Flash (43 page)

“About time you got married again, Uncle Jasper.” Paul glanced across the top of the crowd to where Olivia stood chatting with Andy Andrews. “I like her.”

“Glad to hear it.” Jasper followed Paul's gaze. He felt a curious warmth infuse him. He was slowly growing accustomed to this sensation of happiness and satisfaction, he realized. He would never take it for granted, but he had reached the point where he could trust the feeling. With Olivia by his side, it would last.

The annual Glow, Inc., picnic was a success. The smell of broiled salmon and roasted corn on the cob wafted across the crowded park. Pennants snapped
from the colorful tents. Children dashed back and forth. Most were playing with samples of the newest product line from Glow's toy division: miniature instant-glow vehicles that looked as if they had been designed on another planet.

On a stage decorated with hundreds of brightly lit Glow products, musicians dressed in jeans and boots pounded out lively country music.

“It was kind of a relief to hear that you're going to marry Olivia, if you want to know the truth.” Kirby looked at Jasper with serious eyes. “Paul and I have been a little worried about you lately.”

Jasper raised his brows. “Worried?”

“It's not normal for a man your age to live alone,” Kirby explained in knowledgeable tones. “And when you sold Sloan & Associates to Al, we were afraid that you might be having something more than a midlife crisis.”

Paul wrinkled his nose. “Kirby thought you were sinking into depression. I told him you were just bored. All you needed was a new goal in life. Looks like you found it.”

“Yes,” Jasper said dryly, “I certainly did.”

Al Okamoto wandered over. He had two paper cups in his hands, one of which he offered to Jasper.

“Thanks.” Jasper took the cup. He looked down and saw that it held iced tea. “Having a good time?”

“Great party,” Al said. “Wouldn't have missed it for the world. So, when are you and Olivia going to get busy having kids?”

Jasper looked at him. “Kids?”

“Yeah, you know.” Al held one hand out to indicate
a low level on his leg. “Short little people who get bigger.”

“Al's right,” Paul nodded soberly. “You'd make a great father. Just ask me or Kirby.”

“Yeah,” Kirby said. “Think about it.”

Paul grinned. “You've probably got all those books you used that first year with me and Kirby still stored in the basement.”

Amusement gleamed in Al's eyes. “Don't take too long to make up your mind. After all, it's not like you're getting any younger, you know.”

“Thanks for pointing that out to me, Al.”

But when he looked at Olivia again, Jasper had a sudden vision of her holding an infant to her breast while she orchestrated a Light Fantastic production. He smiled to himself as he felt the rightness of it all envelope him.

He and Olivia could do kids, he thought. Hell, they could do anything together.

“When's the big announcement going to take place?” Al asked.

Jasper glanced at his watch. “I believe Olivia has us scheduled to go on in about five minutes. We're part of the entertainment.”

“Come on, Olivia, give me something I can use,” Andy urged. “I'm going to give you another great mention in
Hard Currency.”

“I don't know what else I can tell you,” Olivia said. “You got the press release.”

“All it said was that the two owners of Glow, Inc., would announce their engagement today at the annual
company picnic. Big deal. I'm looking for the business angle. Is this a classic marriage of convenience made to strengthen the image of Glow, Inc., in the eyes of potential buyers or investors?”

“No,” Olivia said patiently. “This is not a business marriage. Glow, Inc., will remain a family-held company.”

“How do we know that?”

Olivia glared at him. “You know, Andrews, I'm getting a little tired of your interest in my private life.”

Jasper came up behind her. He gave Andy a smile that held an unmistakable hint of warning. “No more questions from the press. This is supposed to be a party.” He looked at Olivia. “I think it's time for our announcement.”

She made a show of glancing at the stage where the musicians had just ended a song. “It certainly is.” She flashed a dismissing smile at Andy. “I'm afraid you'll have to excuse us.”

She allowed Jasper to take her arm and steer her toward the lighted stage.

“Nice going,” she said. “Your timing, as always, was excellent. I was just about to pour my iced tea over Andy.”

“I know. And although it's a tempting thought, I don't think it would have done the company image any good.”

“I suppose you're right,” she said regretfully.

“I'm always right when it comes to corporate matters. Heck, that's why I get the corner—”

Olivia clapped her hands over her ears. “No, don't say it. I can't stand it.”

“The corner office with the big windows,” he concluded as he guided her up the stage steps. “By the way, in line with our agreement to discuss major business decisions whenever possible before I finalize them, I have an issue I would like to bring up.”

Warily she took her hands away from her ears. “What issue is that?”

He did not answer immediately. Instead, he brought her to a halt in front of the podium. Olivia looked out at the sea of faces made up of friends, family, and employees of Glow, Inc. She was conscious of how very good she felt today. Uncle Rollie would have been pleased, she thought, as an expectant hush fell over the crowd.

“I was wondering,” Jasper said loudly enough that the microphone picked up the words, “what you thought about having a couple of kids?”

The words boomed out from the speakers on either side of the stage. For an instant, everyone, including Olivia, was too startled to react.

Olivia recovered first. She put her arms around Jasper's neck. “I think that sounds like a terrific idea.”

Jasper grinned. Instead of making the formal announcement of their engagement to the crowd, he pulled Olivia into his arms and kissed her.

A loud cheer erupted from the throng gathered in front of the stage.

Out of the corner of her eye, Olivia caught a glimpse of the company slogan spelled out in flashing lights overhead. She decided it said it all.

