Cherry Ames Staff Nurse by Helen Wells

Author:Helen Wells
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer Publishing Company
Published: 2008-03-12T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER VII

The Wizard

THE HOTEL CARLTON WAS NOT AS GRAND AS ITS NAME. Cherry looked around its worn, dingy lobby on Saturday morning, and decided that Cleveland Pell was, as her father had guessed, operating on a shoestring. The desk clerk looked at her inquiringly, but Cherry avoided his glance and went directly to the elevator. She did not wish to be announced. She did not relish walking in on a stranger at his hotel, but she did not want Pell to duck out of sight, either. Why was he secretive about his address?

“Suite 321,” Cherry said to the elevator operator.

“Third floor, miss. To your right.”

“Do you know whether Mr. Pell is in?”

“He’s in, miss. So is his secretary.”

“Thank you.” At the third floor Cherry stepped out of the elevator.

Cherry rang the doorbell of Suite 321 and waited. The door opened part way, and a cheaply stylish young woman looked Cherry up and down. Cherry had made it a point to be very well dressed for this visit.

“Yes?” the young woman demanded.

“Good morning,” Cherry said, pleasantly and confidently. “I believe Mr. Pell is expecting me, or half expecting me. I’m Miss Ames, from Hilton, a client of Mr. Foye’s. I’m here to see Mr. Pell about the investment I’m about to make.”

“Mr. Pell is too busy to see any clients today,” the secretary said. “Sorry. You can leave your check with me. I’ll give you a receipt. Uh—I’m his secretary, Miss Black.”

“We-ell—” Cherry pretended to accept this arrangement in order to gain entry.

She followed the officious secretary into a small anteroom or waiting room, sketchily furnished except for industrial photographs tacked on the walls. The secretary’s desk was overflowing with incoming mail, which apparently she had just been opening. A big untidy pile of checks, made out to Cleveland Pell, caught Cherry’s attention. A lot of people were sending him their money to invest. The door into the next room was closed.

“You want to give me your check, Miss—er—?” the secretary said. “Do you want an application form, or did Mr. Foye already give you one? If he didn’t, sign this.”

“Miss Black, I haven’t fully decided,” Cherry said, forcing a smile. The secretary was in such an obvious hurry to get Cherry’s check and get her out of the office. “I do need to see Mr. Pell because—”

“He isn’t in.”

“—because I have quite a lot of cash with me, and I’m only going to be in Chicago for a few hours. I don’t like to carry all this cash around—”

“Oh! Well, wait here and I’ll see what I can do for you.” The secretary went into the next room and closed the door behind her.

They must be whispering, Cherry thought, and craned her neck for a look at the incoming mail. She’d never do such a thing as a rule, but Pell and his salesmen were not particularly scrupulous, and she was here to gain information, by any method she could. She saw that the flood of mail came from all over Illinois.

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