Never Leave Me (18 page)

“Bye, Mummy.”

She went back past me and started out to the door.

“Wait a minute, baby,” I said. “I’ll take you down to school as soon as I get some coffee.”

She looked at me coldly for a moment, and then she spoke, “No, thank you, Dad,” she said formally. “I’m meeting some kids on the bus.” She turned quickly and ran out.

I looked over at Marge. The sound of the front door closing came back to my ears. For a moment I almost felt like a stranger in my own house.

“She’s still a child, Brad,” Marge said quickly. “There’re some things she doesn’t understand.”

I didn’t speak. Sally put the coffee down and I raised the cup to my lips. The hot liquid burned my throat and warmed me a little.

“Is Mrs. Schuyler going to be there?” Marge asked.

I shook my head.

“What does she think about your idea?” she continued. “Does she approve?” “She doesn’t know anything about it,” I answered. “She left the city last night.” Marge raised an inquiring eyebrow. “Where’d she go?”

“How should I know?” I asked peevishly. “I got enough troubles of my own without keeping track of her.”

A faint smile crossed her lips. “I’m sorry, Brad,” she said. “I didn’t mean to pry.” I had enough coffee. I got up. “I’m going,” I said.

She sat there looking up at me. “When will you be back?”

“To-night,” I said. “If there’s any change I’ll call you.” I started for the door. “Brad!” She came towards me, her face turned up to mine. “Good luck.”

I kissed her cheek. “Thanks,” I said. “I’ll need it.”

Her arm caught around my neck. “No matter what happens, Brad,” she whispered quickly. “Just remember that we’re all pulling for you.”

I stared down into her eyes, trying to see what went on inside her pretty little head.

She turned her face and rested it on my chest. I could hardly hear her. “I mean it, Brad,” she whispered. “I have no complaints, no matter what happens. None of us comes with a lifetime guarantee.”

“Marge,” I said huskily.

“Don’t speak, Brad,” she whispered quickly. “Just be right, no matter what you do. When you finally make up your mind, tell me. I’ll try to help.” She took her arms from around my neck and ran into the kitchen.

I stood there, staring at the swinging door. Slowly it stopped and I went out to the car.

I drove right out to the airport and called the office from there. “Did you hear from Levi yet?” I asked Mickey.

“Yes,” she answered. “He said he’d meet you at Pittsburgh airport.” “Did he get everything?” I asked.

“He didn’t say,” she answered. “Any other calls?”

“Nothing important,” she answered. “Wait a minute. Oh yes, Mrs. Schuyler called from Washington. She wants you to call her.”

I checked my watch. I would just have time to make the plane. “I’ll call her from Pittsburgh,” I said quickly. “I gotta run.”

I put down the phone and went out to the plane. I was feeling better. She had called me. I began to whistle as I walked across the field.

THE cab dropped us just outside the steel gate. We walked through and into the building. The special officer eyed Bob’s briefcase sceptically as we stopped in front of his desk.

“Mr. Rowan to see Mr. Brady,” I told him.

The big clock was just at one o’clock when he picked up the phone. He looked up at us. “Mr.

Brady is tied up,” he said. “He refers you to Mr. Proctor.”

I didn’t come to see Chris. “May I speak to Mr. Brady’s secretary?” I asked.

He spoke into the phone again, then put down the receiver. He gave me a curious look and waved us over to the elevator. The doors opened and we got in.

Sandy was waiting in the corridor as we got out. “Brad!” she said in a hushed voice. “What are you doing down here?”

I waited until the elevator doors had closed behind us. Then I started down the corridor towards the office. “I want to see your boss.”

“You can’t go in,” she said. “He’s got Mr. Proctor with him.”

“Good,” I grinned. “I was told to see Mr. Proctor.” I opened the door of her office and walked on through to Brady’s door.

Her hand caught at my arm. “Please don’t, Brad,” she begged. “He’ll only make it worse for both of us.” There was terror in her eyes.

I looked at her. I could feel her hand trembling on my arm. I could feel anger rising in me. What kind of a man was he to make another human feel so frightened and insecure? And though she didn’t know it, it was even worse in her case. She was his daughter. I put my hand over hers gently.

“Sandy,” I said softly. “You don’t have to be afraid of him any more. When we leave this office, he won’t be any different from any of us.”

