Jubilee Year: A Novel (Erelong Trilogy Book I) - An Extended Sample

Chapter 26: BURNING HILL

While the director of Siding Spring Observatory did his best to catch up with the old man hurrying down the peak, Arnold bided his time behind the desk in his cottage. He always delayed the walk from his front door to the observatory. He lived right beside the telescope, and that meant the high probability of crossing paths with someone who wanted to upset the flow of his thoughts. One of those empty conversations that technicians and office personnel seemed to enjoy.

Chatting with people while on the way to work was an irritating waste of time. What was the point in discussing the weather with someone you barely know?

When he heard the knock on the front door he groaned. Determined to ignore the interruption he continued to flick through a folder of papers.

The rapping grew more persistent.

"Hello?" He called out, but there was no answer. He called out much louder the second time. "Hello?"

"I am looking for Doctor Arnold Klein," a man's voice called.

It was without a doubt one of those salesmen touting their useless software packages.

"I'm busy!" Arnold shouted.

"Are you Doctor Klein?" The man called out in reply.

"Oh, come in!" Arnold shouted and slapped the folder closed.

The figure in the doorway looked disheveled. No, worse than that, he looked lopsided. The man was wearing an open-necked short-sleeved shirt and khaki longs. He resembled nothing so much as a tired passenger who had just disembarked from a long haul flight.

"Doctor Arnold Klein?" the stranger asked again.

"Yes," Arnold snapped. "Yes, I am he."

The man stood in the door of the study. The dark eyes surrounded by long feminine lashes gazed at Arnold from under a greasy lock of fair hair. A battered beige briefcase dangled from one hand. He looked awkward and ill at ease.

"Well?" Arnold asked, fighting a strong urge to push the interruption back out the front door.

"I am Simon Burns," the man replied, gazing with evident interest around the room. "I'm from the company," he said, shifting his attention back to Arnold.

"What company?" Arnold stared at the man. But his amazement at the man's entrance was only momentary, as his irritation at being disturbed flared again. "What is it?"

Burns walked up to the end of Arnold's desk. He lifted an open carton labeled 'Property of the Conrad Observatory of Geophysical Research, Austria' from a chair Arnold had placed against the wall as a temporary shelf. Loops of seismogram paper spilled out as he set the box down on the floor.

"Hey!" Arnold exclaimed, standing up behind his desk. "Don't touch that!"

The man pulled his seat up to Arnold's desk and set his briefcase on the desktop, knocking the folder of papers to one side.

"The company you send your reports to each month, and issues you your instructions. The one that regularly deposits an electronic payment into your Credit Suisse account."

Arnold swallowed. "Oh, that one."

Arnold walked around his desk to peer out the doorway of his office. Satisfied there was no second unwanted guest outside, he pulled the door closed.

"It's all a little unusual. Aren't you supposed to call me first before you show up like this?"

"I assure you, it is quite normal for an accountant to attend to such matters as these in person. Particularly, when—ah—the term of an employee's contract is about to reach its completion date."