What's Better Than Money by James Hadley Chase

Author:James Hadley Chase [Chase, James Hadley]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: James, Hadley, Chase
Publisher: papachanjo
Published: 2011-12-13T08:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THREE

I

I got to the office before eight o’clock and I was in a pretty depressed mood.

Sarita had been quiet during breakfast. We had said little to each other. Nothing was said about the bungalow, but it was there, between us like a ten-foot wall.

When I looked at my desk and saw all the paper work piled in my In-tray, my heart sank. By going to Los Angeles, I would be throwing a hopeless burden on Jack. I knew he was pretty booked up this morning with appointments with contractors at the site of the bridge.

I slaved for an hour, getting some of the urgent paper work out of the way, then the door jerked open and Jack breezed in.

“Hi, Jeff!” he said, going over to his desk. “I’ve got four bulldozers on the job. They are beginning to clear the site right now. I’ve started them, now I’ve got to see Cooper about those concrete mixers. Any mail in yet?”

“Not yet.” I hesitated, then blurted out, “Look, Jack, I’ve got to take a couple of days off.”

He was pawing through a mass of papers, muttering under his breath. For a moment, he didn’t seem to have heard, then he looked up sharply.

“What was that?”

I leaned back in my desk chair and tried to look casual.

“I have to take a couple of days off. I want you to hold the fort.”

He stared at me as if he thought I had gone crazy.

“Hey! Wait a minute! You can’t do that! You can’t take time off now, Jeff! What are you thinking of! You have Kobey, Max Stone, Crombie and Cousins lined up for appointments, haven’t you? I want those estimates for the steel today. You can’t take time off now!”

“I’m sorry, but I have to. This is very urgent private business.”

His jovial face suddenly turned hard and flushed brick red.

“I don’t give a damn how urgent it is! We’re building a bridge and we have a time limit! To hell with your urgent and private business! You’ve got to stay right here and do your job as I’m doing mine!”

“But I have to go, Jack.”

He ran his hand over his balding head, staring at me. Slowly, the flush died down and into his alert eyes came a quizzing, shrewd expression.

“What’s up then?”

“Personal trouble,” I said woodenly, not looking at him. “It’s important to Sarita and me.”

He moved papers about on his desk, frowning, then he said, “I’m sorry I blew up. I’m sorry too to hear you have trouble. Let’s put our cards on the table, Jeff. You and I are partners. We have put our money in this firm and we’re in it together. We have landed the biggest job the City can offer us. If we fall down on it, we’re cooked. Make no mistake about that. I don’t know what your trouble is, but I’m reminding you this job represents my future as well as yours. If you miss these appointments, we’ll lose five working days. There’s no two ways about that.

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