Speaking of the devil, that’s Colonel Mattingly, calling to tell me the President can’t find time for me and that he’s sending a car to take me to the airport for my flight back to Germany.
And I probably won’t even get to say goodbye to the Squirt.
Shit!
“There’s a Lieutenant Cronley,” Jimmy called.
The bartender came to him and handed him a telephone on a long cord.
Jimmy said into it: “Lieutenant Cronley, sir.”
“Sergeant Killian at the gate, Lieutenant,” the caller replied. “There’s a civilian lady here wanting to see you. A Miss Howell. Should I pass her through?”
Cronley’s heart jumped.
“After first giving her directions to the officers’ club, absolutely!”
“Yes, sir.”
Cronley handed the phone back to the bartender.
“My date has arrived, sir,” Cronley said to Major Derwin.
We never had a date, come to think of it.
One moment, Squirt was Clete’s annoying little sister, and the next we were . . . involved.
“Ah, to be young!” Major Derwin said. “You just got here, and already you’re playing the field.”
Cronley smiled but didn’t reply.
Derwin had a helpful thought and expressed it.
“Perhaps you should go outside and wait for her. The club’s sign is poorly lit.”
“She’s a very resourceful young woman, sir. She’ll find me.”
Five minutes later, the Squirt did.
She stopped at the door to the bar just long enough for Jimmy to see her, which caused his heart to thump, and then walked to him.
“Hi,” she said.
“Hi, yourself.” Jimmy then turned to Derwin. “Major Derwin, may I introduce Miss Marjorie Howell?”
Please, Major, say “Nice to meet you” and then leave us alone.
“A great pleasure, Miss Howell. When the lieutenant was a student here, I was his instructor in the techniques of surveillance. Obviously, I taught him well. Look what he found.”
Miss Howell gave him an icy look.
Please, Squirt, don’t say what you’re thinking!
“Oh, really?” she asked. Then, “Jimmy, why don’t you pay your tab? I’m pressed for time.”
“Well, there’s a small problem there,” Cronley said. “All I have is Funny Money—Army of Occupation Scrip—and they won’t take that here. I don’t suppose you’d loan me a few dollars?”
She looked at him, saw on his face that he was telling the truth, and reached into her purse. She came out with a thick wad of currency, folded in half, that seemed to be made up entirely of new one-hundred-dollar bills.