Ten Years to Win Her, Two Weeks to Leave Her novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: The Night Desk Papers

Harold Wexford walked across the lawn without hurrying, and the crowd made room for him.

A man in a charcoal overcoat came behind him carrying a leather folder.

"Dr. Crewe," Harold said, without looking at Leland. "You've done enough. Thank you."

Leland stepped back out of the light.

It was the first time Nolan had seen him take an order that fast.

"Harold," Joan said. "This is my field."

"It's an Institute field, Joan. You work for me." Harold smiled at the cameras, a patient man dealing with a family misunderstanding. "Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for the scene. This is a private dispute between a father and his daughter, and an employee with a grievance. The Institute will address it through the proper channels. Please enjoy the stars."

Nobody moved.

A woman with a toddler on her hip said, loud enough to carry, "He called him an employee with a grievance. He's the one who found the signal."

"Madam, you don't know..."

"I know what I watched," she said.

Harold's smile held.

Joan walked into the light.

She had a folded stack of paper in the pocket of her canvas coat, and she took it out and shook it open.

"I worked the night desk in Tucson for twenty years," she said. "The night desk signs for deliveries and keeps the invoices that come through after hours.

I took copies home. I'm not proud of it. I'd just had a bad feeling for a long time."

"Joan," Harold said, in a voice Nolan had never heard from him, flat and quiet.

"Roof sealant, Tucson main building." Joan read it in her broad, plain voice, so the boom could catch it. "Six invoices, five years, a total of eleven thousand four hundred dollars. Work order signed by R. Ridley, facilities. Approved by H. Wexford."

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