overcome the setback caused by Haggard’s arrest?”

  “I don’t know. What makes me angry is that she didn’t even try. I always thought she was a fighter, but I guess I was wrong.” Todd removed a folder from the drawer. “Here’s the travel file. The campaign booked all flights and hotel reservations through an outside agency.”

  It took Jasper less than three minutes to determine that there was no record of air travel for anyone connected to the Lancaster Campaign during the period when he, himself, had been rusticating on Pelapili Island.

  Obviously he had been paranoid, after all.

  “That’s strange.” Todd scanned the travel sheets. “I know Haggard was out of town for a couple of days. And I’m damn sure he wouldn’t have paid for his own airfare. He was too cheap. Hang on, I’ll ask Sally if she remembers how that trip was handled.”

  Sally proved to be the blond receptionist. She, too, recalled that Haggard had been out of town on a business trip.

  “He didn’t ask me to make the arrangements with the travel agency the way he usually did, though,” she said. “I assumed he made them himself.”

  Todd glanced at the clock. “If it’s that important, I can call the agency. It opens early.”

  “I’d really like to get some answers,” Jasper said.

  “I would, too.” Todd picked up the phone. “Looks like I’m going to be spending my whole d
ay on financial matters.”

  Ten minutes later Todd hung up the phone again. He looked at Jasper with a troubled expression.

  “The agency has no record of any bookings for Dixon Haggard or anyone else connected to the campaign around that time. Any other ideas?”

  “Dixon could have made his own reservations. Let’s try another angle. Do you have a record of which VIP donor he went to see?”

  “Of course.” Todd grimaced. “At least, we sure as hell better have a record. Eleanor was scrupulous about the records of all campaign finances, but after what’s happened at the bank this morning, I don’t know—” He broke off. “Forget it. That’s another problem. Let me get the info on big donors out of the computer.”

  A few minutes later Todd conceded defeat. There was no record of any major donation to the Lancaster campaign during the entire week following the twenty-sixth.

  “I don’t understand this,” Todd said. “I know Haggard was out of town, and he told me, himself, he was off to take care of a big donor.”

  “The phrase take care of has a variety of different meanings.”

  Todd frowned. “What are you getting at here?”

  “I’ll tell you after we check a couple of other things.”

  “Why don’t you tell me now?”

  “Because I’m going to marry your sister,” Jasper said dryly. “I’d like to make a good impression on the family. I don’t want the Chantrys thinking that I’ve got an acute paranoia disorder.”

  “The Chantrys are a many and varied clan. In the grand scheme of things, paranoia would probably be viewed as a relatively minor affliction.”

  “I appreciate that.” Jasper glanced at the glowing computer screen. “Can you access the campaign bank account?”

  “Sure. I’ve been working on that damned account all morning.” Todd swung around in his chair and punched in some letters and numbers.

  A moment later the record of transactions appeared.

  “Go back to the period around the twenty-sixth,” Jasper said.

  A list of deposits received and checks issued by the campaign arrayed itself neatly on the screen. Jasper studied the numbers for a few minutes.

  “See anything interesting?” Todd asked.

  “That two thousand dollars on the twenty-fourth,” Jasper said slowly. “It was not a check issued to pay a bill.”