Dawn in Eclipse Bay

and stood back. “Marilyn Thornley. She won’t be staying long.”
    “That’s good, because I didn’t bring enough food for three.”
    The weight of the grocery sack belied that claim, but he did not argue the point. He set it on the counter without comment.
    Marilyn appeared in the kitchen doorway. She gave Lillian the same glowing grin she’d used on Gabe.
    “Lillian. It’s been ages. Good to see you again.”
    “Hello, Marilyn. Been a while,” she responded sweetly.
    “I didn’t mean to intrude on your little dinner party,” Marilyn said. “I heard Gabe was in town. Thought I’d stop in and say hello.”
    “Doing a little fund-raising?” Lillian asked smoothly.
    “Rumor has it that you’re going into politics on your own, now that Trevor is no longer in the picture.”
    There was a short, brittle silence during which neither woman’s smile faltered.
    “Gabe and I were just talking about how fast word travels in this town,” Marilyn said with a slight edge on her voice.
    “I ran into Pamela McCallister at Fulton’s Supermarket this afternoon,” Lillian said. “Her husband, Brad, is on the faculty at Chamberlain but he has a joint appointment at the institute. He says you’ve already got your campaign staff organized and that you’ve put Claire Jensen in charge.”
    “You know Claire?”
    “Yes. I haven’t seen much of her in recent years but we worked together at a local restaurant one summer when we were both in college. She always said she wanted to go into politics.”
    “Claire worked very hard on Trevor’s staff. She’s had a lot of experience. I think she’s ready to head up a campaign.”
    “I hear you’ve got your sites on a seat in the U.S. Senate.”
    There was another brittle pause. Gabe helped Lillian with her rain cloak.
    “Yes,” Marilyn said.
    “Expensive,” Lillian murmured.
    “Yes,” Marilyn said again. “Politics is an expensive pursuit.”
    Lillian went to the counter, reached into the grocery sack and removed a plastic bag containing a head of darkgreen broccoli. “Probably not a lot of money left over after Trevor bowed out of the race last fall.”
    “No.”
    “The Thornley campaign did a lot of media, as well. The television commercials must have cost a fortune.”
    “You’re right,” Marilyn said in a low voice. “The ads wiped out most of the war chest. We knew going in that they would be expensive, but you can’t win elections without television.” She paused. “There were also some additional, unplanned expenses toward the end.”
    The sudden anger in her voice made both Gabe and Lillian look at her.
    “We were so close. So damned close,” Marilyn said bitterly.
    “I’m sorry it all fell apart,” Lillian said quietly. “I know it must have been a blow.”
    “You don’t have to pretend that you don’t know what happened,” Marilyn said. “I’m sure you heard the rumors about the videos.”
    Gabe exchanged a glance with Lillian. They were both aware of the story behind the videos that had disappeared when the former editor of the Eclipse Bay Journal had been arrested a few months ago. The missing films purported to show Trevor Thornley cavorting in high heels and ladies’ undergarments.
    “I heard that those tapes, assuming they ever actually existed, were destroyed,” Gabe said neutrally. “No one I know has ever seen them.”
    “That bastard, Jed Steadman, lied about having destroyed them without looking at them. He made copies.” Marilyn’s voice roughened with tightly controlled rage.
    “He blackmailed Trevor from jail. Said he needed the money for his trial.”
    Gabe exhaled slowly. “That was the unexpected additional campaign expense you mentioned? Blackmail payments to Jed Steadman?”
    “Steadman was too smart to approach me,” Marilyn said. “He contacted Trevor. And that idiot paid him off. I couldn’t believe it. When I discovered that he was actually making blackmail payments I knew the campaign was finished. But Trevor thought he could keep it all hushed up. He did not even begin to comprehend what we were up against.”
    “You walked out and Trevor was forced to quit the race,” Lillian said.
    “There wasn’t any other viable option. It was obvious that Trevor was going down, but that didn’t mean that I had to go down with him.” Marilyn looked at Gabe. “Politics is a lot like any other business. You have to know when to cut your losses.”
    “Sure,” Gabe said, keeping his voice very