Flash

winced. "Whatever you do, don't call the Silver Galaxy Foods Night event Foil Town in her presence."
    "What do you think I am?" Jasper munched down on a cracker. "Stupid?"
    Todd did not smile. He appeared to take the question seriously, as if Jasper had asked about a campaign policy issue.
    "No. Whatever else you are, Sloan, you aren't stupid."
    Jasper decided to change the subject. "Does the fact that you're here tonight mean that Eleanor Lancaster is somewhere in the vicinity?"
    Todd studied the crowd with a neutral expression. "Lot of money in this room. It's an ideal venue for Eleanor."
    Something cool and distant in his voice caught Jasper's attention. He wondered if there had been a few ripples on the seas of the perfect political relationship. He downed the rest of his cracker. "Campaign looks like it's going well. Picking up a lot of momentum."
    "And money." Todd took a swallow from the glass in his hand. "Eleanor is going straight to the governor's office in November. And after that there's no reason she shouldn't eventually take a look at running for the White House."
    Jasper whistled soundlessly. "Big plans."
    "Very big."
    "Takes a lot of money to get all the way to Washington, D.C."
    "She can pull it in." Todd's jaw hardened. He took another swallow from his glass. "She's very, very focused."
    "Guess that's what it requires to be president."
    "Yes. If you're going to be a winner like Eleanor, everything else in your life has to take a back seat."
    He wasn't the most intuitive person on the planet, Jasper told himself, but even he could feel the undercurrents here.
    "Something wrong, Todd?"
    "No." Todd smiled without a trace of amusement. "Everything's right on schedule. Including me."
    Jasper was wondering how far to push, when another man shouldered his way through a nearby knot of guests. It was obvious from the slow, careful way he moved and the hot, glittery look in his eyes that he had started drinking before he had arrived at the party.
    "Hello, Dixon." Todd glanced quickly at Jasper. "Have you met Dixon Haggard? Eleanor Lancaster's campaign manager. Dixon, this is Jasper Sloan. The co-owner of Glow, Inc."
    "Haggard." Jasper nodded slightly.
    "Sloan." The single word was slightly slurred. "Didn't know you'd be here tonight. Quite a production, isn't it?"
    "It's definitely got the Light Fantastic stamp all over it," Jasper agreed. "Where's the candidate?"
    "Over there." Dixon waved the glass in his hand in a vague manner to indicate a spot on the other side of the room. "Talking to some VIPs from Camelot Blue. Can't waste a golden opportunity like this to raise a few bucks."
    There was no quiet, melancholic resignation in Dixon's voice as there had been in Todd's, just a willing, eager acceptance of the facts. Politics was fueled with money. Everyone knew that. But maybe, Jasper reflected, it took idealists such as Todd a little longer to realize exactly what that fact meant in the real world.
    He looked across the heads of the crowd and saw a ring of people gathered around the statuesque figure of Eleanor Lancaster. His first thought surprised him.
She looks just like she does on TV
.
    Her black hair gleamed a metallic blue in the eerie lights. The air around her seemed to shimmer with energy. It was obvious even from where Jasper stood that everyone in the small group clustered near her was hanging on every word.
    Dixon shoved a hand into the pocket of his evening trousers and slurped blue-tinted champagne. "Been upstairs yet?"
    "No. I hear it's interesting up there."
    Dixon made a face. "Light Fantastic turned the entire floor into a neon arcade. Not exactly the height of sophistication."
    "Olivia has a policy of giving her clients exactly what they want," Jasper said quietly. "It's good business. Sort of like a politician getting herself invited to a shindig like this so that she can troll for financial donors."
    Todd gave him a sharp, slightly startled look but said nothing.
    Dixon's eyes narrowed. "Okay, I get your point. Business is business. I notice that Sean Dane and his family are not here tonight. I know for a fact that they were invited.. Guess it's no surprise they stayed away, given their history with Olivia."
    Todd stiffened visibly. He looked at Dixon with ill-concealed annoyance. "The Danes owe my sister a hell of a lot."
    "No shit?" Dixon gave him a mockingly innocent look of inquiry. "Thought they held her responsible for driving Logan Dane to his death."
    "Dane got drunk and did