“That’s swell,” I said. “How about dinner, Marian? Have you eaten?”
“No, and I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.”
I grinned at Bertha Cool and said, “Too bad you’ve eaten, Mrs. Cool. I’ll take Marian out to dinner. I’ll want some expense money.”
Bertha Cool positively beamed. “Yes indeed, Donald,” she said. “Go right ahead and take her out. There’ll be nothing for you to do this evening.”
“I want some expense money.”
“Just be sure to be on deck at nine o’clock in the morning, Donald, and if anything turns up tonight, I’ll call you.”
“That’s fine. And the expense money?”
Bertha Cool opened the drawer in the desk. She opened her purse, took out a key to the cash drawer, counted out a hundred dollars in bills, and handed them to me. I kept my hand extended and said, “Keep coming. I’ll tell you when to stop.”
She started to say something, then handed me another fifty. “That,” she said, “is all that’s in the drawer. I don’t keep any more cash than that in the office.” She slammed the lid of the cash box shut, locked it, and closed the drawer.
I said, “Come on, Marian.”