Flash (40 page)

“Dixon Haggard is the reason I'm here today.”

“Yeah?” Todd took off his glasses and began to polish them absently with a handkerchief. “Sit down. Want some coffee?”

“No, thanks. I had some before I left—” Jasper broke off. He had been about to say,
before I left your sister's place this morning,
but he decided against it. Todd was well aware that he was involved in an affair with Olivia, but somehow it seemed a trifle undiplomatic to flaunt it. “I had some with breakfast.”

“Suit yourself. I need another cup.” Todd got to his feet and crossed the small office to pour a thick, foul-looking dark brew from a pot. “I'm going through this stuff the way Olivia did after we got word about Uncle Rollie and she suddenly found herself in charge of both Glow and Light Fantastic.”

This was probably as good a time as any, Jasper thought. “Speaking of Olivia …”

“What about her?” Todd raised the mug to his mouth and took a long swallow.

“I'm going to marry her.”

Coffee spewed from between Todd's teeth. “Jesus H. Christ.”

“I assume that means we have your blessing?”

Todd put down his mug and reached for a napkin. He eyed Jasper as he wiped his mouth. “Is this some kind of joke? Because if so, your timing is really lousy. This is not one of my better days.”

“My timing is not always great, except in business, but I can promise you, I'm not joking.”

Todd sat down heavily. He regarded Jasper with wary eyes. “Has Olivia accepted your, uh, proposal?”

“Yes.”

“Huh.” Todd leaned back in his chair. He looked dazed. “Sonofagun.”

“You know, for an academic think-tank type, you don't seem to have what anyone would call an expansive vocabulary this morning.”

“I'm not at my best at the moment.” Todd gripped the wooden arms of his chair and shook his head. “Kind of sudden, isn't it?”

“We haven't set the date, if that's any consolation.”

Todd sat forward abruptly. “Look, this isn't any of my business … Hell, yes, it is. She's my sister.” He narrowed his eyes. “Are you real sure you know what you're doing here?”

“Yes.”

“Whose idea was this, anyhow?”

“You could say we held talks on the subject and came to a mutually agreed-upon decision.”

Todd folded his hands on the desk. “You're positive the idea did not originate with Olivia?”

“What makes you think it did?”

“Damn it, Sloan, you know what's bothering me here. I mean, in addition to the speed with which it's all happening, that is.”

“Why don't you just come out and say it?”

“All right, I will.” Todd gave him a very direct look. “Let's go to the bottom line, as you business types like to say. Uncle Rollie always treated her as his second-in-command.
My sister has been known to go above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to what she feels are her responsibilities to the family.”

“I'm aware of that.”

“Is there any possibility that she may have put the idea of marriage into your head because she's convinced that she can protect Glow and Chantry family interests by marrying you?”

“No.”

Todd blinked owlishly. “You're, uh, sure of that?”

“Positive.”

Todd cleared his throat. “What makes you so certain?”

“A couple of reasons. First, I asked her if she was marrying me in hopes of controlling Glow through me.”

Todd looked flabbergasted. “You
asked
her that straight out?”

“Well, she raised the issue first. I could tell that it was worrying her that everyone would think Glow was the reason she had agreed to marry me. So we discussed it.” And when she had stopped laughing, he had made love to her until all she could say was his name over and over again as she convulsed in his arms.

“I see. What's the second reason you're so sure she didn't agree to marry you on account of Glow?”

“Olivia and I have a working arrangement. She knows that, whenever possible, I will consult with her before I carry out crucial decisions at Glow. But she understands that as long as I own fifty-one percent of the company, I will make the decisions that affect it.”

“Huh,” Todd muttered again. He unclasped his hands and began to massage the back of his neck. “There's probably something more I should say here, but I can't seem to think of it.”

“Maybe it will come to you later.”

“Where is Olivia, anyway? At Light Fantastic?”

“No. She's on her way down to the waterfront pier warehouse where the Lancaster fund-raiser was going to be held. She told Bolivar and a couple of her staff to meet her there so that they can start taking apart the stage and the decorations.”

Todd nodded wearily. “She probably wants to get that big lighted flag and the sound system equipment out of there as quickly as possible.”

“I think she has visions of trying to sell one of the other candidates on the idea of using them for a rally.”

“That's my sister.” Todd smiled slightly. “Always got an eye on the bottom line.”

“Yes. Mind if I ask some questions about Dixon Haggard?”

“What?” Todd scowled. “Oh, sure. What about him?”

Jasper glanced at the calendar on the wall. “I'd like to know where he was on the twenty-sixth of last month.”

Todd followed his gaze to the calendar and frowned. “Why?”

“Because I'm trying to tie up a few loose ends. Olivia can tell you that I tend to be a little obsessive about details.”

“I'm not sure where he was.” Todd squinted slightly, concentrating. “As I recall, he was out of town
on campaign business for a couple of days around that time.”

“Do you know where he went?”

“No. I just remember him saying something about accepting a check from a big out-of-state donor. Some VIP he had to deal with personally.” Todd sighed. “A lot of important people had their eye on Eleanor as a future candidate for Congress or even the White House.”

“Any way of finding out exactly where he went?”

Todd thought about it. “I guess we could check the travel records.”

“I'd appreciate it.”

“This is important?”

“Yes,” Jasper said.

“Hell, why not. It isn't as if I've got anything else to do today except deal with the bank, the media, and a bunch of sobbing campaign volunteers.”

