Of Course There's a Wrinkle

“Good news.” Cuthbold wasted no time in visiting me next morning. He's big on face-to-face contact. Either that or he's mooching my coffee again. “Your tour did the trick; we are getting the money.”

I immediately relaxed. Success! Evidently my rejections of Ms. Romero were not an impediment to the donation. Excellent. I would be safe now, at least for awhile, at least until the next fundraising effort.

“They want you to come pick up the check in person. Apparently it's of a size that they won't trust the post office with it. Of course I offered to collect it myself but Rosal... I mean Ms. Romero was quite insistent that you be the one to collect it.” His expression grew suddenly serious. “Don't mess this up Patrick. We do need this donation very badly. While the timing is not critical, well, the sooner we have the check, the better I'll feel. Understood?” I nodded. “Excellent. I'm sure you won't delay in arranging for its collection. The number's just there.” That was that.

So much for it being over.