Summer Island

They were down in the conference room now, setting out food, bottles of champagne, plates filled with peach slices. Assistants, publicists, staff writers, producers, they were all preparing to spend an hour of their valuable personal time to put together a “surprise” party for the newest star of talk radio.

She set her champagne flute down on her desk and opened one of her drawers, pulling out a small black Chanel makeup case. She touched up her face, then headed out of the office.

The hallways were unusually quiet. Probably everyone was helping out with the party. At precisely four-forty-five, Nora walked into the conference room.

It was empty.

The long table was bare; no food was spread out, no tiny bits of colored confetti lay scattered on the floor. A happy-birthday banner hung from the overhead lights. It looked as if someone had started to decorate for a party and then suddenly stopped.

It was a moment before she noticed the two men standing to her left: Bob Wharton, the stations owner and manager; and Jason Close, the lead in-house attorney.

Nora smiled warmly. “Hello, Bob. Jason,” she said, moving toward them. “Its good to see you. ”

The men exchanged a quick glance.

She felt a prickling of unease. “Bob?” Bobs fleshy face, aged by two-martini lunches and twenty-cigarette days, creased into a frown.

“We have some bad news. ”

“Bad news?”

Jason eased past Bob and came up to Nora.

His steel-gray hair was perfectly combed. A black Armani suit made him look like a forty-year-old mafia don.

“Earlier today, Bob took a call from a man named Vince Corell. ”

Nora felt as if shed been smacked in the face. The air rushed out of her lungs.

“He claimed hed had an affair with you while you were married. He wanted us to pay him to keep quiet. ”

“Jesus, Nora,” Bob sputtered angrily.

“A goddamn affair. While your kids were at home. You should have told us. ”

Shed told her readers and listeners a thousand times to be strong. Never let them see youre afraid. Believe in yourself and people will believe in you. But now that she needed that strength, it was gone. “I could say he was lying,” she said, wincing when she heard the breathy, desperate tone of her voice.

Jason opened his briefcase and pulled out a manila envelope. “Here. ”

Noras hands were shaking as she took the envelope and opened it.

There were black-and-white photographs inside. She pulled out the top sheet. It wasnt more than halfway out when she saw what it was.

“Oh, God,” she whispered. She reached out for the chair nearest her and clutched the metal back. Only pure willpower kept her from sinking to her knees. She crammed the pictures back into the envelope.

“There must be a way to stop this. ” She looked at Jason. “An injunction. Those are private photographs. ”

“Yes, they are. His. Its obvious that you . . . knew the camera was there. Youre posing. Hes probably been waiting all this time for you to become famous. That piece in People must have done it. ”

She drew in a deep breath and looked at them. “How much does he want?”

There was a pregnant pause, after which Jason stepped closer. “A half million dollars. ”

“I can get that amount-”

“Money never kills this kind of thing, Nora. You know that. Sooner or later itll come out. ” She understood immediately. “You told him no,” she said woodenly. “And now hes going to the tabloids. ”

Jason nodded. “Im sorry, Nora. ”