Todd got to his feet and went to a tall black file cabinet that stood against the wall. He opened a drawer and started rummaging through the files.

Jasper rose and crossed the room to join him. “How's Eleanor handling things?”

“She's in seclusion.” Todd did not look up from the files. “Won't talk to the press. Won't even answer the phone.”

“You don't sound too empathetic.”

“I'm pretty disgusted, if you want to know the truth. The least she could have done was come down here to say thanks to her faithful troops.” He nodded toward the small group in the other room. “They worked their tails off for her, and she just walked out on them the minute things got rough.”

“You really think she could have overcome the setback caused by Haggard's arrest?”

“I don't know. What makes me angry is that she didn't even try. I always thought she was a fighter, but I guess I was wrong.” Todd removed a folder from the drawer. “Here's the travel file. The campaign booked all flights and hotel reservations through an outside agency.”

It took Jasper less than three minutes to determine that there was no record of air travel for anyone connected to the Lancaster Campaign during the period when he, himself, had been rusticating on Pelapili Island.

Obviously he had been paranoid, after all.

“That's strange.” Todd scanned the travel sheets. “I know Haggard was out of town for a couple of days. And I'm damn sure he wouldn't have paid for his own airfare. He was too cheap. Hang on, I'll ask Sally if she remembers how that trip was handled.”

Sally proved to be the blond receptionist. She, too, recalled that Haggard had been out of town on a business trip.

“He didn't ask me to make the arrangements with the travel agency the way he usually did, though,” she said. “I assumed he made them himself.”

Todd glanced at the clock. “If it's that important, I can call the agency. It opens early.”

“I'd really like to get some answers,” Jasper said.

“I would, too.” Todd picked up the phone. “Looks like I'm going to be spending my whole day on financial matters.”

Ten minutes later Todd hung up the phone again.
He looked at Jasper with a troubled expression.

“The agency has no record of any bookings for Dixon Haggard or anyone else connected to the campaign around that time. Any other ideas?”

“Dixon could have made his own reservations. Let's try another angle. Do you have a record of which VIP donor he went to see?”

“Of course.” Todd grimaced. “At least, we sure as hell better have a record. Eleanor was scrupulous about the records of all campaign finances, but after what's happened at the bank this morning, I don't know—” He broke off. “Forget it. That's another problem. Let me get the info on big donors out of the computer.”

A few minutes later Todd conceded defeat. There was no record of any major donation to the Lancaster campaign during the entire week following the twenty-sixth.

“I don't understand this,” Todd said. “I know Haggard was out of town, and he told me, himself, he was off to take care of a big donor.”

“The phrase
take care of
has a variety of different meanings.”

Todd frowned. “What are you getting at here?”

“I'll tell you after we check a couple of other things.”

“Why don't you tell me now?”

“Because I'm going to marry your sister,” Jasper said dryly. “I'd like to make a good impression on the family. I don't want the Chantrys thinking that I've got an acute paranoia disorder.”

“The Chantrys are a many and varied clan. In the
grand scheme of things, paranoia would probably be viewed as a relatively minor affliction.”

“I appreciate that.” Jasper glanced at the glowing computer screen. “Can you access the campaign bank account?”

“Sure. I've been working on that damned account all morning.” Todd swung around in his chair and punched in some letters and numbers.

A moment later the record of transactions appeared.

“Go back to the period around the twenty-sixth,” Jasper said.

A list of deposits received and checks issued by the campaign arrayed itself neatly on the screen. Jasper studied the numbers for a few minutes.

“See anything interesting?” Todd asked.

“That two thousand dollars on the twenty-fourth,” Jasper said slowly. “It was not a check issued to pay a bill.”

“No.” Todd eyed the screen more closely. “The money was transferred into another account.” He pointed to a string of numbers that followed the record of the transaction. “That one.”

“I don't suppose you recognize the number of that account?”

“No, but it shouldn't be too hard to get the name on it.”

“Let's start with Dixon Haggard,” Jasper said.

Todd looked thoughtful. “Easy enough to do. Dixon was usually too busy to go to the bank. He often sent Sally. She probably has some of his deposit slips in her desk drawer.”

The fog that had clouded portions of the scene was
finally beginning to clear. Soon, Jasper thought, he would have the whole picture. He was suddenly in a great hurry to get the answers. An unpleasant sense of urgency slid through him.

He should have come here sooner, he thought. He had the uneasy feeling that his timing was a little off this morning.

“Get Sally in here,” he said. “Now.”

Olivia glanced at her watch as she walked across the old, scarred timbers that formed the floor of the cavernous warehouse.

Bolivar, Bernie, and Matty were late. She had phoned the studio just before leaving the condo and left a message instructing them to meet her here. They were probably still enjoying their morning hit of caffeine and news at Café Mantra, she thought.

If they didn't show up in the next few minutes, she would call the coffee shop and tell someone to send the Light Fantastic staff off to work.

She walked toward the bunting-draped stage and podium. The shadowed warehouse was so quiet that
she could hear the creak of pilings and the muffled slap of water beneath the pier.

She walked up the steps and across the stage to the red, white, and blue curtains that concealed the sound system and the control panel. She glanced up at the heavy, carefully rolled flag overhead.

Her staff had outdone themselves. It really would have been a spectacular production, she thought. Maybe it wasn't too late to interest the Stryker campaign. She wondered if she should delay the teardown until she got hold of a Stryker publicist. If she could talk someone into coming down here to the pier for a demonstration …