“Got anything lined up for me?” Cade was in no mood for Wand’s hearty banter. “I’m all set to go.”
“Well, you said the tenth. It’s only the second, but there is a job you might care to do. It’s no great shakes. Three hundred and expenses, but the way things stand, it looks to me you could use a fast three hundred.”
“What the hell do you mean by that?” Cade demanded.
“You have me worried, Val. I had your bank manager onto me. You’re in the red for four thousand dollars. I told him to sell some of your bonds. He tells me you haven’t any bonds to sell!”
Cade stiffened. He had always been careless with money. At one time he was continually getting into trouble with his bank manager until Wand had suggested he should look after his account.
“The thing to do,” Wand had said, “is to buy a parcel of bonds, and to keep a float of a thousand dollars in your account. When you have used the thousand, you sell a bond, and when you sell a photograph you buy a bond. That way, you’ll keep out of the red and your money will make money. I’ll fix it for you if you like.”
Cade had agreed.
“What the hell’s going on?” Wand demanded. “You had forty thousand dollars worth of bonds about a month ago. Don’t tell me you’ve cashed them?”
Had he? Cade ran his fingertips through his hair. He had got into the habit of scrawling on the back of his cheques: if no funds available, sell bonds. He had never bothered to keep an account of his spending. He knew he had plenty of bonds, so there was no need to bother. Now, a little alarmed, he thought of his recent spending. There was the Thunderbird, the diamond bracelet, the month’s rent in advance for the house, the mink stole he had given Juana, the ten days’ honeymoon at the most expensive hotel — and it was expensive! — in Cozumel. But forty thousand dollars!
“You there?” Wand said impatiently.
“Shut up a minute,” Cade snapped. “I’m trying to think.”
He finally decided that he must have spent forty thousand dollars. The shock made him sweat.
“Listen, Sam, did those people pay for the bull fighting pictures? That was three thousand, wasn’t it?”
“It was, and they paid ten days ago and you’ve spent it,” Wand said. “What’s going on down there for God’s sake?”
“Did you say I was in the red for four thousand?”
“That’s what I said. Now listen...”
“Hold it a moment.” Cade was figuring with pencil and paper. There was the car and motor boat he had hired in Cozumel. There was the skin diving outfits he had bought when he could have hired them. Oh, God yes! There was that silver tea service that Juana had wanted and he had bought it. Who the hell wanted a silver tea service? He should have talked her out of that one! They were never likely to use it. It was just a goddamn status symbol!
“Look, Sam, you’d better sell some stock,” he said. “I’ll need around ten thousand dollars in the bank to take care of the overdraft and to live on. Will you do that?”
“The market is lower than a snake. It’s not the time to selclass="underline" it’s the time to buy.”
“It always is when you want money,” Cade said. “Sell something. I want ten thousand.”
“Well, okay. I’ll look through your list and see what I can do.”
“My royalty statement will be through in a couple of months, won’t it?”
“Yeah. At a guess it should be worth eight to ten thousand.”
Cade brightened.
“So what am I worrying about?”
“You tell me,” Wand said. “Now about this job. The Archaeological Museum of Boston wants a new set of pictures of the ruins of Chicken-Itza and Uxmal. I’ll send you all the dope with copies of the old pictures. They want your angles and lighting. How about it?”
“I’ve just got back from Yucatan!”
“That’s not my fault, is it? You didn’t tell me where you were going.”
“Three hundred and expenses?”
“Yeah, but they aren’t paying double fares. So if you want to take your wife, you pay for her. It’s a week’s work, Val.”
“A week’s work for three hundred? To hell with them!”
“Look, Val, be your age. You need this money.”
Cade couldn’t remember Wand ever saying that to him. He didn’t like it. After hesitating, he said, “Well, okay, you have yourself a deal. Cash on delivery?”
“You bet. So long, and put a padlock on that wallet of yours.”
Cade went into the kitchen where Juana was occupied in cutting up red peppers.
“I’ve been talking to Wand,” he said. “There’s a job come up. It’s a nuisance really: means going back to Merida.”
She grimaced.
“Do you have to do it, cariño?”
“Well, it’s a job. Yes, I guess I have to do it.”
“When?”
“At the end of the week.”
“That’s all right. We won’t be long, will we?”
Cade rubbed his jaw.
“I have to do this alone. It’s tricky. I’ll have to concentrate.”
She looked at him, surprised.
“Oh. You mean you don’t want me with you?”
“It’s not that. It’s the way I work. I just have to be alone.” He put his arm around her. “I’ll be away a week. What will you do with yourself?”
“I think it would be better if I came with you. I promise not to be in the way. We’ll have the nights together. Don’t you think it would be better if I came with you?”
Cade hesitated.
“The trouble is they are only paying my expenses,” he said finally.
Her dark eyes became alert.
“I thought you told me we had lots of money.”
“We have, but we don’t have to throw it away. Right now I am a little short, but in a couple of months, my royalty statements will be in, and then we will be fine again.”
“You are spending too much money on me. That’s it isn’t it?”
“Now, look, you do the cooking and leave me to look after our money,” Cade said firmly. “I know what I’m doing. Just be patient and stay right here while I’m away. In two months, we’ll have another vacation.”
The telephone bell rang and relieved, he kissed her and went to answer it.
It was Sam Wand again.
“I’ve checked your holdings,” he said. “You’ll take a thirty per cent loss if you sell now.”
“Like hell! Let’s ask the bank for a loan.”
“Don’t you ever read the papers? There are restrictions on loans right now. You won’t get a loan.”
Cade felt a wave of irritation run through him. He hated having to think about money.
“Okay, okay, what’s a thirty per cent loss among friends? Sell the damn things. I need the money, Sam.”
“You don’t need all that amount. Pay off the overdraft and make do with two thousand until the statements come in.”
“Sell the damn things! I’m not in the mood to make do,” Cade said and hung up.
Now conscious of his present lack of money, Cade became worried by the constant drain on his wallet. Small items that he had never considered became red flashing lights: gasoline for the Thunderbird, the refrigerator had to break down, a bill for a dozen bottles of White Horse he had ordered as a house warming present, a nerve-shattering bill for a pint of perfume called Joy he had been reckless enough to have bought without inquiring the price, a bill from Olmedo for the use of his dark room, a bill for four pairs of shoes he had bought for Juana. For the first time in his life he began jotting down figures, subtracting but never adding, a cold clutch of uneasiness gripping him when he saw how quickly the six thousand dollars he had left after paying off his overdraft was melting away.
Juana drove him to the airport for his plane to Merida. She seemed to have caught his depression for they drove most of the way in silence. As they were nearing the airport, Cade made the effort and said, “Well, what do you plan to do with yourself while I’m away, sweetheart?”