Her eyes were wide. “What are you going to do?” “Show him that he’s not God,” I said, opening the door.

Chris was sitting with his back to the door, facing Brady behind his desk. Brady saw us first. He began to get to his feet angrily. “I told you I didn’t want to see you,” he said coldly.

“I wanted to see you,” I said, stepping into the office. I heard Bob come in after me and close the door.

“You were told to report to Mr. Proctor,” Brady said.

Chris was on his feet now, staring at me. I let my gaze go right through him. “I report to nobody,” I said. “Least of all the office boy.”

I started towards the desk. Chris made a move as if to stop me. I looked at him coldly and he stepped back to let me pass. I could see Brady’s hand moving towards the buzzer on his desk. “I wouldn’t call your policemen if I were you, Brady,” I said quickly. “You might live to regret it.”

His hand froze over the buzzer. “What do you mean?”

I lowered the boom. “Do you know that your daughter hates you?”

His face was suddenly white. I could feel him staring deep into me, burning into my mind. We were the only two people in the room now.

His tongue ran over his lips, trying to moisten their dryness. His lips moved. “You’re lying!” he exploded, the colour flooding back into his face.

Chris’s voice came over my shoulder. “You may as well leave, Brad. Mr. Brady isn’t interested in

your idle threats.”

I didn’t even turn to look at him. I still watched Brady. “I’m not lying, Brady,” I said. “I can prove it.”

“He was just telling me to give you every consideration possible, but under the present circumstances, even crawling on your hands and knees wouldn’t help,” Chris continued.

For the first time since I came into the office I looked at him. This was one place his arithmetic wasn’t going to do him any good. “I learned a lot of things from you, Chris,” I said coldly. “But not crawling. That’s your specialty.”

Chris looked over at Brady. “Shall I call the guards, sir?” he asked.

Brady was still staring at me. He spoke as if he hadn’t heard. “I tried to do everything I could for her, saw that she had everything she needed. A home. Money.”

Suddenly I saw him as a tired old man robbed of his only child. I thought of my Jeanie, and a strange sympathy for him came into me. “People are not like a business, Brady,” I said softly. “You can’t buy and sell them like so much property. You can’t lock them up in a vault and expect them to appreciate it.”

I could see his fingers white on his desk. There seemed to be no blood in his hands. “I asked how you knew, Mr. Rowan?”

“She came to my office last night and begged me to find her a place where she could be free of you,” I answered.

His words came very slowly. “Does she know about the relationship?” I shook my head. “No.”

“You didn’t tell her?”

I didn’t mention that I hadn’t found out until after she had gone. “It wasn’t my place, Mr. Brady.

You’re her father; I’m only her friend.”

He stared down at his hands for a long time. At last he looked up. “Proctor, go back to your office,” he said. “I’ll call you if I need you.”

Sheer hatred glared out of Chris’s eyes towards me at his summary dismissal. I smiled at him pleasantly. It only seemed to make him more infuriated as he stalked out. I turned back to Brady.

“Sit down, Mr. Rowan,” he said wearily.

I took the chair that Chris had vacated. Brady’s gaze went past me to Bob. There was no recognition in the look. “My associate, Mr. Robert M. Levi,” I said.

Brady nodded, still with no recognition.

“You may remember him,” I added. “He was the young attorney who prepared the anti-trust case against your company.”

A subtle change came into Matt Brady’s face; it seemed almost contemptuous. “I remember now,” he said, turning to me. “We paid him twenty-five thousand dollars to leave the government.”

I looked up at Bob. “That’s not the way I heard it,” I said.

There was a flush on his face. “I never took a cent, Brad,” he said angrily. I turned back to Brady. “I believe him, Brady.”

“I personally reimbursed the private detective I hired to check on him when he told me that was the only way we could get him to leave,” Brady snapped.

“Then you’ve been had, Brady,” I answered. “Bob left the government at your insistence but not for that reason. It was to protect his wife from your threats. He was offered money but never took any

part of it.”

He looked at Bob. Bob nodded. “That was the only reason that could make me quit. I didn’t want any part of your money.”

Brady closed his eyes wearily. “I don’t know what to believe.” He looked up at Bob. “But if I’m wrong, I’m sorry.”

