Chapter Six

"Well? Does he know?" Jimmy asked his daughter urgently as she came downstairs for breakfast. The smile on her face told him the answer before she said a word.

"He doesn't know a thing! He loves the Chellini Venus so much he wants to buy it from you and when he heard that you won't sell it he thought that I might be able to help."

"So, we're safe?" he said excitedly.

"We're safe!" Haley ran forward and hugged her father.

"Well, I think this calls for a celebration. I'm going to the cellar."

"Daddy!" Haley chided. "It's a little early to be drinking, don't you think?"

"It's never too early, my dear. And it'll only be a little." However, before Jimmy James could leave the room, the butler entered.

"Excuse me, sir; a Mr. Whitford is here to see you. He says the museum sent him."

"Then please ask him to come in."

The butler bowed and left the living room, returning soon with Mr. Whitford. "Good morning, Mr. James."

"Good morning, Mr. Whitford. Would you like to sit down?"

"No, thank you, I'm here on business and I won't detain you any longer than necessary. The museum sent me on a matter regarding your Chellini Venus which has been on display for three days now."

Jimmy glanced nervously back at Haley before looking at Mr. Whitford. "And what matter would that be?" he asked cautiously.

"Insurance! It seems that you never took out any on the Venus."

"Why, no, I didn't –"

"Exactly. The museum cannot afford to borrow items uninsured so we took the liberty of taking one out for you ourselves. It's at no cost to you; we just need your signature."

Jimmy took the pen he offered and looked over the large document fleetingly. "So all I have to do is sign this and everything is taken care of?"

"Exactly. Once you sign this paper the sculpture will be insured against everything from theft to the roof falling in."

"And how much is it being insured for?"

"It has been valued at," Mr. Whitford checked his paper, "one million dollars."

Jimmy looked over at Haley, who simply shrugged as if to say 'Why not?'. Content in her approval he signed the document happily and handed it back to Mr. Whitford.

"Thank you very much, Mr. James. You should be hearing from us this time next Saturday."

"Next Saturday? Why does it take a week to insure?"

"Well, the sculpture needs to be checked for authenticity and Professor Bauer can only be here on Friday."

"P-professor Bauer?" Jimmy stuttered.

"Yes, he checks all our works at the museum, has for years. Excellent in his field."

Jimmy looked as if he was slowly falling apart so Haley did her best to appear composed in front of the guest. She quickly ushered her father into a chair and politely thanked Mr. Whitford, who left as soon as she told him Jimmy James was prone to suffering recurring bouts of influenza.

"Haley, what shall we do?"

"We can find a way around this, Daddy," Haley tried to calm him down.

"No, there is no way out. We can either run and be on the run forever or stay here and be ruined." He hung his head in his hands. "It is hopeless."

Haley was about to comfort her father when an idea occurred to her. Since Jimmy's head was in his palms he did not see her run over to the side table, open the telephone book and start dialing. He was so far in his own sorrows that he heard but paid no attention to what she said. "Hello, is that 'The Plaza'? Could you put me through to room 501, please?"