I tried to contact her in the evening, and again the next day, without success. I went down to the garage and found her car gone. I wondered, with a sick, sinking feeling, she had left Sharnville, and I would never see her again.
That evening, I went down to the beach and considered what I should do. She was the one woman for me. I now, knew that. I was even prepared to wait two years if I had to, to marry her, but not if I could find some much quicker solution. After thinking, I decided I would have to find out more about her husband. It seemed to me that if I could meet and talk to him, offer him money, without Glenda knowing, he would be willing to free her. To me, she was worth far more than money. Although the bulk of my money was tied up in the business, I knew it would be no problem to get twenty thousand dollars from Manson on loan.
Finally, I decided I had to talk to her, and somehow, get her husband’s address from her. But where was she? Where had she gone?
On this morning, as I parked my car outside the office block, I saw Sheriff Thomson striding along the sidewalk.
He paused and nodded to me.
‘Hi, citizen.’ This was his usual greeting to all his friends.
‘Hello there.’
‘That’s a smart young woman you sent to me... Mrs. Marsh.’ He regarded me with his cop eyes. ‘I reckon the articles she’s going to write won’t do Sharnville any harm.’
I forced a grin.
‘That’s why I suggested she should talk to you.’
‘Yeah.’
There was a pause, then I said casually, ‘She’s doing a reportage on my business, Joe. This is important to me. I’ve got some more information for her, but I can’t contact her.’
He pushed his Stetson hat to the back of his head.
‘She’s out of town right now, but she’ll be back. She told me she’s doing a piece on Grimmon’s store, and she’s got herself invited to old man Grimmon’s place in L.A.’ He stared thoughtfully at me. ‘She’ll be back. She wants to get photos of the jail.’ He scowled at a motorist who was about to double park. Seeing him, the motorist drove on. ‘How about a game of golf next Sunday?’
‘I’d like to, Joe, but this Sunday I’m playing with Mr. Brannigan.’
He nodded.
‘Mr. Brannigan, huh? I heard you play golf with him. You sure move in the top circles.’
I tried to laugh that off.
‘Strictly between you and me, Joe, he plays with me because I coach him. I’ve got his handicap down from eighteen to twelve.’
He straightened his hat, wiped the end of his nose with the back of his hand, then nodded.
‘You’ve got business. I’ve got business. See you,’ and he walked on.
So Glenda was in Los Angeles. She hadn’t run away from Sharnville! I would have a chance of talking to her on her return!
‘We’ve won the contract, Larry,’ Bill said, beaming. ‘It’s a beaut! I reckon it will be worth at least a hundred thousand to us!’
For the next two hours we went over the contract to build a factory to produce furniture elements. Bill had the heaviest work of designing the factory and building it. My share of the project was to provide typewriters, calculators and photocopy machines and get them installed.
When we were through, Bill sat back and regarded me.
‘Pretty good, huh? We’re growing fast, but we need more capital. We’ll have to carry this firm for six months before we get their money. Right now, they are asking for credit, but they are sound.’
‘I’m playing golf with F.B. Sunday. I’ll talk to him. He’ll give us credit.’
Then out of the blue, he asked quietly, ‘Who is Glenda Marsh?’
If he had reached across the desk and poked me in the jaw, I couldn’t have been more shaken. I gaped at him.
‘Glenda Marsh,’ he repeated, his voice now sharp.
I got hold of myself.
‘Yes... Glenda Marsh. She arrived here this week. She is doing a reportage on Sharnville for The Investor. She’s already covered our setup.’ I realized I was talking too fast, and I made the effort and slowed down. ‘She wants your side of the story, and to take photographs. She’s already talked to Manson and Thomson and she’s interviewing Grimmon right now. She’s doing this reportage in depth. It’ll do us a lot of good.’
‘That’s fine.’ He hesitated, then went on, ‘Look, Larry, we are partners. We have now got off the pad. We are in big business. Sharnville is rather special. Although it is growing fast, it is still small minded.’
I felt a chill run up my back.
‘I’m not with you, Bill.’
‘Let me spell it out. After trying to contact you last night I went to the Excelsior bar for a snack and a drink. The bar was buzzing about you and this Marsh woman. Fred Maclain was full of booze. As deputy sheriff, he has his ear to the ground. He was saying you had taken this woman out to dinner twice, and Sheriff Thomson had found you in her apartment late at night. Maclain says she is married and is trying to get a divorce. She volunteered this information to Thomson. Certain citizens here are now thinking there is something going on between this woman and you. In a couple of days, the whole town will be buzzing.’
This was the time to have told him I was in love with Glenda, but, stupidly, I didn’t.
‘For God’s sake!’ I said. ‘I did take her out twice to dinner because I wanted her to get the complete picture of what you and I have done. There was more talk to be done, and she suggested we talked in her apartment and she would give me dinner. In this small-minded town, now you tell me, that was a mistake, but we talked business all the time.’
He relaxed and grinned at me.
‘That’s good news, Larry. Hearing all the talk, I began to wonder if you had hot pants for this woman. As a favour, and as your partner, in the future, will you be more careful?’
‘There’s no favour about this, Bill! Okay, I admit I didn’t think, but it never crossed my mind that these people could start gossiping. Mrs. Marsh is doing us a favour, getting us into The Investor. What’s wrong in taking her out to dinner?’
‘Nothing. The slip-up, Larry, was having dinner in her apartment.’
‘Yes... that was stupid of me, but I didn’t think.’ I forced a grin. ‘It won’t happen again.’
He studied his fingernails for a long moment, then looked directly at me.
‘When I need a woman, I have someone in ’Frisco. I’ve made sure there is no blowback. Sharnville is different. You and I are under a spotlight. For God’s sake, be careful!’
‘There’s nothing to be careful about!’ I said angrily. ‘This is just malicious gossip.’
‘Yeah, but gossip could give us lots of trouble.’ He ran his fingers through his short hair. ‘I don’t have to remind you we rely on Brannigan. We are expanding fast, and he is backing us. Because of his say-so, we have this big loan. Without it, Larry, expanding as we are doing, we could go bust. Now here’s something you might not know. Brannigan is a Quaker. I told you when we first met, he was great, but take a wrong step, and you would be out. Some years ago, he had a secretary who really slaved for him. He thought she was the tops. Then she got snarled up with a married man, gossip started, and Brannigan threw her out. It didn’t matter to him that she had been the best secretary he ever had. The fact she committed adultery made her a leper to him. He seems to have this thing: men or women fooling around with married women or men are strictly out. So for both our sakes, Larry, keep away from Glenda Marsh. If Brannigan gets a whiff of this, he would call our loan, and we would be sunk.’