Flash

without first putting on sunscreen and a hat."
    "Have you ever actually
seen
him in a hat?"
    "Heavens yes. He has a couple of those soft, crushable types in his office. You, know, the kind people sometimes wear on boats. I've noticed that he generally puts one in his back pocket when he's getting ready to leave the building. Why do you ask?"
    Olivia's mouth went dry. One step at a time here, she thought. Keep the logic straight. "I found a hat matching that description on my way out of Glow the other day. I remembered that Dad wears one a lot down in Tucson because of the sun. It crossed my mind that Melwood would have gotten the same advice and that the hat I found might belong to him."
    Weak, Olivia, very weak.
    Fortunately Rose did not appear to notice.
    "I can ask him, if you like."
    "
No
." Olivia closed her eyes and forced herself to sound calm and casual. "No need to do that. I'll drop it off in the accounting department next time I'm in the building. Thanks, Aunt Rose."
    Olivia hung up the phone and sprawled back in her chair, thinking furiously. She was making too many wild assumptions. She was probably going off the deep end here. Jasper was already convinced that Gill was an embezzler. She definitely did not want to provide farther ammunition to be used against Melwood unless she was absolutely certain that he was guilty.
    There was one more thing she could easily check, she realized. If it was Melwood she had run down with the platform truck this morning then he would have been out of the office at the same time that she was at Pri-Con Self-Storage.
    She picked up the phone and tapped out the number of the Glow accounting department. A crisp, precise voice answered on the other end of the line.
    "Accounting. Barry Chantry here."
    "Cousin Barry? It's Olivia."
    "Hi, cuz. What's up?"
    "Pretty busy here at Light Fantastic. Listen, I've got a quick question. This is going to seem a little weird, but I was wondering if you noticed if Melwood Gill was out of the office for a while this morning."
    "Gill? Yeah, I think he said something about having a doctor's appointment. Why?"
    "Nothing." Olivia forced herself to breathe. "I'm just a little worried about him, that's all. The transfer and all, you know."
    "Gill's always been a little on the tense side," Barry said conversationally. "Got worse after that brush with skin cancer. But the transfer really agitated him."
    "Thanks, Barry. Give my love to Millie and the twins."
    "Will do. Say, anything to the gossip about you and Sloan?"
    "You know better than to listen to gossip, Barry."
    "Sure would make things simpler."
    She did not like the fake innocence in his voice. "What would make things simpler?"
    "If you and Sloan, uh, you know…"
    "No, I don't know, Barry. If Sloan and I did what?"
    "Got serious. And, like, maybe even got married."
    "Barry."
    "Well, you know, it would sorta fulfill Uncle Rollie's dream of keeping Glow a family-owned company."
    "Good-bye, Barry." Olivia hung up before Barry could make further suggestions on the subject of keeping Glow in the family.
    She sat for a while, thinking. After a few minutes she got up to prepare another infusion of caffeine.
    There were a lot of questions that had to be answered before she made a move, she decided, as she spooned dark French roast coffee into the filter cone. The biggest one of all, assuming Melwood was the blackmailer, was how had he gotten hold of Rollie's files and what had he done with them?
    She thought about the fire in her uncle's study. It had occurred only a day after news of Rollie's death had reached Seattle. Melwood Gill? He had been among the first to know that his employer was dead.
    Icy adrenaline shot through her. Everyone said that poor Melwood was just not himself these days.
    The phone rang again before she could finish her ruminations. She picked up the receiver.
    "Light Fantastic. This is Olivia."
    "Hi, Olivia. Andy Andrews of
Hard Currency
here."
    "Andrews?" Olivia pulled herself out of the morbid maze of speculation that swirled in her brain. "You've got a lot of nerve calling me after that Foil Town crack in your newsletter."
    "Where's your sense of humor, Olivia?" Andy chuckled. "I thought you'd appreciate the mention."
    "I'm supposed to appreciate Foil Town? Give me a break."
    "Sorry," Andy said casually. "Just trying to add a little punch to the article. But Foil Town, as we say in the business, is yesterday's news. I'm calling about tomorrow's."
    "Which is?" Olivia asked