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each of you and review the problems of your departments. Thank you, gentlemen.”
    I went downstairs to my own office. Within ten minutes all hell broke loose. Sinclair stormed up and down my office, raging.
    “You fired everybody! How the hell do you expect to run the network? All by yourself? Even you can’t do that!”
    I smiled up at him. “The gods descend from Olympus.”
    That stopped him. He looked down at me. “What do you mean?”
    “They told me you never came down from your floor.” He began to smile. I continued. “Let me set the record straight. I didn’t fire them. I asked for their resignations effective in January. I didn’t say I would accept those resignations.”
    He chuckled. “You really shook them up.”
    “That’s the idea,” I said.
    “You play rough.”
    “This isn’t touch tackle. I meant it when I said I was going to move this network.”
    “Okay,” he said after a moment. “It’s your ballgame.” He glanced at his watch. “I’ve booked the private room at Twenty-One for lunch. I want you to meet the board of directors. And I’ve asked PR to set a press conference for you on Friday.”
    “Lunch is all right,” I said. “But Friday is out. I won’t be here” I gave him time to swallow that. “Time enough for a press conference when I have something to say. Right now I have nothing to tell them.”
    “Where will you be?” he asked.
    “In Los Angeles.”
    “What the hell have you got to do out there that’s more important than staying right here?”
    I met his eyes straight on. “I’m going to try to steal Saturday nights back for us.”

CHAPTER FIVE
    “Is my father with you?” she asked as soon as I came into the room.
    I shook my head.
    “That was his car you came up in,” she accused.
    I looked at her; she was dressed and ready to leave, her small valise packed and standing in the middle of the room. She made no move toward it.
    “He loaned me the limo,” I said. “He thought it would be more comfortable than a taxi.”
    “He knows?”
    “Yes,” I said.
    She seemed to deflate. She crossed the room and took a package of cigarettes from her purse. “How did he find out? Did you tell him?”
    “You know better than that, Barbara,” I said. “He already knew. He even knew that I was taking you to the doctor.”
    “Damn!” she said. “He never lets go.” She looked up at me. “I’ll fire that damn maid. Now I’m sure she told him. She was the only other one that knew. She’s always listening at keyholes.”
    “He’s your father,” I said. “It’s only natural that he should care—”
    “What the hell do you know?” she snapped. Her voice turned savage. “He doesn’t care about me or anybody. All he wants to do is to control everything. That’s why my mother ran away from him. But even that didn’t stop him. He hounded her until she killed herself. And that’s just what he wants to do to me.”
    “Easy, girl,” I said.
    She laughed bitterly. “You don’t know. But wait until he gets his hands into you. Then he’ll own you. And you’ll understand. I remember what he told my mother.
    “‘Nobody leaves Spencer Sinclair,’ he said. ‘Unless I want them to.’”
    She ground her cigarette out. “I don’t want to go back to my apartment.”
    “That’s up to you. You’re a big girl. I just came up to get you out of here.”
    She came toward me, her eyes wide. “Let me stay with you, Steve.”
    “Forget it.”
    “Please, Steve.” She reached for my hand. “Only for a few days until I get my head unscrambled. I don’t want to be alone in that apartment.”
    “You’re out of your mind,” I said. “My place is going to be like Grand Central Station the next few days.”
    “I’ll be good. I won’t be in your way.”
    “Why me?” I asked. “You have other friends.”
    She looked up at me, a hurt coming to her eyes. She let go of my hand and went back to her valise. “Okay, Steve,” she said quietly. “I’m ready