The Retrieval Read Online Free

were driving through a quiet residential neighborhood.
    Jake still had to raise his voice right back, even if it was only to be heard over the engine. “So what? You were, I don’t know, twenty-five?”
    “Twenty-six, as opposed to sixteen. I was too old for you even if you hadn’t been offering up your all merely to keep Laura from having to do likewise with my fellow backer because of his moronic ideas about how to cast that insipid rooftop review.”
    “Trust you to get that said in one breath.” Jake snorted. “And, let me point out here, The Nighttime Chorale not only paid back the stake you inherited from your uncle, it made Laura’s career. Once you forced Kimble and the producers to cast her.”
    “Because she could sing, and because Kimble, the producers, and I had all agreed not to use the casting couch. He deserved any frustration he got after trying to cheat on our deal.”
    “Doesn’t change the fact you made them cast her. I would have come across, you know. Fair’s fair.”
    “Sixteen. Back then your sister would have needed to look up the anatomy to find out where to start, and she still would have gelded me with a dull and rusty tuning fork.”
    “Maybe,” Jake said, although he had winced.
    “Likely. Don’t forget, I know the pair of you. I know you both all too well. And I prefer escorting her to dinner parties while speaking in a baritone, thank you.” Charlie narrowed his eyes. “Don’t you dare tell me you weren’t relieved at the time.”
    “Maybe?”
    “Aroo,” Ducky interjected, his half-bark, half-moan disapproving.
    “No,” Charlie told him. “You do not get an opinion. You weren’t present; believe me, I would have noticed.”
    “I think he saw a cat at that last stop sign. Anyhow, ‘maybe’ is all you get. After you marched me back home to Hell’s Kitchen that night, Laura asked me what I thought I was trying to do, and I couldn’t altogether tell her. I had to wonder. Then, after I moved out here, and female extras were trying hard to cozy up to Laura Moore’s brother, I had to wonder even more. ‘How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable--’”
    “Thank you, Master Shakespeare. Good to know you paid attention to more than maps in those college classes.”
    “I wasn’t going to waste Laura’s money even if I did pay her back.”
    “Oh? You don’t sponge worth a damn, do you? No wonder she’s reduced to sneaking you gloriously ridiculous roadsters on birthdays when you can’t refuse.” Charlie took a deep breath and let it out. He had no right to complain, but since Jake had broached the topic-- “I’ve been in and out of this town for years, you know, if you were so very, very curious.”
    Jake got them turned right onto another hilly street curving off into obscurity. “Because what a suave and sentimental type like you needs is to give a pal a hand and then have him upchuck afterward.”
    That was a show-stopper. “Did you really vomit?”
    “Only because I was drunk as a skunk.” Jake must have seen Charlie’s wince. “Okay, maybe there were some nerves I tried to soothe with booze. I’m past all that now. Be grateful you missed the worst months of drama.”
    “Since, being a suave type, I’ve never assisted you with any other little social difficulty. And although sentimentality is obviously not your cup of tea, as a trait it might seem to suggest I could have helped you with the nerves.” When Jake drew in a deep breath, starting to speak, Charlie raised a hand and said, “Don’t press your luck.”
    “I was going to say sorry.”
    “Fine. You’ve said it. And now I’m taking a break to indulge in the additional traits of being petty, thin-skinned, and morose.”
    After that, for several miles of town and countryside, silence reigned. Even Ducky was quiet in the rumble seat. However, Charlie’s conscience wouldn’t let him wallow too long when more important matters still needed to be discussed.
    Making sure his voice was calm,