Free Never Leave Me by Harold Robbins Page A

he said. ‘I’ll give you enough money to live on, and when Alexandra grows up she can come and work for me here. Maybe even be my secretary.’
    “He never forgot what he said. Every now and then he would call my mother to check and find out if I was taking the right courses and how I was doing in school.” She picked up her martini and stared into it. “If I left him now, he’d never let me get another job.”
    “Even if you left town?” I asked.
    Her smile was bitter. “I tried that once. He very quietly loused me up, and then generously gave me my job back.”
    I took a sip of my drink. It tasted crummy in my mouth. I put it back on the table. I was through drinking for the afternoon. I took a deep breath. “He keeping you?” I asked bluntly.
    She shook her head. “No,” she answered. “A lot of people around the place think so, but he never so much as said a word to me that didn’t have to do with business.” Her eyes were full on my face. There was a puzzled look in them as if she were asking me to explain it to her. “I don’t get it,” she added.
    I stared at her for a full minute before I spoke. “Does he have you watched too?” I asked.
    “I don’t know,” she said. “Sometimes I think he does, sometimes I think not. He doesn’t trust anybody.”
    I had the feeling I could trust this dame. “Did you see the report he had on me?”
    She shook her head. “It comes from personnel investigation office. It’s given to him personally in a sealed envelope.”
    “Is there any way I can get a copy?” I asked. “There’s only one copy made and it’s in his desk.”
    “Can you get me a look at it?” I persisted. “I have to see it. He may have something in there that may mean big trouble for me.”
    “It won’t do any good, Brad,” she said. “If there is anything, he would never forget it.” “But I would have a chance if I knew what he knew,” I said quickly.
    She didn’t speak. I could see she was a little frightened over having told me as much as she did. After all, she didn’t know me from Adam. For all she knew, I could be one of Matt Brady’s spies.
    “A favour for a favour,” I said quickly. “You help me, I help you. Get me a look at that report and I’ll get you away from Matt Brady—so that he’ll never find you.”
    She took a deep breath and suddenly I was conscious of what had caught my eye back in her office. She had a terrific pair of lungs and for a moment I thought she was going to bust out of her dress. She saw me goggling at her and a peculiar smile came to her lips.
    “I’m not hiding it there,” she said pointedly.
    “I wish you were,” I said, dragging my eyes back to her face. “But I got no luck. That would make business a pleasure.”
    A faint flush crept into her cheeks. “What makes you think it can’t be?” she asked huskily.

Chapter Twelve

    WE walked in through the big steel gate and I turned towards the building entrance. Her hand touched my arm. “This way,” she said.
    I followed her around the corner of the building. There, hidden in an arch of privet hedges, was a door. She took a key from her bag and opened it. “Matt Brady’s private entrance,” she explained.
    We were in a small corridor. A few feet from the door was an elevator. She pressed the button and its doors opened. We stepped inside and she turned to me smiling. “Matt Brady’s private elevator,” she said. I felt the elevator begin to climb. She was still smiling at me.
    There was no refusing that invitation. I pulled her towards me. Her eyes were wide open as her arms went up around my neck and her lips opened under mine. I was right the first time. This kid was built for distance. She was still hanging on, even after the doors had opened.
    At last she came up for air. Her eyes were shining. “I like you,” she said. I managed a grin. I had to play it safe.
    “You’re my kind of guy,” she said. “I knew it from the minute you made him come and get you