Blood Orchid (Holly Barker 3)

“That’s why I called. He’ll be in touch.”

“All right, what’s his—”

“Gotta run, honey. Let me know what you think, and remember, if for any reason you feel I shouldn’t hire him, you just say the word.”

“Okay, but . . .”

“Bye.” Ed hung up.

Holly stood up and stretched, feeling hungry. She was about to leave when Hurd Wallace appeared again. “That was quick,” she said. “You got something?”

“Not yet,” Hurd replied. “I’m here for the interview.”

“What interview?”

“Didn’t Ed Shine call you?”

That let the air out of Holly. “You’re Ed’s candidate?”

“I answered his ad.”

“Have a seat, Hurd,” she said, trying to collect herself.

Hurd pulled up a chair and sat down. “I saw the ad yesterday, and I faxed Shine my résumé.”

“Oh,” she replied. She hardly knew what to say next.

“He seemed to think I had a pretty good background,” Hurd said drolly.

“Well, of course you do, Hurd. I mean . . . this is something of a shock; I thought you were on board until retirement.”

“That’s pretty much what I thought,” Hurd said, “but next year I’ll have twenty-five on the job, and I was thinking of going fishing, anyway.”

“You fish?”

“Figuratively speaking. I thought I’d start a little business or do something part-time that would bring me enough income that, combined with my pension, would make life easy. Shine’s job looked a lot more attractive than that.”

“What’d he offer you?”

“Half again what I’m making, plus a really good benefits package.”

“God, I might be able to get you a ten percent raise if I went to the council and made a special request, but I couldn’t come close to that.”

“I know, Holly, and it’s all right. I don’t think I’m underpaid here, and I’m certainly not unhappy working for you, but Shine’s job looks awful attractive from where I’m sitting.”

“Has he told you what your duties would be?”

“Security; that’s about it. Between you and me, I believe I’d have to work hard at staying awake. It’s certainly not going to be as interesting as working in the department. I mean, we’re probably not going to have floaters turning up, like this morning.”

“I hope to God not,” Holly said. “Palmetto Gardens has made us enough work for a lifetime already.”

“Blood Orchid,” Hurd said solemnly.

“Oh, yeah, I keep forgetting, and Ed keeps reminding me.”

“He especially wanted you to know that he didn’t come to me,” Hurd said. “I just read the ad like everybody else. I got the impression that he’s really interested in my taking the job.”

“With my approval, of course,” Holly said, chuckling.