Read Online The Girl in the Face of the Clock by Charles Mathes - Free Book Online

could happen,” said Perry Mannerback indignantly. “Just look at all those terrorists out there. And serial killers. And out-of-control journalists. Besides, I need an assistant.”
    â€œMr. Mannerback, I didn’t …”
    â€œYou can be my bodyguard assistant. This will be grand.”
    â€œMr. Mannerback …”
    â€œCome on,” he pleaded. “I haven’t had an assistant for a long time. They always quit. I’ll pay you. I have plenty of money.”
    Then he named a weekly figure so much higher than most people in the arts could make that Jane wanted to cry.
    â€œAnd benefits,” said Perry Mannerback, adding injury to insult. “Health insurance with dental. Profit sharing. OmbiCorp employees get all kinds of neat stuff, and we don’t care because the stockholders pay.”
    Jane tried to catch her breath. Health insurance, too. Practically nobody she knew in New York had health insurance. To get health insurance, you had to sign a long-term contract with a LORT theatre and move to some place like St. Louis or Minneapolis.
    â€œWhat did my father do that you owed him such a big favor?” she asked.
    â€œGosh, it’s a nice day,” replied Mannerback, turning away and staring out the window as the limo inched up Broadway.
    â€œWhat did my father do that you owed him such a big favor?” repeated Jane.
    â€œI don’t know,” he said, his voice suddenly louder than necessary. “I can’t remember.”
    Jane almost laughed aloud, the man was so obviously lying. They sat in silence for a moment. Then Mannerback turned back and looked at her like a bad puppy.
    â€œSo what do you say? Will you do it? Will you let me give you a job? I always pay my debts.”
    Jane’s instinct was to open the door of the limousine and dive into traffic, but this was one of those times you had to use your head, not your emotions, to decide.
    She didn’t have a job for the summer, and the money Perry Mannerback was offering beat unemployment by a long shot. It wouldn’t be forever, Jane told herself. By next fall she’d be back in Omaha or Austin teaching punch-ups to actors again. Besides, how else could she find out why Perry Mannerback owed her father such a big favor? Or if he had pushed him down the stairs.
    â€œOkay,” Jane said. “Why not?”
    â€œHurrah!” her new employer declared, pumping her hand and slapping her back. “This is great. Wonderful. Welcome aboard.”
    Just then the limousine glided to a stop at the side entrance to the Lincoln Center complex on Sixty-second street, across from the Fordham University Law School. The chauffeur cut the engine, then got out of the car and opened the backseat door.
    â€œWhere are we going?” asked Jane, following Mannerback, who had jumped out and was bounding up a walk toward a large tent that had been set up in an area where they usually had outdoor concerts.
    â€œWe’re going to have fun!” shouted Mannerback over his shoulder.
    As Jane chased after him and rounded the corner, a huge banner stretched between two posts came into view: THE BIG APPLE CIRCUS .
    Her first duty as Perry Mannerback’s bodyguard-assistant was to get them both popcorn.

Five
    â€œYou’ll be surprised,” said Perry Mannerback in his earnest, excited way as they got into the small, mahogany-paneled elevator. The elderly, white-gloved attendant closed the door and pressed the button marked “PH.” “It’s not what you expect, I bet. I bet it’s not what you expect at all.”
    Nearly a week had now passed since Jane had come to work for Perry Mannerback. This was the first time she would have the opportunity of seeing his penthouse apartment, but if it turned out that he lived with a family of elves in the exclusive Fifth Avenue building that he had brought her to, she wouldn’t be surprised. Perry Mannerback was the most