Up for Grabs

Chapter 17

I walked into the office. Bertha blinked her eyes and said, “My God, can’t you ever stay in one place? How are you going to get a job finished if you keep flitting back and forth?”

“The job’s finished,” I told her.

Bertha said angrily, “You were supposed to have three weeks to work on it. Three weeks at sixty dollars a day is—”

I interrupted to toss Breckinridge’s check on the desk in front of her.

She unfolded the check, started to say something, then her eyes began to get big.

“Fry me for an oyster,” she said. And then after a moment, added, “And to think that somebody else was paying all the expenses.”

“All except one five-hundred-dollar item,” I said.

“A five-hundred-dollar item? What’s that for?” she asked.

“A bonus for Elsie Brand,” I said, and walked out of the office while she was still sputtering.