“I still say he’ll stay. But if he doesn’t, you come eat dinner with me. Would you fetch my pumps? Over there on the floor beyond the piano.”
The nurse looked, fetched the pumps, stood over Joan Eunice, and sighed. “Joan, I don’t know what to do about you. You’ve been a bad girl again. Why didn’t you ring?”
“Don’t scold me, dear. Here, sit on the stool and lean against my knees and talk. There. Now tell me— By any chance were you ever a lady’s maid before you took nurse’s training?”
“No. Why?”
“You did such a fine job of taking care of me in the bath and getting me pretty. Well, it was just a thought. I don’t suppose a nurse—a professional woman—would consider a job as a maid. No matter how high the salary. But Dr. Garcia is going to insist that I have a nurse after he leaves. I don’t need a nurse and you know it. But dear Doctor will insist. I do need a maid; I won’t be able to dress myself at first—women’s clothes are so different. Not to mention knowing nothing about makeup. Or buying women’s clothes. What are you paid now, Winnie?”
The nurse told her.
“Goodness! No wonder they’re always saying there’s a shortage of nurses. I can’t hire an in-house guard at that price. What would you think of staying on as my nurse—but actually doing things for me that a maid would do and I don’t know how to do—at three times your present salary? With whatever you wish paid in cash so that you won’t have to report it?”
The redhead looked thoughtful. “How would you want me to dress, Joan?”
“That’s up to you. Your white nurse’s uniform, if you prefer it—since you’ll be my nurse in Dr. Garcia’s eyes. Or what you wish. There’s a bedroom through that door where my valet used to sleep. With a nice bath—and another room beyond it which we can redo as your living room. Redecorate all three rooms to suit your taste. Your private apartment.”
(Boss, what was that about not shooting ducks on water?) (Stuff it, Eunice. If she takes the bait, it’s better than hiring some illit and having to train her—and then have her steal the jewelry and drop out about the time she’s some use.) (Oh, I see advantages. But you place Winnie one unlocked door away and she’ll be in bed with you before you can say ‘Sappho.’ You may not want men in our life—but I do.) (Oh, nonsense! She’s already thinking about the money. If she takes the job, she’ll be more standoffish—she’ll start calling us ‘Miss’ again.)
“Miss Joan? It’ll really be my own apartment? I can entertain?”
“Of course, dear. Private. Oh, Cunningham’s staff will clean and so forth, any service you want. Breakfast tray, whatever. Or never enter it if you prefer it that way.”
“It sounds heavenly. I’m sharing a room with two other girls . . . at a rent that’s horrid because it’s inside an enclave. Safe—but I never have any privacy.”
“Winnie. Look at me, dear, and lay it on the line. The bed in there now is, I believe, a single. Would you like to have it replaced with a big, big double bed?”
The girl blushed. “Uh, it would be nice.”
“So stop blushing. I won’t know you have a visitor unless you tell me; that~ door is soundproof. Of course visitors have to be identified and checked for weapons, just as visitors to an enclave have to be—but that simply means you must vouch for a visitor to my chief guard the first visit. But I won’t know it unless you choose to tell me. The in-house staff all have visitors. But security is my chief guard’s worry, not mine.”
“But he does have to show his I.D.?”
“You still would have to vouch for him to Chief O’Neil but— Hold the countdown. Did you mean he would rather not show an I.D.? Is he married, or something?”
Winnie blushed again, did not answer. Joan Eunice went on, “Nobody’s business, dear. This is a private home, not a government compound. You vouch for him, that’s enough. Chief O’Neil doesn’t trust I.D.s; they’re often faked. But he has a photographic eye. Are you going to stay with me? As nurse in residence, or lady’s companion, or social secretary, or whatever you want to call it.”