She arrived at the film company offices half an hour later with the cheque already written out in her handbag. She was shown up into Larry's office immediately.
Larry was sitting behind his desk looking distinctly harassed and leaning against the wall was a hulking great brute in a horrible acid-green suit who wore black sunglasses on his nose and what looked to Nadine like a false moustache.
Nadine ignored him, gave Larry a soothing smile, took the cheque out of her bag and handed it over the desk to Larry who read it carefully and then gave a sigh of relief.
'Thanks, Nadine.' His look was gratitude enough, then he picked up a document from the desk. 'Right, then, sign for this, would you?' he said pushing the piece of paper across the desk in the direction of the man in the vile green suit.
The brute read the document slowly, his large finger following the lines of type, scowling over it, then said in a rough, East End accent, 'Look 'ere, I'm not signing nothing till I've made sure the cheque won't bounce. Give me the number of her bank so I can check with the manager.'
Larry looked helplessly at Nadine. Coldly she looked in her address book and gave the brute the telephone number. He rang her bank and asked to speak to the manager, then had a short conversation before handing the phone to Nadine.
'He says he wants to talk to you before he'll tell me anything about your account.'
She spoke to her bank manager, who was clearly eaten up with curiosity, reassured him that the money was a business deal and it really was her speaking, then she handed the phone back to the brute who talked to the manager again before hanging up.
'OK, now we're in business,' he said. 'Where do I sign?'
He scribbled an unreadable signature then slipped the cheque into his wallet, nodded to Larry and then as an afterthought to Nadine.
'When I provide equipment I expect to get paid for it, as agreed,' he said as if justifying himself, then left, letting the door bang behind him.
'Equipment?' Nadine asked Larry who grimaced.
'Electronic stuff, sound equipment—it costs the earth, and our head of sound said he knew this man who could supply it cheaper than our usual people.'
'Oh, Larry! How could you make such a stupid mistake? You know deals like that are always with crooks!'
Larry looked rueful. 'We were desperate. And you're right, that man is an absolute crook! He has some very vicious friends who break things if you make them angry, he says. They break people too, as a last resort, he told me. I'm very relieved to have got him out of my life. We'll never buy anything from that source again!' He came round the desk and gave Nadine a warm hug. 'Thanks, Nadine, I can't say it adequately.. .but thanks.'
She kissed him lightly. 'My pleasure...'
Behind them the door opened and they both felt the freezing wind of disapproval coming their way. Larry stepped back, looking alarmed. Nadine turned round, hazel eyes w
ide with a muddled mixture of shock and relief.
'What the hell is going on here?' Sean demanded through his teeth. 'And why was Buzz Brown looking so pleased with himself as he went just now?'
'Nadine paid him off,' Larry gabbled.
Sean hit the roof. 'She did what? You asked her for money to pay that rat off? I told you to leave her out of my business affairs! How dare you go to her behind my back again, after everything I said, and ask her for money!' He took three strides and grabbed Larry by the collar, hauling him up on to his toes and shaking him as a terrier would shake a rat it had cornered. 'I ought to break your neck!'
Larry had gone red in the face and was choking. 'Sean... for heaven's sake...'
Nadine leapt across the room at Sean, grabbed his hands and tried to break their hold on Larry.
'Let him go! Let him go, Sean! Are you mad? You're choking him to death!'
Sean hurled Larry to the other side of the office, where he fell into his own chair and slumped there looking dazed. Sean turned to Nadine, his blue eyes blazing with a menace she found infinitely more disturbing than she had found the glowers of the hulking brute who had just left.
'Larry deserved that,' Sean said grimly. 'And now it's your turn! I told you I didn't want your money, didn't I? But you never listen. You've ignored everything I said and now you're going to have to take the consequences!'
'Don't you shout at me, Sean Carmichael!' Her voice shook slightly; she hoped he wouldn't notice. She hated it when he was so angry: the male aggression made her nerves quiver with tension.
'I am not shouting,' he shouted. 'I told you I would only take money from you on one condition—don't pretend you've forgotten. Well, you've handed over a lot of money to the company, and now I'm going to insist that you fulfil the condition too. I am not '
Larry was sitting up, straightening his collar and tie, brushing back his hair, looking puzzled. 'What condition?' he interrupted.
Sean stopped talking, his face startled, as if he had forgotten Larry was there. He swung round to eye him threateningly. 'Haven't you left yet? There's the door, get out.'