“Nunnely glanced through the war news on the first page, turned to the second page, and the headlines about Mabel hit him in the face.”
“What did he do?”
“He did exactly what you’d expect him to do. He got to his feet, smiling rather patronizingly at the lawyer, and told him not to bother making out the release; that on second thought he’d decided he would settle only for the full amount of the judgment, together with interest and court costs. It was a cinch. With Mabel’s death, he knew I’d inherit the property, and all he had to do was to grab that property out of the estate.”
“That’s tough,” Bertha said.
“I lost about nineteen thousand dollars right then. Perhaps more by the time the interest is all figured.”
“Tough luck,” Bertha said without sympathy. She opened her desk drawer, her eyes on Belder’s face, took out the spectacle case she had taken from Belder’s overcoat pocket, and placed it over on the far side of the desk where it was directly under Belder’s eyes.
Apparently Belder gave no heed to what she was doing.
“Look here, Mrs. Cool, I need you, I need your aggressive, dominant personality. I need your brains, your general competency. Now—”
Knuckles pounded on the closed door.
“Good Lord,” Bertha said, “I forgot to tell Elsie to lock the door. She’s gone home and some client has—”