Flash

the opening above the counter. "Lettuce?"
    "As long as there's a kitchen available, I might as well make a salad to go with the spinach lasagna I brought." He opened the refrigerator. "Good. You've got some romaine."
    "Hang on, that's my kitchen." Olivia bounced to her feet and hurried around the corner to join him. "Give me that lettuce."
    "Whatever you say." He handed her the plastic sack full of romaine.
    She shot him another scowling glance as she reached up to remove a stainless steel colander from a hook. There was an easy competency in her movements that told him she was comfortable in a kitchen.
    Satisfied that she was going to proceed with the salad, he opened the paper bag. He removed the containers of lukewarm lasagna and the loaf of crusty, rustic-style bread.
    Olivia grudgingly pointed toward a cupboard. "The olive oil is in there." She tipped her head slightly in the opposite direction. "Bread knife is in that drawer."
    "Thanks."
    For a few minutes they worked side-by-side without speaking. Jasper was aware that Olivia kept glancing at him out of the corner of her eye.
    "Do you like to cook?" she finally asked. "I mean, something more than just slicing bread and sticking take-out in a microwave?"
    "I got used to kitchens after my nephews came to live with me a few years ago. It was either feed Kirby and Paul at home or watch them grow up addicted to hamburgers and pizza. All the books I read on the subject emphasized the importance of kids eating at home in a family environment."
    She looked intrigued. "You read books on how to raise kids?"
    "As many as I could find." He stuck the lasagna into the microwave and closed the door. "Like I said, my approach to most things is to collect as much information as possible before I take action."
    "Why did your nephews move in with you?"
    "My stepbrother and his wife were killed on a skiing trip in Europe." Jasper selected the cooking time on the face of the microwave. "There wasn't anyone else for Kirby and Paul."
    "I see." Her eyes were suddenly unreadable. "No kids of your own?"
    "No." There was something about working with someone in a kitchen that broke down the usual social barriers, Jasper reflected. Or maybe it was having a blackmailer threaten both of you in the same note that induced a certain artificial sense of togetherness. "My wife left a few months after Kirby and Paul moved in with me. I never found the time to remarry."
    "I know what you mean." Her voice was quiet and cool. "I was in the process of filing for divorce when my husband died. Afterward I lost interest in the whole concept of marriage. Then I got very busy with Light Fantastic." She shrugged.
    Jasper recalled the Crawford Lee Wilder piece in
West Coast Neo
. The article had hinted, darkly, that it was his wife's threat to leave him that had caused Logan Dane to risk his neck running with the bulls in Pamplona. Wilder had also implied that the net result of Dane's death had been to leave Olivia holding a fortune in art.
    From what he had seen of her private world, Jasper doubted that last bit. There was not a single painting hanging on the wall. She gave every appearance of being successful, but not wealthy. Everything he had seen thus far, including the Light Fantastic studio and this condo, could be explained by her own hard work and maybe a little assistance from her uncle.
    "Where are your nephews now?" she asked.
    "Both are at the university. They're taking summer sessions so that they can graduate sooner. Paul's headed for engineering, I think. But I can see Kirby in the academic world."
    She flashed him an impulsive smile. "Like my brother, Todd."
    Jasper glanced at her. "I thought you said he was a political consultant and a speechwriter."
    She wrinkled her nose. "He is now, but I'm hoping it's just a phase."
    "What happens if Lancaster wins in November?"
    "I'm a little worried, if you want to know the truth."
    "About Lancaster winning?"
    "No, of course not. She'll make a good governor. Maybe a great one. What concerns me is that Todd is falling for her."
    "Ah," Jasper said softly. "And you'd rather he didn't?"
    She leaned back against the counter, crossed her arms, and rolled her eyes. "How would you feel about having a politician in the family?"
    He grinned. "Point taken. Personal sentiments toward politicians aside, what really worries you about the possibility that your brother is involved in a relationship with Lancaster?"
    She hesitated, gazing thoughtfully into the middle