The Taxman Killeth Read Free

ring?”
    Amy looked down at the pearl
ring on her left hand.
    “No. It was a gift from my
sister. She owns an antique store and picked this up for me at one of the
estate sales she attended.”
    He smiled warmly into her eyes, then
cast a lingering glance down at her fitted forest green cashmere sweater. Amy
knew what her assets were, and he was looking at two of them.
    “Okay, read,” he said abruptly
and swung back into business mode.
    The rest of the afternoon passed
swiftly. He had obviously discussed the law firm with Pickens and knew all the
pertinent information. Amy liked working with him. He was organized,
intelligent, and patient. He didn’t expect her to come up with answers
instantaneously, and because of this she found the work moved along smoothly
without the brittle interruptions and caustic comments she had been exposed to
when she worked with Pickle Pickens. By 6:30 they had accomplished as much as
it would have taken Pickens three days to do.
    Finally, Todd pushed his chair
back from the table, stretched his arms up into the air and rotated his head,
first clockwise, then counter-clockwise.
    “I think I’ve had it for today.
How about you?” he asked.
    Amy placed her pencil on the
table, thereupon realizing that she was starting to get a cramp in her hand.
    “Me too.” She sighed.
    “Why don’t we close up the books
and call it quits until, say, 8:30 tomorrow morning?”
    Amy smiled weakly and nodded.
    “Not too early for you, is it?”
    “No. I guess I didn’t realize
how tired I am; we’ve been working so intently.”
    “Yeah, hardly gave us any chance
to get to know each other,” he said softly, looking her squarely in the face.
    “We still have lots more work to
go,” she said, spreading her hands across the ledgers before her. We may get to
know each other yet, she thought. However, she knew that at the pace they were
working, the job would take half the time it usually took with Pickens. It was
hard for her to believe that cutting this job short could be disappointing, but
it was.
    Todd started to roll down his
shirt-sleeves.
    “I passed a little French
restaurant across the street today when I was coming back from lunch. My friend
said he had heard some good things about it. Are you familiar with it?”
    He. So the friend was male, not
female, as she and Trudy had so tortured themselves into believing.
    “It’s excellent. The partners go
there frequently for lunch. I was there once when they were celebrating one of
the staff’s promotion to partner.”
    “Good. I stopped in and made
reservations for tonight. I just hope my prospective dinner date can join me.”
    “The person would be a fool not
to join you.”
    “You don’t look like a fool,
Amy.”
    She stopped shuffling papers
around and turned toward Todd.
    “How about it? Join me for
dinner.”
    Amy looked straight at Todd. The
exhaustion of the day’s work seemed to fall away as her body lifted up to its
full height.
    “You’re right. I’m no fool,” she
whispered in a sultry tone.
    When she and Todd reached the
reception area Amy was surprised to see that Trudy was still seated at her
desk, flipping through the appointment book.
    “It’s almost seven o’clock, Trudy. What are you still doing here?”
    “Have to wrap up a few things. I
should be out of here within another fifteen minutes or so.”
    Amy could see the question in
Trudy’s eyes as her glance shifted between Amy and Todd. While he opened the
door, Amy surreptitiously gave Trudy a thumbs up sign.
    A brilliant smile caused a
twinkle to form in Trudy’s eyes. It was as if she were going to dinner with
Todd instead of Amy.

 
     
     
    Chapter 2
    Not a Bad Job
     
    Todd opened the door to the
French restaurant, allowing Amy to enter first. The room was mainly lit by
candlelight reflected off the three mirrored walls. Ceiling lights dimly gave
off additional illumination, enabling patrons and staff to see their way in
between the closely crowded