“I think you know a lot more about Pastor and the things he was playing around with than you’re letting on. I say you’re lying.”
“Look, I told you, I know-knew-him casually. Since when is that a crime in a town this size? I had coffee the other day with a zoologist. What does that make me? A petunia?”
Caine took his eyes off me and glanced over at Forbes. “I don’t like this, Ross. I say get him out of here.”
“But he’s only-”
“Yeah, that’s what he says. But I say unload him now and forget all about what he’s doing here. Teddie’s not your business any more. I say he’s an inconvenience at best, at worst he could be trouble.” Ross looked at both of us and then at a glass polar bear, which was the only decoration on a bare bookshelf. He did a thing with his lower lip and moved his jaw from side to side, as though thinking didn’t come easy.
“Cooperman is here for a good reason, Norm. Teddie’s ten percent gives her a lot of clout. She could demand an audit and that could run into big numbers. I don’t want to run afoul of the Business Corporations Act if I can help it. Mr. Cooperman here is a very convenient solution.” It was smoother than I’d heard him talk before, reasoned for a change and calm, which put the wind up Caine who was facing him.
“I still say he’s a pest. Get rid of him! I don’t like this timing.”
“Cooperman’s not going anywhere close to Kinross affairs, Norm. McAuliffe’s got his eye on him. I suggest you leave this to me.”
“McAuliffe? Get serious, Ross.” Caine threw a scornful glance at Forbes and even included me in it. It was nice to be part of the party again after being the thing they were arguing about. “Now, Ross, I’ve talked this over with the Commander and-”
“I don’t care whether you’ve had direct communication from God Almighty! Phidias is my affair. So is Teddie. I think you should spend more time down at the yard and less up here looking over my shoulder!”
“The Commander isn’t going to like this! He is Chairman of the Board, you know.”
“Norm, my father can’t order a box of paperclips in this office without my okaying it. I’m in charge here and the sooner you remember that the better!”
“Look,” I put in, just to show I wasn’t a lifelike replica of Benny Cooperman but the man himself, “if I’m in the way …”
“Cooperman, keep out of this!” Ross said and I did that, while the two continued to wrangle. I hoped that some crucial information might fall my way, but they were both too clever for that. The altercation ended with Caine storming out of the room, red in the face and with white knuckles
“You’ve made a bad enemy, Mr. Forbes,” I said at length.
“Caine? Oh, we’ve been at each other’s throats since he arrived. This is nothing new.”
“He could be right, you know.”
“If I unload you, Cooperman, Teddie will have everybody in town talking. I know what I’m doing. It’s business as usual at Phidias Manufacturing.”
“Well, thanks, anyway,” I said.
“Look, my friend, don’t imagine for a moment that you played any part in what just occurred. Caine and I have been jousting like this for the past three years. If he’d suggested that I keep you here, you’d be on your way out of here this minute.”
“He seems to think the Commander-”
“For Christ’s sake, Cooperman, get out here before I change my mind!”
I turned and tried to walk calmly through the open door and down the corridor. I got back to the office just as McAuliffe was putting on his coat. It was about five after five.
“Well, good-night there, Mr. Cooperman,” he said.
“I suppose you heard most of that?” I asked. He would have had to be stone deaf not to have caught at least part of what went on.
“I think you’re a lucky man, Mr. Cooperman. You have been given a very rare privilege to come and go here. I hope you appreciate that?”
“Oh, I do, Mr. McAuliffe, but I didn’t want to become a cause of dissension.” His fingers stopped buttoning.
“I’m sure it was a considered decision, Mr. Cooperman. You know Grantham is in many ways still a village. People from Toronto don’t always remember that. Well, at least for the moment anyway, it seems our acquaintance is not going to be cut short.” McAuliffe looked a little shaken by what he had heard, and I remembered Caine’s sneer at the mention of Fred’s name. I tried to think of something to get him over this rough patch.
“Mr. McAuliffe,” I asked, remembering what Pásztory had said just before we went to look at the parts of an enormous clock behind a shed in the Kinross yard, “have you ever run into the term ‘AV’ in your work? It’s probably a common shortening, but I’ve never heard of it.” The fingers remained motionless on the coat buttons. Fred reflected.
“A business term, you say?”
“I think so. Something like CEO, I think.” McAuliffe let his lower lip droop rather dramatically, but in the end he shook his head.
“It’s not a term I’m familiar with, Mr. Cooperman. Perhaps it’s computer jargon. You might ask one of the younger people tomorrow.” His fingers began to move again. They continued down the front of his coat and then reached for the green Irish tweed cap. “Well,” he said, half-turned towards the half-closed door, “well, well, well, well.” And he was gone.
SEVENTEEN
In the lobby of the City Centre, behind a desk and in uniform sat a security guard making an attempt to look like he was keeping track of comings and goings after the day people had signed out. I picked up the pad from his desk and put my name down and added the time. It was just ten after five. As I did this, I noticed that both Forbes and Caine were still on the premises.
“You’re Boris Jurik, aren’t you?” I asked the guard. He blinked back to being semi-alert.
“Yeah, that’s right.” He checked the book to see who was asking.
“My name’s Cooperman. I’m in the way of being in the same line of work myself. Howard Dover, your boss, and I go back a long way together. He’s been talking to me about you.”
“No kidding?” I got a peek at some complicated dental work under his sparse moustache. “Are you into corporate security?” he asked. I smiled at the term.
“No, I do private investigations. Undercover, surveillance, that sort of thing.”
“Are you looking for a man?” So much for employee loyalty.
“Always on the lookout for the right man,” I said. I shot him a confidential glance and added: “Somebody who knows his way around.” Boris hitched his belt a little higher on his hips. “Things seem pretty secure around here,” I said. “Any problems.”
“This job? Naw. Nothin’ to it.”
“I’m a little concerned about the storage room downstairs. How secure are you down there?” Boris’s face emptied. I had obviously hit upon someplace he hadn’t even been told to worry about.
“We’ve had no trouble down there,” he said evasively: I smiled at his answer and let it sink in.
“That’s just the problem, isn’t it? Your average security man wouldn’t even check down there. But I’m sure that a guard of your calibre, who’s been with Dover for the last year and half-”
“Almost coming up to a year and three quarters.”
“There you are! Practically two years!”
“Is there something not right down there, security-wise, Mr. Cooperman? I want to get on top of it if there’s a loophole somewhere.”
“Well, as a favour to you, I’ll duke down there and have a fast look and let you know. Might be just a little thing. I’ll let you pass the word on to Phidias yourself, so they’ll know you’re on your toes.”
“Gee, that’s great!”
“Oh, I’m going to need your keys,” I said as an afterthought. He handed them over like they were cut glass. “Have ’em back to you in a few minutes.”