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7th AUGUST, 1930

 
 

"OH, MAX?"

  Max stopped just short of the door, his hand reaching for the handle. Goddammit, now what? Like he didn't have enough to do. Like he wasn't already late for the next meeting, at which his plate would be piled even higher. He took a breath, and ran a finger around the front of his starched collar. He needed to talk to Dolores about their laundry. Maybe that was part of the problem. Oxygen starvation due to collars so stiff they may as well have been made of tin sheet.

  "Yes, Mr McKee?"

  McKee tapped his fountain pen on the blotter. Max cringed inwardly, counting the taps in his head. McKee's pens were expensive, and tapping did them no good at all.

  "Have you seen Joe this morning?"

  Max shook his head and clutched his open sheaf of papers close to his chest. He swallowed, causing his Adam's apple to bob up and down and catch on the top of the damn collar.

  "No, sir, I haven't seen him since yesterday evening."

  "Oh, no problem," said McKee. Finally he stopped tapping the pen, only to toss it onto the desk. Max winced. He didn't care if McKee saw it, which he was fairly sure he wouldn't.

  "He was supposed to call earlier this morning, but he didn't, and he's not answering at home," said McKee. "Can you send someone downtown to run a message for me?"

  Max nodded sharply. "Certainly, Mr McKee. In fact, he's due in chambers in..." He looked at his watch with a flourish. He wanted McKee to know he was now running late and that he had an awful lot to do before Joe arrived and it was all his fault. Not that McKee would realise, or if he did, he'd never show it.

  "... Right about now, actually." Max raised an eyebrow at McKee, who sat there with that blank expression on his face, mouth slightly open, eyes almost unfocussed. How men like him got into offices like this he really had no idea on Earth.

  Finally McKee seemed to snap out of it, nodded, and waved the clerk away. Max gulped again, but McKee was already looking at some papers. All Max could see was his superior's greased crown.

  "Thank you, sir. I'll make sure to tell Judge Crater to call his office."