TOWARD A GLOWING FUTURE

Pocket Books

Proudly Presents

Eye of the Beholder
Jayne Ann Krentz

Available in paperback
from
Pocket Books

Turn the page for a preview of
Eye of the Beholder
. …

Avalon, Arizona

Twelve years earlier

He swept into the house out of the hot desert night, an avenging warlock from the dark canyons carrying thunder and lightning in his fists.

Alexa froze at the top of the stairs when she heard his voice in the hall. Her sudden stillness was instinctive, the immediate, elemental reaction of any creature to the presence of a potential predator.

“I don't know whether it was you or Guthrie who killed my father, Kenyon,” he said. “Hell, for all I know, the two of you planned it together.”

The night was warm but Alexa shivered in the shadows above the hall. John Laird Trask
was young, somewhere in his early twenties, but the taut control he exerted over his icy rage would have done credit to a man twice his age.

“You listen to me, son, and you listen good.” Lloyd Kenyon spoke with a calm authority that reverberated with an underlying sympathy. “No one murdered your father. Once you've had a chance to cool down and think about it you'll accept the facts. It was a tragic accident.”

“Bullshit. Dad was a good driver and he knew that road. He didn't go off Avalon Point by accident. One of you forced him over the edge.”

Alexa felt suddenly light-headed. A strange, unfamiliar panic left her fighting for breath.
Trask was threatening Lloyd.
He was not only a much younger man, he was even bigger than Lloyd, who still had plenty of bulk and muscle left over from the days when he had run construction crews.

Her anxiety for Lloyd's safety took her by surprise. Until tonight she would have sworn that she had no strong, personal attachment to him. She and her mother had moved in with him eighteen months ago following her parents' divorce. She had been careful to keep a cool distance between herself and this very large, unexciting, rock-steady businessman
Vivien had married; careful to make sure Lloyd understood that he could never take the place of the charismatic hero who had been her real father.

It had been a year since Crawford Chambers had been killed by a sniper's bullet. He had been halfway around the world at the time, photographing the latest in the long list of small, brutal civil wars that had made him a legend in journalism circles.

Crawford had been everything that Lloyd was not, a rakish, dashing, larger-than-life figure who lived life on the edge.

Her father would have been able to deal with Trask, Alexa thought. But staid, steady, unflappable Lloyd probably didn't stand a chance.

Trask's accusations were nothing but crazy talk, Alexa thought. Lloyd would never harm anyone.

She had to get to the phone.

The nearest extension was at the foot of the stairs. With an enormous effort of will, she fought through the temporary paralysis. She went silently, cautiously, down the stairs.

“It was raining that night.” Lloyd's voice was calm, infused with reason. “This is what we call our monsoon season. Downpours are common. That stretch of the road is treacherous. Every-one
around here knows that. I've always said that portion of Cliff Drive should be closed during a storm.”

“The rain had passed by the time Dad got into the car,” Trask said. “I checked with the cops.”

“The roads were still wet. Even the best driver can make a mistake.”

“This was no mistake,” Trask said. “I know all about the partnership between the three of you. And I know about the offer from that hotel chain. Dad was murdered because someone wanted him out of the way.”

Alexa realized he believed every word he said. She knew that he was wrong, at least about Lloyd. But Trask was clearly convinced that his father had been murdered.

She sensed her mother's presence on the steps behind her. She glanced over her shoulder. Vivien's fine-boned, ascetic face was taut with anxiety as she listened to the two men quarrel.

“You think I was involved in some kind of bizarre conspiracy to kill your father?” Lloyd's voice rose in disbelief. “That's outrageous.”

“I looked through some of Dad's papers this afternoon. I heard about the quarrel at the country club the night he died. It didn't take me long to put it together.”

“Business partners sometimes disagree. It's a fact of life, son.”

“That argument was more than a disagreement. I talked to the bartender at the club. He said the three of you nearly came to blows.”

“Guthrie gets a little hot-headed when he drinks,” Lloyd admitted. “But I restrained him. There was no physical stuff.”

“Maybe not then. But you and Guthrie knew that Dad would never agree to sell the Avalon Mansion property to that chain. So one of you found a way to get rid of him.”

“Damn it, I've had enough.” Lloyd's voice hardened. “I'm trying to be patient. I know you've had a hellish few days and I know you've got a lot of responsibility to shoulder. But you're going too far here.”

“Believe me, Kenyon, I haven't even started.”

“You're going to have to get your priorities straight, Trask. You've got your brother to think about. He's only seventeen and you're all the family that boy has left in the world.”

“Thanks to you or Guthrie.”

“That's a damn lie. When you come to your senses and calm down, you'll see that. Meanwhile, you'd better start thinking about the future. You've got your work cut out.”

“Don't talk to me about my
work,
you sonofabitch.”

“Someone better talk to you about it. You're going to have to get through the fallout from your father's bankruptcy and take care of your brother at the same time. That's a man-sized job. You need to get focused and stay that way. You can't afford to waste your energy chasing a wild conspiracy fantasy.”

“I don't need you to tell me what I have to do, Kenyon. I'll take care of Nathan and I'll take care of myself. But one day I'll find out what really happened at Avalon Point the night Dad died.”

Alexa reached the bottom of the stairs. Neither man noticed her. They were intent only on each other. Lloyd had his back to her as he confronted Trask.

This was the first time she had seen John Laird Trask in person. She knew from what Lloyd had said that his family came from Seattle. It was Harry Trask's plan to restore the old Avalon Mansion and turn it into a destination resort that had brought him to Arizona on a frequent and regular basis during the past year. His two sons had remained in Seattle.