The Rafferty thing, though…

"Goddamn it," whispered Kurtz.

"Anything I can help with?" asked Arlene.

"No."

"All right, Joe. But since you're here today, there are a few things you can help me with."

Kurtz turned off his computer.

"We need to find new office space," said Arlene. "This place gets demolished in a month and we get thrown out in two weeks, no matter what."

Kurtz nodded.

Arlene batted cigarette ashes again. "So are you going to have time to help me look for a new office today or tomorrow?"

"Probably not," said Kurtz.

"Then are you going to let me choose a place on my own?"

"No."

Arlene nodded. "Shall I scout some places? Let you look at them later?"

"Okay," said Kurtz.

"And you don't mind me looking during office hours?"

Kurtz just stared at his once and present secretary. She had come back to work for him the day be had gotten out of prison the previous autumn. After twelve years of hiatus. "Have I ever said anything to you about office hours or how you should spend your day?" he said at last. "You can come in and handle the on-line Sweetheart Search stuff in ten minutes for all I care. Take the rest of the day off."

"Uh-huh," said Arlene. Her look finished the sentence. Recently, the Sweetheart Search business had run to ten- and twelve-hour weekdays, most Saturdays, and the occasional Sunday. She stubbed out the cigarette and pulled out another but did not light it.

"What else do we need?" asked Kurtz.

"Thirty-five thousand dollars," said Arlene.

Kurtz reacted as he always did to surprise—with a poker face.

"It's for another server and some data-mining service," added Arlene.

"I thought this server and the data-mining we've already done would handle Sweetheart Search for the next couple of years," said Kurtz.