Wolf in the Shadows - Marcia Muller [12]
Gloria added, “All Souls needs you.”
“I’m not sure you need me in that particular capacity.”
Larry said, “Everything changes, Shar. Maybe you should change, too.”
Pam added, “There’s a lot of energy being generated by the reorganization. We want you to be a part of it.”
Mike said, “I know Jack would tell you the same if he were here.”
So they were all committed to this new plan. It was take-it-or-leave-it time.
I thought of the future if I accepted this promotion. Tried to look at it in a positive light. A desk job, supervising a staff of investigators and paralegals. Log sheets, meetings, mediating disputes … Ugh! But balance all that against the satisfaction of watching the department and the co-op grow and prosper. Balance that against the satisfaction of prospering personally. A higher salary, car phone, profit sharing. I could pay off the second mortgage I’d taken out to finish remodeling my house, buy good furniture, bank a portion of my take-home pay. Maybe I’d even be able to start taking flying lessons again. I’d had a few lessons years ago, and Hy had been teaching me informally, but I needed to log time with a licensed flight instructor. And a desk job would give me the time for that; there would be no more evenings wasted freezing my ass off on stakeouts, no more weekends wasted chasing down elusive witnesses. I’d put in my eight hours five days a week and have a life as well.
It would also mean stultifying boredom and a hell of a lot of clock-watching. It would mean surrendering the freedom I loved.
But face it, McCone, I told myself, if you don’t agree to their offer, it’ll mean starting over. It’ll mean giving up All Souls, the closest thing to a family you’ve got anymore.
They weren’t going to get off cheaply, though. I would really stick it to them. “What about a pension plan?” I asked. “You partners have one.”
They exchanged surprised glances. “I’m sure that could be arranged,” Hank said.
“And this salary increase—just what are we talking here?”
“At least one-third over what you’re making now.”
I did some mental arithmetic. “Double would be more attractive.”
“The point is negotiable. So what do you say?”
“I’ll have to think on it.”
“But what’s your initial feeling?”
It sucks, I thought. Aloud I added, “I don’t want to leave All Souls, so I’ll give your offer very serious thought.”
Again the partners exchanged glances. Relief was the primary component this time, tinged with incredulity in the eyes of the three who knew me well.
Hank asked, “When may we expect your answer?”
“Give me till close of business on Wednesday.”
“Fair enough. In the meantime, if you have any questions—”
“I know where to find you.” I smiled wryly at him, got up, and moved toward the door. Behind me I could feel an easing of the collective tension. I stepped into the hall, shut the door, and started toward the stairs.
On my way past Ted’s desk I asked, “What’s the Latin for ‘between a rock and a hard place’?”
“Sorry,” he said, eyeing me sympathetically, “the book doesn’t say.”
Three
Before the partners’ meeting I’d needed something to take my mind off Hy; now I needed to think of him to keep myself from brooding. I sat down behind my desk in the window bay at the front of the second floor, swiveled around, and stared moodily at the houses across the little park. After a while I turned back to the desk, pulled the phone toward me, and dialed the number of the Spaulding Foundation.
Kate Malloy, Hy’s executive assistant, answered. “You’ve heard from him!” she exclaimed when she heard my voice.
“No, I haven’t, but after I talked with you this morning, I got concerned and did some checking.” Briefly I told her what I’d found out. “Kate, the phone-company credit card Hy used to make those calls from the airport—would it be his personal card or the foundation’s?”
“He usually uses the foundation’s and reimburses us for personal charges later. I doubt he even has one for his home phone—you know Hy and plastic.”
“Will you give me the four-digit code, please?”
She told me, then repeated it. “You’re going to