The Stars Shine Down

He turned and said impatiently, "I'm not only in charge, I'm very busy. What do you want?"

"Do you have a man in your crew named Jesse Shaw?"

"Shaw? Sure. He's up there." The foreman pointed to a man working on a steel girder a dozen stories up.

"Would you ask him to come down, please?"

"Hell, no. He has work to..."

One of the detectives pulled out a badge. "Get him down here."

"What's the problem? Is Jesse in some kind of trouble?"

"No, we just want to talk to him."

"Okay." The foreman turned to one of the men working nearby. "Go up top and tell Jesse to come down here."

"Right."

A few minutes later Jesse Shaw was approaching the two detectives.

"These men want to talk to you," the foreman said, and walked away.

Jesse grinned at the two men. "Thanks. I can use a break. What can I do for you?"

One of the detectives pulled out a wristwatch. "Is this your watch?"

Shaw's grin faded. "No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." He pointed to his wrist. "I wear a Seiko."

"But you pawned this watch."

Shawn hesitated. "Oh, yeah. I did. The bastard only gave me five hundred for it. It's worth at least..."

"You said it wasn't your watch."

"That's right. It's not."

"Where did you get it?"

"I found it."

"Really? Where?"

"On the sidewalk near my apartment building." He was warming up to his story. "It was in the grass, and I got out of my car, and there it was. The sun hit the band and made it sparkle. That's how I happened to see it."

"Lucky it wasn't a cloudy day."

"Yeah."

"Mr. Shaw, do you like to travel?"

"No."

"That's too bad. You're going to take a little trip to New York. We'll help you pack."

When they got to Shaw's apartment, the two detectives began looking around.

"Hold it!" Shaw said. "You guys got a search warrant?"

"We don't need one. We're just helping you pack your things."

One of the men was looking in a clothes closet. There was a shoe box high up on a shelf. He took it down and opened it. "Jesus!" he said. "Look what Santa Claus left."

Lara was in her office when Kathy's voice came over the intercom. "Mr. Tilly is on line four, Miss Cameron."

Tilly was the project manager on Cameron Towers.

Lara picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"We had a little problem this morning, Miss Cameron."

"Yes?"

"We had a fire. It's out now."

"What happened?"

"There's was an explosion in the air-conditioning unit. A transformer blew. There was a short circuit. It looks like someone wired it up wrong."

"How bad is it?"

"Well, it looks like we'll lose a day or two. We should be able to clean everything up and rewire it by then."

"Stay on it. Keep me informed."

Lara came home late each evening, worried and exhausted.

"I'm concerned about you," Philip told her. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Nothing, darling. Thank you." She managed a smile. "Just a few problems at the office."

He took her in his arms. "Did I ever tell you that I'm mad about you?"

She looked up at him and smiled. "Tell me again."

"I'm mad about you."

She held him close and thought, This is what I want. This is what I need. "Darling, when my little problems are over, let's go away somewhere. Just the two of us."

"It's a deal."

Someday, Lara thought, I must tell him what I did to Marian. I know it was wrong. But I would die if I lost him.

The following day Tilly called again. "Did you cancel the order for the marble for the lobby floors?"

Lara said slowly, "Why would I do that?"

"I don't know. Somebody did. The marble was supposed to have been delivered today. When I called, they said it was canceled two months ago by your order."

Lara sat there fuming. "I see. How badly are we delayed?"

"I'm not sure yet."

"Tell them to put a rush on it."

Keller came into Lara's office.

"I'm afraid the banks are getting nervous, Lara. I don't know how much longer I can hold them off."

"Just until Cameron Towers is finished. We're almost there, Howard. We're only three months away from completion."

"I told them that," he sighed. "All right. I'll talk to them again."

Kathy's voice came over the intercom. "Mr. Tilly's on line one."

Lara looked at Keller. "Don't go." She picked up the phone. "Yes?" Lara said.

"We're having another problem here, Miss Cameron."

"I'm listening," Lara said.

"The elevators are malfunctioning. The programs are out of sync, and the signals are all screwed up. You press the button for down, and it goes up. Press the eighteenth floor, and it will take you to the basement. I've never seen anything like this before."

"Do you think it was done deliberately?"

"It's hard to say. Could have been carelessness."

"How long will it take to straighten it out?"

"I have some people on the way over now."

"Get back to me." She replaced the receiver.

"Is everything all right?" Keller asked.

Lara evaded the question. "Howard, have you heard anything about Steve Murchison lately?"