Double Doublecross by James Saunders Read Free Book Online

back to the office where he would make the call. At that moment he thought he caught sight of Sara in the passenger seat of a passing car, but he couldn’t be sure of it. If it was her, who was the blonde headed guy driving?
    No, it couldn’t be Sara. She had business appointments—so she had said. Dismissing it from his mind, he arrived back at the building and went straight to his office and wrote out a check for Stan to deposit.
    â€œThere you are, Stan. Bank it. It should keep the wolves off our backs for a while.”
    Stan looked at the check and gazed at the figure.
    â€œWhere did you get this? I thought you owed big money on the Porsche? It’s a hell of a chunk of change.”
    â€œNo sweat, Stan. What are friends for? I didn’t tell you the whole story. Now bank it. I have to make a call or two.”
    Rick dialed the number of the Casa Diablo manager’s desk. He knew that Bill Janson would be there at this time of day.
    â€œJanson here,” said a gruff voice. “What can I do for you?”
    â€œHey Bill. It’s me, Rick Jacobs. How are things with you?”
    â€œHello, Rick. Long time no see or hear. How can I help you?”
    Rick decided to play things down. He didn’t want to arouse any suspicion about his inquiry regarding Sara. The information he wanted had to be business related.
    â€œI understand that you have a vacancy coming up in the near future, and I may have a tenant for you that could move in immediately,” he lied. “I’d like first dibs on it if that’s okay with you.”
    â€œYou’ve got to be kidding, Rick. Everything here is rented rock solid for an eternity. Where did you hear that piece of news?”
    â€œOh, I can’t remember Bill. You know how it is. You get talking to some of the realtors and all kinds of information flies around. I probably misunderstood somebody at the time. By the way, I met someone who lives in one of your condos, now let me see … what was her name? I met her at a closing night cocktail party after the last performance of
The Mikado
a little while ago. I think her name was Tara, Lara, Myra, Sara, Shannon or something like that.”
    â€œYou must mean Sara Martin. Yeah, she stays here, but she doesn’t pay the rent. Her boyfriend does.”
    Rick decided to dig a bit deeper. “Oh, you mean Carl what’s his name. I thought she told me they were finished. I guess I was mistaken.”
    â€œI don’t know about that. It might be true. It might not. Mind you, there’s a young blonde guy who sees a lot of Sara when Mr. Regis is out of town. She claims he’s
her brother
. Anyway, I keep my nose out of other people’s business. That way I can’t get hurt,” he said.
    Rick thanked him and leaned back in his chair to ponder the situation. Perhaps it was true she had finished with Carl.It was possible she did have a brother with blonde hair like herself.
    It was nearly five o’clock and time to close up. Pat was just wrapping things up in the office, and Stan was out with a client who had just dropped in out of the blue.
    â€œI’m off, Pat!” he shouted.
    â€œThanks for your help, Rick. Stan told me about it. You really shouldn’t put yourself in such a precarious position, though. We may never recover, and I still have Jake out there with his nose to the grindstone so you don’t have to worry about me. We still have the green stuff coming in.”
    Rick smiled as he said goodnight. Pat always referred to money as
the green stuff
.
    On the way home Rick contemplated the subject of Sara and her problem. She was going to call him tonight. Should he say anything about Carl and her leaving his apartment? Or should he keep quiet about it and hope she would bring the subject up herself. And what about her brother or whatever he was? She had never mentioned having any blood relatives.
    He made some coffee and retrieved another TV