Harry preferred to work with his office door open. His door was now shut. The NOGA board meeting was at five that afternoon. He had written his report a week ago, but because of Conrad and Jack the report now needed to be altered. There was ample time to make the revisions, that wasn’t the problem; he was furious that Jack’s hare-brained nonsense and Conrad’s desperate libido required him to do it. Harry always knew his wife’s friends were a risky proposition, but given their prominence he believed they were a risk worth taking. Now as he rejigged his report, sifting through euphemisms and obfuscations in an attempt to disguise their stupidity, it was time, he decided, to remind everyone who was in charge here. Jack had arrived at the office an hour ago. It was his first appearance in a week and what he thought NOGA was paying him for Harry could not begin to guess. Although there was a slothful side to Jack – or else he never was as bright as people believed. And of the two options, as unattractive as it was, Harry would opt for the former, providing as it did, at least in theory, for the quality of work NOGA expected of him.
