Flash

important meeting to rush down here just because you got some weird message telling you to do that?"
    "The message implied there was a serious situation." Jasper paused meaningfully. "And we're partners in the business. Not equal partners," he elaborated carefully, "but partners, nevertheless. If I left a message for you telling you that something was wrong at Glow and that I had to see you immediately, I'm sure you'd come running, too."
    "I wouldn't put that theory to the test, if I were you. For your information, I sent no message to your office." The light breeze fluttered the brim of her slouchy hat. She reached up to steady it. "How did you recognize me, anyway?"
    "No offense, but the disguise, assuming it was meant to be one, isn't that great."
    "Oh." She could hardly argue that one.
    "Who was he?"
    Annoyed with the failure of her project, Olivia yanked the hat off her head and attempted to stuff it into the pocket of her voluminous shirt. It did not fit, so she jammed it back on her head.
    "Who was who?" she muttered.
    "The man you planned to meet here today?"
    Careful, Olivia thought. He's smarter than the average bear, to say nothing of the average CEO. "What are you talking about?"
    "I assumed that the hat and the shades were meant to conceal your identity while you met with someone," Jasper said with grim patience.
    It was on the tip of her tongue to inform him that he had assumed wrong. But it occurred to her that it might be better for him to leap to the conclusion that she had a secret lover than to guess that she had been spying on a blackmailer.
    She smiled coldly. "As I said, it's really none of your business. This whole thing has been a complete waste of time, thanks to you. I'm going back to the office."
    She rose quickly from the table and started to turn away.
    Jasper got to his feet. "Olivia."
    Something in his voice, perhaps the very softness of it, made her stop. She glanced back over her shoulder.
    "Now what?" she said ungraciously.
    "I don't have any idea yet what was going down here, but I do know that I'm at this particular place, at this particular time today because someone wanted me to be here. Between now and seven o'clock this evening when we're scheduled to do take-out, why don't you think about just what that might mean?"
    She stared at him, open-mouthed, as the implications finally hit her. Jasper had no idea just how terribly ominous this turn of events was.
    Of course
. The blackmailer had known she was here. He or she had spotted her despite the disguise and devised a quick, simple, highly effective plan to distract her for a couple of crucial minutes.
    Someone knew a great deal about both her and Jasper.
    By the time Olivia got her mouth closed, Jasper was gone.

    At ten minutes after seven, warm paper sack in one hand, briefcase in the other, Jasper came to a halt on the sidewalk. He surveyed the heavy glass doors that marked the entrance to the lobby of Olivia's condominium.
    Fortunately, he had made it ahead of the storm that was preparing to swoop down over Elliott Bay.
    He was ten minutes late because that was how long it had taken him to get here after discovering that the offices of Light Fantastic were closed for the day.
    He had been torn between quiet anger and an uneasy sense that something was very wrong, when he finally spotted the note someone had left in the door. It had been brief.

    Plans have changed. My place.

    It was unsigned, but he recognized Olivia's handwriting. There had been plenty of samples of it on the papers he had seen on her desk that first day. The style of her penmanship echoed her own personal style. Bold, feminine, and intriguing.
    A formally attired doorman, with buzz-cut blond hair, and a discreet ring in his ear, admitted Jasper with a polite smile.
    "May I help you?"
    "Jasper Sloan. Ms. Chantry is expecting me."
    "I'll let her know you're here." The doorman picked up a phone and punched out a number. There was a brief pause before he spoke into the receiver. "Mr. Sloan is down here in the lobby, Ms. Chantry."
    There was another pause. A longer one this time. The doorman's covertly curious gaze went to Jasper. "Yes, of course. I'll send him right up."
    A short while later Jasper stepped off the elevator on the eleventh floor. The gray carpet and walls of the hushed hallway were accented with a gleaming black credenza and a mirror. An elegant black vase filled with white silk flowers stood in front of the mirror. Jasper counted four