Free A Different Light by Mariah Stewart Page A

door.
    Athen shook her head.
    “If you ask me, it’s that damned city charter,” Edie volunteered.
    Athen sat down at her desk and looked for a copy of the email she’d typed yesterday, the one Rossi had her send to Wolmar right at the close of the day. Maybe there was a clue in it. He’d seemed agitated at the time he’d dictated it to her.
    “Yup, that’d be my guess. It’s that damned charter, all right,” Edie repeated.
    Athen did her best to ignore her. Maybe Edie the chatterbox would see she was busy and go away.
    Maybe little people from Mars would land on theroof and turn them all into marshmallows.
    “You know that part that says you can only serve four consecutive terms?” Edie droned on. “A mistake, if you ask me, putting something like that in there. Now poor Dan has to give up the office.” She tsk-tsked. “A finer man never sat in that chair, and that’s the God’s honest truth.” She lowered her voice and added, “Everyone’s waiting for Dan to name his successor, and it’s going to have to be soon, too. The Labor Day rally is next week already.”
    “So?”
    “So that’s when he has to announce who gets the nod to run. Not that an election means anything in this city. Don’t get me wrong,” Edie hastened to add, “I’m a faithful member of the party. Always have been, always will be. And I’m loyal to Dan. God knows I’ll be just as loyal to whoever it is that Dan picks. It just seems to me to be a waste of money, though, going to the expense of a campaign when everyone knows who’s going to win.” She paused, then added, “Once we know who’s running, of course. That’s the beauty of having a one-party town.”
    “I thought there was more than one political party in Woodside Heights.” Athen frowned.
    “Well, technically, there is, but only one party has won an election in this city for over a hundred years.” Edie smiled. “It takes the drama out of the election when you know who’s going to win, but that’s okay with me. Who needs the agita?”
    The elevator doors slid open noiselessly.
    “Oh my, would you look at Himself,” Edie whispered as Jim Wolmar strode toward them, a jovial smile plastered on his face.
    “Good morning, ladies.” He nodded cheerfully,smoothing his tie and shooting the cuffs of the pale ivory shirt under the handsome gray Italian silk suit jacket. “Dan’s expecting me, Athen. Don’t get up. I can show myself in.”
    Something about Wolmar had bothered Athen since day one. It could have been the fact that he always wore the same self-satisfied expression. Maybe it was the overly solicitous manner in which he always agreed with Dan, always nodding vigorously, proclaiming, “Absolutely, Dan. Without question,” as if Dan’s words had been Jim’s very thoughts. It could be the way he looked. Tall and trim with a full head of perfectly groomed silver hair, Wolmar might be handsome if he lost that lifeless plastic gaze. He always reminded Athen of an older version of Barbie’s friend, Ken.
    It was generally believed that Wolmar was Rossi’s protégé, that Dan had been priming him to take over the office someday. Apparently, Jim believed that day was now near. Contrasting Dan’s mood to Jim’s lively steps, it seemed only one of them was happy about it.
    Jim was still wearing that same sappy smile when he emerged from Dan’s office ten minutes later. The smile seemed to slide to one side of his face somewhat when he approached the opening door of the elevator as Harlan Justis was stepping out. The two men greeted each other warily, like opponents who were sizing each other up for the first time. Athen caught Wolmar trying to steal a peek through the closing elevator doors as Justis entered the confines of Rossi’s office.
    Harlan Justis looked exactly the way a solicitor of a small city should look. He was well-spoken, well dressed, and well manicured. He was also apparently certain that when the dust settled, he, not Wolmar, would