"I'll be fine." But not Stan. How much had the guys told him about Stan?
"I'm sick about Stan," James said, reading my mind. "I'm beginning to understand why you thought I was involved in Ned's murder. If Stan commissioned it, I must be behind it. But Ned was my best friend, even though we had our differences. I've done some things I'm not proud of, but I'm not a murderer. But Stan…"
James shook his head, at a loss for words. I'm sure he couldn't understand how a brain like Stan's worked. I couldn't, either. I felt I should say something to console him. He and Stan had been… Whatever it was, it had gone beyond the usual employer-employee relationship. Otherwise, why would Stan go off the cliff, so to speak?
There was an awkward silence, during which I tried to think of words that wouldn't come. James broke it, saying, "To show you I'm not such a bad guy, I'm going to let you off the hook. You don't have to work for me and I'm going to cancel your obligation on the baseball card. I've caused you enough trouble by not being alert to what Stan was up to."
My first inclination was to say, "You don't have to do that," but I was afraid if I did he might take it back. I should learn a lesson from him. When somebody owes you, collect. And James obviously felt he owed me.
"I'll tell you what," I said, talking slowly to buy time as the idea formulated itself in my head. "I'll keep the job and I'll pay you for the card if you stop trying to take over Dionysus. Don't solicit proxies, and divest Tartan of the Dionysus stock it holds, in an orderly manner so as not to upset the market."
James smiled as if I had said something funny. "You're a smart young man," he said, "and I'm sure you already know what I'm about to tell you, but I'm going to do it anyway, to give you a chance to change your mind. Number one, if I can't get Elma's proxy, the chances of Tartan taking over Dionysus are slim, and at the moment she doesn't appear to be in my corner. And I have a feeling that when she hears a Tartan employee murdered her husband the news will not endear her to us.
“Number two, being a part of Tartan might actually be good for Dionysus, for several reasons. It would certainly put your father on easy street, financially, and I have a feeling some of that would dribble down to you.”
"My father can take care of his own financial interests," I said. Why did I feel I had to defend him? "I've seen you in action enough to know that you usually get what you aim for so I'm not sure Elma is enough to stop you. But in addition…my father wants…that is, he wants to continue running Dionysus. He doesn't want to give it up yet. It's his life."
James looked surprised. "You're doing this for him, aren't you?"
"Don't tell him we had this conversation," I said, quickly.
"I have two daughters. I can't remember that they've ever done anything for me. Oh, they send me Father's Day cards and they come for obligatory visits. But mostly it seems that they want things from me. I think big weddings are next on the agenda."
The conversation was headed in the wrong direction. "I don't mind working for you," I said. “I might even learn something."
"The good news is that Tartan will make money on the Dionysus stock it holds." James grinned. "As some famous investor said, 'Nobody ever went broke taking a profit.' I have just one question: Where are you going to get the money to pay me for the baseball card?"
"From my Tartan stock options."
James laughed, long and loud
Chapter 36 ARROW
It was difficult to get dressed while wearing a caste around my body, a caste that covered my chest and most of my back. It was difficult to do a number of things: sleep, wash, drive and even use a computer. I wore a loose sweater to cover the caste. My image in the mirror was much too bulky to be me.
I was beginning to get the hang of driving while keeping my back straight as I parked beside Arrow's condominium complex. She should be home from work. I knew this because I had called John, my father's administrative assistant, earlier, and asked him to let me know when she left the office.
John had wanted to talk. He had heard stories about my adventures in Northern California and they excited him, but I cut him off by telling him that I would give him the whole scoop some day. In about a million years.
It was painful getting out of the car because I had to bend my head and that radiated down to my cracked vertebra. The doctor had said I should be thankful it was only cracked and that it would be healed in a few weeks. Meanwhile, no heavy lifting, no strenuous exercise-especially, no running. I missed that the most. In a few days I could start a walking program. Walking jars the body only a fraction as much as running does. I would walk like my father walked. I had a real job like my father had. I had almost become my father.
I walked into the complex slowly, feeling like an old man. Looking like one too, I was convinced. I rang Arrow's bell and half-hoped she wasn't there because I didn't know what to say to her.
However, I soon heard a click. It sounded like the click at the door to James' house and I automatically reached for the doorknob. It came open and I had to take a short step forward to keep my balance. This caused a shot of pain in my back.
My head in the doorway and the agonized expression on my face must have startled Arrow because she took a step backward. I attempted a smile and said hi and she said hi and then we looked at each other as I tried to remember what came next.
Finally, she said, "Come on in," and opened the door wider. "How are you?"
"Thanks. I'm fine." When I moved I was reminded of the flowers I was holding. I thrust them toward her and said, "These are for you."
"Thank you," Arrow said, taking and sniffing them. "They're beautiful. What's the occasion, other than your escape from death? I should be buying you flowers, although I must admit, I didn't expect to see you."
"I wanted to talk to you before I went back to San Francisco."
She offered me a chair and I sat down. When she saw how stiff I was she said, "Tell me about your injury, as soon as I put these in a vase."
Women instinctively know what to do with flowers. Arrow disappeared into her kitchen and reappeared a minute later with the flowers in a vase half-filled with water. She placed them on her coffee table and sat in another chair. Before I came she had changed from her work clothes to shorts and a T-shirt and her feet were bare. She looked sweet and appealing.
She laughed and said, "At least I'm not cleaning up a mess in my kitchen. As I recall, I was on my hands and knees the last time you were here. I heard part of what you went through with Stan, from Richard, but I'd like to hear the rest from you."
"Do you think my father has accepted the fact that I'm working for James?" I asked.
"I guess he's resigned to it. He said you told him James was providing a valuable service to the owners of high-risk start-ups, even if his methods were unorthodox. And that you thought you could make James a kinder, gentler person. He’s also inclined to think a little better of James because James officially told him he has stopped trying to acquire Dionysus. I wonder why James relented.” She looked a question at me.
Don’t go there, Karl. "I’m not sure, but it may have something to do with Stan and Ned. James was very upset and very apologetic about Stan. Anyway, I know I'll learn a lot from him. By the way, he gave me a week off with pay to recover from my physical and emotional wounds. I think he actually has a human side to him."
"Speaking of being human, your father was deeply touched that you risked your life to solve Ned's murder, but he doesn't want you to do it again."
"He told me that-at least the part about not getting into any more trouble."
"Is Stan badly hurt?"
"Just a brain concussion. He'll be nicely recovered by the time he stands trial. After I talked to the police I heard that they've already found out that Stan had made a large cash withdrawal from his bank on the day that Ned was murdered.