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spread out another tentacle and embraced the building trade. Acting as middle men, they secured contracts, then passed them on, raking off a healthy percentage in the process.
    "Something on your mind, Jim?"
    "Yes, there is." Jim Whelan settled himself opposite Harry, then leaned forward and said, "You remember about two months ago I did an estimate on that job for Halliday, the man who took over Benson's garage down Cromwell Road?"
    "Yes, yes, of course I remember; I dealt with it. It went through here."
    "Do you remember what the price was, the one I quoted?"
    "Let me see ... well, I can't say offhand, but just a minute, I can get it for you in a tick." As he made to get up Whelan said, "You needn't, only to confirm it. It was six thousand, five hundred for having the garage extended, the car park made, ladies room put up and so on."
    Harry screwed up his eyes before saying, "That's right. But what about it?"
    "Then why was it raised ?"
    "Raised?" Again Harry was screwing up his eyes.
    "To my knowledge it's never even been confirmed, I mean by Halliday ...
    Wait a minute." He got up quickly and went to a cabinet by the side of the window and, opening a drawer, he flicked through some files; then pulling out a folio he said, "Here it is, a copy of the estimaic, sia inuwi. u^ ^vA ^ni^iv.
    "Did you send that out?"
    "No, I don't send them from here, not now, they go from the next floor, Rippon's office. It's a new arrangement, since they started on the buildings and contracts."
    "Well, look at these figures, will you?" Jim Whelan now handed a sheet of paper across to Harry.
    "I've taken them letter for letter from the correspondence that was sent to Halliday. The typist there's my niece.
    We got talking and this is what came out of it. "
    Harry looked down at the paper in his hand and read: Teamarsh's estimate to Halliday for work on garage, etc. " seven thousand two hundred and fifty pounds. Lovell's estimate to Halliday for work on garage, eight thousand pounds."
    Harry stared at Jim Whelan and said slowly, "Lovell's? What's Lovell's got to do with this? We only took them over a month ago. We haven't started doing anything under their name yet, I mean nothing new, we're only finishing off the jobs that were already in hand, at least the contractors are. What does it mean?"
    "It means that somebody sent an estimate from the firm of Peamarsh to Halliday quoting in the first place seven hundred and fifty pounds more than the reasonable price, and at the same time they've answered Halliday's letter to Lovell's firm asking for an estimate from them too. How was the poor bugger to know that Lovell's was Peamarsh's and some clever Jack was working off one against' the other on him?"
    "I can't believe it. And the risk I' " Risk. What do they care about risk when there's lucre involved? They were out to show how much cheaper Peamarsh's j could do _ the job and at seven hundred and fifty above, what ( I put in at that. And my estimate of six thousand five hundred ^ was leaving them a warm profit, I can tell you. "
    Harry looked grimly down- on the figures on the paper; then drawing in a deep breath he said, "Leave this to me, will you " Yes, I'll leave it to you, Harry. But mind you, I want this straightened out; I don't like to see people taken for double suckers.
    Single suckers yes, it's happening every day, but this is a bit much.
    "
    "I'll see to it right away, Jim."
    "Will you give me a ring?"
    "I'll give you a ring."
    "So long. Harry." Jim Whelan got up and made for the door. And he had reached it before Harry said, "So long, Jim."
    When he was alone again, Harry sat staring down on the evidence of jiggery-pokery. He didn't need to ask himself whose work this was, he knew. He had a father-in-law with what was called a business head.
    But business head be damned, he wasn't going to get away with this.
    For his own peace of mind he must see that he didn't. Over the years he had closed his eyes to one piece of chicanery after