The Inheritors Read Online Free PDF Page B

comfort. I nodded and she closed the door and led me to the next room.
    “This is the large conference room,” she said. The table inside seated twenty people. “Between this and the small conference room, there is a private kitchen, and a permanent chef is on standby everyday for lunch if you should want to have it in.”
    The small conference room seated ten people and was a miniaturized version of the other. We walked back toward the elevator.
    “Off the reception area,” she said, “there are three private waiting rooms so that your visitors need never run into each other.” She opened a door. “They’re all very much alike.”
    They were also like the one I had been in on the floor above. A cool blonde was now sitting at the desk in the reception area. She got to her feet as we came near.
    “This is Miss Swensen, your receptionist,” Miss Fogarty said. “Miss Swensen, Mr. Gaunt.”
    The blonde smiled. “Pleased to meet you, Mr. Gaunt.”
    I returned her smile. She, too, was a carbon of the girl in Sinclair’s office. “My pleasure, Miss Swensen.”
    We crossed the reception area. She opened another door. “This is my office,” she said.
    There was another girl in the office. She looked up as we came in. She rose to her feet as we approached. “This is Ginny Daniels, my assistant, your number two. Miss Daniels, Mr. Gaunt.”
    “Happy to meet you, Mr. Gaunt,” she smiled. She was in the mold, only with dark hair. For a moment I wondered whether Sinclair had them manufactured especially for their own use.
    “Miss Daniels,” I said. We shook hands. Her hands weren’t as damp as Fogarty’s had been. But then she had much less to lose. She was only number two.
    “There are two entrances to your office,” Miss Fogarty said. She indicated a door near her desk. “This one from our office and one directly from the reception area. Your visitors will be shown in from there unless you instruct otherwise.”
    I didn’t say anything.
    She opened the door to my office and let me walk in ahead of her. I stood there for a moment. It was almost a duplicate of Sinclair’s office. The same ten windows on each side, the same view. There was only one thing that was different. The office looked new, untouched and unused.
    “Who was in this office before?” I asked. Whoever it had been had disappeared without a trace.
    “No one,” she said. “For some reason, I don’t know why, this office has been vacant ever since we moved in four years ago.”
    I glanced at her briefly, then walked over to my desk and sat down behind it. Sinclair had to be a strange man. No one sets up offices like these and then doesn’t use them.
    “Would you like a cup of coffee?” she asked.
    “Thank you,” I said. “Black with one sugar.”
    She left and returned in a moment, placing the coffee tray on my desk. I looked at it while she poured the coffee. At least he did things in style. The china was Wedgewood. She used silver tongs to drop one lump of sugar in my cup. “Like that?” she asked.
    I raised the coffee to my lips. “It’s fine,” I said.
    She smiled again. “In the center drawer of your desk,” she said, “you will find two folders. One has the personnel records of Miss Swensen, Miss Daniels, and myself. You understand, of course, that we are provisionally assigned to your office. If you have other personnel or preferences we shall understand.”
    “No problem,” I said. “I like what I see so far and I have no ties.”
    She smiled. “In the other folder is a list of the names and positions of certain key executives. Mr. Sinclair especially asked me to remind you to review that list as there will be a meeting at ten thirty in his conference room to introduce them to you.”
    “Thank you,” I said. Fogarty would do all right. She had tact and style. She didn’t say introduce me to them.
    “Now, if I may, let me explain some things about the mechanics of the office.” She came around the desk and stood