Flash

couple swept through the opening. They were laughing uproariously at some private joke. Music spilled out behind them.
    Jasper watched Olivia pull herself together and smile graciously at the guests. The fury in her eyes disappeared behind a thoroughly professional mask. When the couple moved off toward the aft deck she looked at Jasper.
    "All right, my cabin at three." She went to the lounge door and paused, fingers on the handle. "Thanks, Jasper."
    "Sure." He waited until she got the door open. "Just one more thing."
    She slanted him a quick, questioning look "What's that?"
    "My jacket. It might look a little strange if you wear it back inside."
    She looked startled. Then she hastily removed the coat and tossed it to him. "Three o'clock."
    She disappeared back into the warmth and the music of the lounge.
    Jasper remained at the railing for a few minutes and absently inhaled the scent of Olivia's perfume that clung to his jacket. She was more than just angry, he thought. She was afraid.
    What did the blackmailer know that made him think Olivia would even consider paying blackmail?

    At three o'clock Olivia let herself into her cabin. The ship was quieter now. Some of the revelers had retired to their rooms. She had seen nothing of Jasper since she had left him out on deck an hour ago.
    She switched on a small lamp, sat down on the bed, and kicked off her shoes. Jasper had been right. She could not sleep, but it would be a good idea to put her feet up for a while. She still had the breakfast buffet and disembarkation to handle.
    She lay down on the bunk and propped her heels high against the wall. It was a trick she had learned long ago, one that she found to be remarkably restorative. But the tactic did not work tonight.
    Someone knew her secret. She clenched her fists at her sides on the bed. Adrenaline surged through her system.
    After a while she took her feet down off the wall, stood, and started to pace the small confines of the cabin.
    No one alive now could possibly know about Logan and Nina. She had destroyed the journal, herself, every last damning page.
    A soft knock interrupted her thoughts. She hurried across the room and opened the door. Jasper stood there, jacket hooked over one shoulder, black tie hanging loose around his neck. His shirt was unfastened at the throat.
    A wholly unwarranted sense of relief shot through her. He looked so incredibly solid and strong and substantial, she thought. The kind of man who controlled his inner demons. Not the sort who would ever be controlled by them. Not the kind who would use them as an excuse for weakness and self-indulgence.
    This man was nothing like Logan.
    "Well?" she demanded. "What did you find out?"
    He glanced meaningfully back along the hallway. "You want to discuss this out here in the corridor or inside where we can have some privacy?"
    "Oh. Yes, of course." She stepped back quickly. "Come in. Hurry. The last thing we need is for someone to notice that the event producer is entertaining one of the guests in her cabin."
    He quirked a brow as he moved past her, but he said nothing.
    She leaned out into the hall to make certain that no one had witnessed Jasper entering her cabin. Satisfied that the coast was clear, she closed the door and leaned back against it. Her hands squeezed around the knob.
    "Did you learn anything useful?" she asked.
    "Yes and no." He tossed his tuxedo jacket down on the foot of the bed and went to stand looking out through the small porthole. "The note was put under your door by one of the crew."
    "Where did he get it?"
    "He told me that a cab drove up to the dock just before the
Private Island
sailed. The driver said he'd been paid to deliver the message to a member of the crew with instructions to put it in your room." Jasper glanced at her. "Which the crewman did as soon as he had a free moment."
    Her spirits plummeted. "So the blackmailer is not on board after all."
    "Doesn't look like it."
    "That's unfortunate, isn't it?" She continued to grip the doorknob. "It would have made everything so much easier if he were. At least we would have had a finite number of suspects."
    "Yes. But I doubt that the blackmailer would have made things so simple."
    "No, of course not." She closed her eyes. "This is so bizarre."
    "We'll find him," Jasper said quietly. "But I need more information."
    She opened her eyes. "I've told you everything I know. Maybe the crewman could give us a lead on the taxi driver."
    "He doesn't even remember what