Flash

paper. "Maybe if this had happened earlier in the campaign she could have put it behind her before the primary. But now? Who knows."
    "You can bet that the Stryker people are going to have a field day," Olivia said.
    Bolivar looked up. "What about the fund-raiser?"
    Olivia shrugged. "No one has called me yet to cancel it. The only thing we can do is keep going forward with the preparations until we get word to the contrary."
    "We're scheduled to hang the flag this afternoon," Bolivar reminded her.
    Olivia thought about it. "I'll give Todd a call and see if he thinks there's likely to be a last-minute cancellation. If not, we'll keep to our schedule."
    Zara pursed her lips. "Seems to me Eleanor Lancaster will need a fund-raiser and a big rally more than ever now."
    "Good point," Bolivar said. "Everyone says she's a fighter. If she's determined to overcome this, she'll want to go ahead with a big, splashy show."
    "So it's business as usual, folks." Olivia spun around on her stool and got to her feet. "Let's get to work."
    Bolivar refolded the paper. "I'll get the flag ready to take down to the pier. Matty and Bernie can help me."
    "Thanks." Olivia looked at her aunt. "Zara, I need to discuss something with you."
    Zara gave her a conspiratorial look that was laced with just a touch of melodramatic dread. "Of course, dear."
    They all trooped upstairs together. Olivia led Zara into the office and closed the door.
    "Melwood Gill was your blackmailer, Aunt Zara."
    "
Melwood
?" Zara stared at her, dumbfounded. "But that's not possible. How could he have known about those films I made?"
    "He knew about them because Uncle Rollie knew about them." Olivia went around behind her desk and sat down. A rush of sympathy went through her. Poor Zara. Bad enough to be the victim of blackmail. To have the extortionist turn out to be someone as unexciting as Melwood Gill was adding insult to injury.
    "Rollie knew about my past?" Zara frowned. "But he never said anything."
    "That's because it didn't matter to him," Olivia assured her. "Unfortunately he kept the information in a file. After he was killed, Melwood went through Uncle Rollie's personal records. He found the folder on you when he discovered the one on Dixon Haggard."
    "Good lord." Zara absorbed that information. "So it wasn't one of my old rivals?"
    "I'm afraid not. I destroyed the file last night."
    "I see." Zara paused. "You destroyed the entire file?"
    "It wasn't very big." Olivia recalled the short document she had fed to the flames. "Only a couple of pages."
    "No, uh, photos?"
    "Nope."
    "I see."
    "It's all gone, Aunt Zara. Just as though it had never existed."
    Zara sighed dolefully. "Very kind of you, dear."
    "There is nothing to worry about now."
    "Wonderful," Zara said sadly. She raised her chin so that the light from the desk lamp accented her cheekbones the way it had the day Sybil had decided she would survive Nick's infidelity. "I will be forever grateful."
    Olivia groped for some way to cheer her up. "Of course, there are probably a few copies of your early films still floating around somewhere in the old files of the studio that made them."
    Zara brightened. "Yes, that's true, isn't it?"
    "One never knows when one of them might fall into the wrong hands."
    "My God, you're right." Zara rose to her feet, her hand on her breast. "I shall never be entirely free of the threat of exposure."
    "Probably not."
    "I will live the rest of my days with a sword of Damocles hanging over my head."
    "Yep." Olivia smiled. "But life must go on. And so must business. Can you finish the sketches for the Simmons-Cameron charity auction for me by three?"
    "I'll get right on it." Zara opened the door and wafted happily out of the office.

    "You saved her life." Todd shoved his hands into the pockets of his trousers. He studied the cloudy sky outside the office window as if he saw arcane runes there. "I don't know what to say, except thank you."
    "It was my fault that she was in danger." Jasper lounged back in his chair and contemplated Todd's intent, serious profile. "You don't thank someone for screwing up the way I did."
    Todd glanced over his shoulder. Sunlight glinted on the rims of his glasses. "Too bad folks like you don't run for public office. What this country needs is more people in leadership positions who will take responsibility for their actions."
    "I'm happy here at Glow, thanks. I'd never make it as a politician."
    "Why not?"
    Jasper shrugged. "Politics is all about