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bankruptcy because of the article.”
    â€œHow come Wilder called Olivia Chantry Dane’s Dark Muse?” Jasper asked.
    â€œWilder credited her with being the marketing genius behind Dane’s career. He also hinted strongly that she was Dane’s artistic inspiration. That he could not paint without her. When she threatened to leave him, he went nuts. Ms. Chantry, however, made out like a bandit after Dane’s death.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œApparently she inherited all of the Logan Dane paintings that had not been sold. Since the market for Dane’s work has done nothing but explode straight into the stratosphere in the past three years, I think you can assume Ms. Chantry is sitting on a fortune in art.”
    â€œInteresting.”
    â€œWe may get to see some of her private collection at the end of the month.” Al’s voice was suddenly infused with enthusiasm. “The Kesgrove Museum of Modern Art is putting on a Dane retrospective soon.”
    â€œThat’s nice,” Jasper said absently. He noticed that the line at the departure gate was starting to move. “Look, I’ve got to go, Al. I’ll talk to you when I get back.”
    â€œYou’re sure you don’t want to finish out the month there on Pelapili?”
    â€œNot a chance. I’m suffering serious fax-withdrawal already. No telling what will happen if I stay any longer.”
    Jasper replaced the phone, but he did not take his hand off the receiver. For a moment he contemplated the view through the open walls of the flight lounge. Palm trees shuddered in a sluggish trade wind. The sparkle of sunlight on blue water would have been blinding if not for the dark glasses he wore.
    His entire future had been altered by the deal he had done with Roland Chantry. Fifty-one percent of Glow, Inc., was now his.
    He released the phone and picked up his flight bag. There was something to be said for a tropical vacation after all, he decided. True, until yesterday, the trip had been a crashing bore. But things were finally looking up.
    For the first time in months he had an intriguing project on which to focus his considerable powers of attention and energy. He had a goal.
    He not only owned a new business, he had a new business partner. That meant that a wide assortment of problems awaited him back in Seattle. They were the kind of problems he was good at handling.
    The fleeting thoughts he’d had concerning a second marriage vanished. Just as well, he thought cheerfully. He was not very good at marriage.
    He was, however, downright brilliant when it came to business.
    He was whistling under his breath when he walkedon board the plane a few minutes later. When the cabin attendant offered him that day’s edition of the
Wall Street Journal
, Jasper decided that life was good.
    He immersed himself immediately in a piece on corporate tax strategies. He did not bother to look out the window to watch Pelapili disappear.

3

    Bolivar waved his hands in exasperation. “Know what your problem is, Olivia? You’ve got no romance in your soul.”
    Hands on her hips, Olivia glared up at her cousin, who was perched on a stepladder. “I’m not looking for romance. I’m after a few cheap thrills. I want chills down the spine. A nice creepy feeling.”
    â€œThis is supposed to be Merlin’s Cave.” Bolivar stabbed a finger at the looming entrance of the life-sized model of a cavern. “You’re dealing with a romantic archetype. The fog will enhance the atmosphere, trust me.”
    Olivia pushed her glasses more firmly into place onher nose and scowled at the mammoth structure that occupied a large portion of the Light Fantastic studio. It was one of her company’s most ambitious projects. The walls of the artificial cave, inside and out, were painted a distinctive, eerie dark turquoise. The same odd color, a sort of futuristic medieval shade, was being applied to