"Perhaps not for long, Mr. Jewell," Eleanor LaRousse remarked as she sat down in the leather covered swivel chair behind the desk. She motioned for him to sit in a comfortable upholstered wing chair to her left. "I understand that your book has the potential to be a best seller."

"Perhaps," he said, wondering where she had heard such a thing. "You seem to know more about it's possible future than I do." He leaned back in the chair and stared at the ornate brass lamp that dominated the desktop. It's glow threw soft highlights on Eleanor's blond hair, which was pulled back into a tight bun.

She smiled and rose from the chair, walking to a small refrigerator built in to a wall of bookshelves and racks of audio and video equipment. "Have a carrot stick?" she asked, holding out a large crystal glass filled with thinly cut carrot pieces and water.

"What? No alcohol?," asked Henry sarcastically. "I thought surely you must have a bar in here somewhere. You thought of everything else...."

Eleanor LaRousse laughed and in so doing spilled a bit of the water on the bare oak floor, where it beaded up and caught the reflection of the light from a nearby floor lamp. "I do almost everything, Mr. Jewell, but I don't drink. My father was an alcoholic and I learned very early that drinking can cause a hell of a lot of pain and suffering. So I don't. If you're thirsty I've got several kinds of fruit juice -- or bottled water...."

"I'm really OK right now," he said. "You still haven't told me how you knew about my book."

She walked over to him and held out the glass of carrot sticks. "Take one -- they're good for you." He took a dripping stick from the glass. "Oh, that...." she teased. "It was just something that Allen said...."

"Well, what did he say?" Henry was getting impatient.

"Oh, he just said that it was a very strong book and that he thought it had a chance to go to the top," she said, walking to the window behind the desk. "He also said that he didn't think you liked it that much but that you thought it would have a wide audience."

Henry Jewell knew that this was the person he needed to help complete the work on his book. He also knew that the relationship would be a difficult and possibly disruptive one. Henry was a perceptive person, often able to predict the future even when he would rather have not.

Eleanor looked out the window, still clutching the glass of carrot sticks. "Now that we know one another a little better, Henry, let's discuss how best to work together. I....assume you want me to work on this with you...." she said, turning toward him as she bent over to put the glass on the desk.

"Yes," he said, "I most definitely do." And as he said it, Henry Jewell knew he had said the wrong thing.

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