A04 Bloodline - 1977 by Sidney Sheldon

Author:Sidney Sheldon
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

150

BLOODLINE

It took six ful days to tour the key buildings, and when Elizabeth had finished, she was exhausted, her head spinning with the vastness of it. And she

realized she was seeing just one Roffe plant.

There were dozens of others scattered around the world.

The facts and figures were stunning. "It takes between five and ten years to market a new drug, and out of every two thousand compounds tested,

we'l average only three products...."

And "... Roffe and Sons has three hundred people working here in quality control alone."

And"... Worldwide, Roffe and Sons is responsible for over half a mil ion employees...."

And "... our gross income last year was ..."

Elizabeth listened, trying to digest the incredible figures that Rhys was throwing at her. She had known that the company was large, but "large" was

such an anonymous word. Having it actual y translated into terms of people and money was staggering.

That night as Elizabeth lay in bed, recal ing al the things she had seen and heard, she was fil ed with an overpowering feeling of inadequacy.

Ivo: Believe me, cara, it is much better to leave all this to us.

You don't understand these things.

ALEC: I think you should sell but I have an ax to grind.

WALTHER: Why bother yourself with this? You can go off anywhere you like and enjoy your money.

They were right, al of them, Elizabeth thought. I'm going to get out and let them do what they like with the company. I do not belong in this position.

The moment she made the decision, she felt a deep sense of relief. She fel asleep almost immediately.

The fol owing day, Friday, was the beginning of a holiday weekend. When Elizabeth arrived at the office, she sent for Rhys to announce her

decision.

"Mr. Wil iams had to fly to Nairobi last night," Kate Erling informed her. "He said to tel you he would be back on Tuesday.

Can anyone else help you?"

Elizabeth hesitated. "Put in a cal to Sir Alec, please."

"Yes, Miss Roffe." Kate added, a note of hesitation in her voice,

"A package for you was delivered this morning by the police 151

SiDNEY SHELDON

department. It contains the personal belongings your father had with him at Chamonix."

The mention of Sam brought back that sharp sense of loss, of grief.

"The police apologized because they could not give it to your messenger. It was already on its way to you."

Elizabeth frowned. "My messenger?"

"The man you sent to Chamonix to pick it up."

"I didn't send anyone to Chamonix." It was obviously some bureaucratic mix-up. "Where is it?"

"I put it in your closet."

There was a Vuitton suitcase, containing Sam's clothes, and a locked attache case with a key taped to it. Probably company reports. She would let

Rhys handle them. Then she remembered that he was away. Wel , she decided, she would go away for the weekend too. She looked at the attache

case and thought, Perhaps there's something personal belonging to Sam. I'd better look at it first.

Kate Erling buzzed. "I'm sorry, Miss Roffe. Sir Alec's out of the office."

"Leave a message for him to cal me, please.

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