Brady turned back to me. “How did you find out about Sand—er—my daughter, Mr. Rowan? I thought it was pretty well hidden by now.”

I nodded at Bob. “I was pretty desperate, Mr. Brady,” I answered. “I went to Bob and asked his help. It was he who actually found out. The stock transfer you made to her the day after she was born was what gave it away. He came across it while working on the case.”

“I see,” he nodded. “You are like me, Mr. Rowan. I believe I said that once before. You’re a fighter.”

I didn’t answer.

He folded his hands on his desk. “I suppose I should have told Nora a long time ago,” he said almost to himself. “But I couldn’t. I was afraid it would kill her. She’s an invalid and very proud. If she felt that she hadn’t given me all that I wanted she would die.”

He spun his chair around and looked out the large window at the smoking foundries behind him. “I couldn’t tell Nora and I couldn’t let my daughter leave me. I had to find a way to see her every day.” There was a faint bitterness in his voice. “I’m an old man now. The doctor says I should have quit a long time ago. But I couldn’t.” He spun his chair back and looked at me. “The only reason I still come in to work is to see her. Even if it’s only for a few minutes each day.

“Why once when she left me and took a job somewhere else, I found out she wasn’t making enough to live on. I made her come back. I didn’t want her to have to struggle.” His voice trailed away. For a few moments he was silent, then he looked up at me again. “But it seems everything I did was

wrong,” he added.

Bob and I looked at each other and remained silent. The minutes ticked slowly away while the old man sat at his desk and looked at his hands. I took out a cigarette and lit it.

“You’ve managed to get yourself pretty well involved with my family, Mr. Rowan,” Brady said suddenly.

I knew what he meant. “Mrs. Schuyler is a very good friend,” I said. “I’m trying to help her on the Infantile drive.”

“You’ve been seeing quite a bit of her, according to the papers,” he said.

I smiled. “You know the papers. They’re always looking for something to print.” “I thought you might be playing up to her because of me,” he said flatly.

“I happened to be very fond of Elaine, long before I knew either you or that she was related to you.

She’s a brave, wonderful person and she’s had more than enough trouble. I’m very proud that she likes me.”

He looked into my eyes. “I know she thinks a great deal of you.” I didn’t answer.

“That doesn’t settle the matter you came to see me on,” he said. “It doesn’t,” I agreed.

“If I didn’t agree to work with you,” he guessed shrewdly, “you planned to bring out that business with my daughter into the open, didn’t you?”

“It was something like that,” I admitted. “And if I still refuse?” he asked.

I thought for a long moment, then I answered. “Many years ago my father told me I could choose between a hell now or a hell hereafter. I didn’t know what he meant then but I’m beginning to learn. I’d rather my hell came hereafter.”

“Then you’re not going to say anything?” he asked, his eyes on my face.

I shook my head. “That’s not my affair. It’s your own private hell. I want no part of it.”

A slight sigh escaped his lips. “I’m glad you said that. If you had threatened me, I would have had to fight you no matter what happened.”

I got to my feet. “That’s the way I felt about you the last time I was down here.” I started for the door. “Come on, Bob,” I said.

“Wait a minute, Mr. Rowan.”

I turned back towards the desk. “Yes?”

The little man was on his feet, his usually reserved face was warm with a smile. “How are we going to be able to work out the details of the account if you leave?”

I could feel my heart pumping with excitement. I made it—I made it. The long shot had paid off. I didn’t speak.

He came around the desk towards me. I took his outstretched hand. He opened the door. “Sandra, please come in here.”

She came into the room, a questioning look in her face. “Yes, Mr. Brady?”

“Mr. Rowan’s firm is undertaking the public relations campaign for us. I thought it might be a good idea if you went to New York to keep an eye on it for me.” There was a strange pleading in his eyes as he looked at her.

She looked at him for a moment, then glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. Almost imperceptibly I shook my head. “Later,” I made silently with my lips, from behind him.

She had enough of her father in her to catch on quickly. She smiled at the old man. “If it’s all right with you, Mr. Brady,” she said quickly. “I’d rather stay here with you for a while.”

The old man couldn’t hide his pleasure. The radiant smile on his face was bright enough to light up the whole room.