Final Venture

I tried to smile.

Gil cleared his throat. 'This is a difficult question, but I think it's important to clear the air. The police have been asking all of us here all kinds of questions about Frank, and about you. They haven't said anything directly, but from their questions I'd guess they view you as a likely suspect.'

'I know'

'So my question is, are they correct?'

'You mean, did I kill Frank?'

Gil nodded. His eyes, shrunken by the thick lenses of his glasses, bored into me. I met them, held them.

'No, Gil. No, I didn't.'

Gil paused a moment, and then sat back. 'Good. I believe you. I thought so, but I wanted to ask for myself. I want you to know that you have my total support, and that of the firm. If there's anything I can do for you please ask.'

'Thank you,' I said. 'Um, Gil?'

'Yes?'

'There is one thing. I wonder if you could give me the name of a good criminal lawyer? I doubt I'll need one, but you never know'

Gil looked at me strangely for a moment, as if wondering whether he had made a mistake in trusting me so quickly. Then he gave me a quick smile. 'Certainly. Hold on a moment.' He went over to his desk and rifled through his Rolodex. 'Gardner Phillips. He's an old friend of mine, and a fine trial lawyer. Here's his number.'

He handed me an index card, and I jotted down the details.

'Thanks. As I say, I hope I won't need him.' I made as if to get up.

'One moment, Simon. There's something else I wanted to talk to you about.'

'Oh yes?'

'Net Cop. What are you planning to do about it?'

'As I told you, I don't intend giving up quite yet. The company can continue for a month or so as it is. Craig Docherty and I are trying to find some other sources of funds to develop the prototype switch.'

Any luck?'

'None yet. But we've only just started.'

'I see. I'm worried about Craig Docherty. I think Frank might have been right about him.'

I looked at Gil sharply. 'What do you mean?'

'He came to see me last week. He threatened me, said he would go to the press with the story of how Revere allegedly hadn't met its commitment to him.'

I groaned. How could Craig have been so stupid? 'What did you tell him?' I asked.

'I told him to leave my office. I won't be blackmailed by my entrepreneurs.'

'He was probably just upset,' I said. 'He was pretty angry when I told him we were going to pull out.'

'Oh it was clear he was upset. But as Frank said, it clouded his judgement. It wasn't smart to threaten me.'

'I think he's calmer now. I can make sure he doesn't do anything like that again.'

'It was stupid, Simon. If he did something that stupid once, he's going to do something just as stupid again.'

I saw Gil's point. 'What do you want me to do about it?'

Gil paused. 'Do you really think you can salvage something from this investment?'

'I think so. I don't make any promises…' I looked up at Gil, who caught the point and smiled, 'but I will do my best.'

'OK. Do this. Carry on with Net Cop. Get every last dollar you can out of it. But tell Craig Docherty that if he breathes a word to the press that might harm Revere's reputation, he'll be fired from Net Cop, and he'll never get venture backing from anyone in this town again.'

'I'll tell him.'

'What was that all about?' asked Daniel, back in the associates' office.

'Gil wanted to know whether I killed Frank. It seems I'm everyone's favourite suspect.'

'You're certainly mine,' said Daniel. 'Thanks for the support.'

'Do the police have any other ideas who might have done it?'

'Not that I'm aware of. I'm sure they'll find someone.'

'Poor guy,' said Daniel. 'Revere will be screwed without him.'

'I know what you mean.' BioOne excepted, Frank was easily Revere's most able investor. Gil's record was patchy and Art's was downright appalling, once again BioOne excepted. Ravi and Diane had made some promising investments between them, but it was too early to tell how they would do. But Frank was more than a good investor. He was the voice of caution, the voice of common sense, the voice Gil listened to when he had a difficult decision to make.

'Where's John?' I asked.

'Sick.'

'Huh. It must be serious. He's such a healthy sod, you don't expect him to actually take a day off work.'

'He's taken Frank's death pretty badly. You know how much they worked together,' Daniel said. 'Oh, by the way, I saw Jeff Lieberman in New York last weekend.'

'Was he interested in Net Cop?'

'He might be. Give him a call.'

I sighed. 'Maybe I will. After I've straightened out my favourite lunatic CEO.'

Craig had recovered his optimism and energy as he came bounding over to me, dressed as always in jeans, sneakers and T-shirt. 'Hey, Simon, howya doin'?'

'Not so good, I'm afraid, Craig.'

'Yeah. I heard about Frank Cook. I'm sorry. Come through to my office.'

We went through to the glass-enclosed space in the corner. 'So, is there any chance Revere might change its mind about the money now?' asked Craig.

I recoiled. 'You mean after what happened to Frank?'

'Yeah.' He looked at me expectantly.

'No, Craig, no chance at all.'

'Too bad,' Craig said. Only then did he seem to read my expression. 'Guess that was in bad taste, huh?'

'You could say that, Craig,' I replied. 'It also wasn't such a great idea to try to threaten Gil Appleby. What were you thinking of?'

'Hey. I was angry. I was desperate. I was willing to try anything.'

'Well, you didn't impress Gil. In fact, he told me to tell you that if you squeak a word to the press, we'll fire you.'

'You can't do that,' said Craig.

'We can, and you know it,' I said. Sadly, it was all too common for venture capitalists to fire entrepreneurs from the companies they had founded. Craig had come awfully close. Despite the faith in me he professed, the only thing holding Gil back had probably been his expectation that Net Cop would go bust of its own accord anyway.

'Oh, and after that he'll make sure you never get backing from a venture capital firm again,' I added.

Craig sighed. 'OK, I get the message. I'm sorry.'

A thought struck me. 'When I left Net Cop the day before Frank was killed, you seemed awfully cheerful. That had nothing to do with his death, did it?'

'No, of course not,' said Craig.

I looked at him suspiciously, but his face was all injured innocence.

He stood up and moved over to a whiteboard in his office. There was a string of names, venture capitalists in one column, and industry players in the other. Many of the names were crossed out.

'We're gettin' no luck with the VCs,' Craig said, 'but some of the equipment suppliers are nibbling. Nortel has said "no", but Ericsson and Luxtel sound interested. I've fixed up a meeting with Luxtel in New Jersey tomorrow…'

Craig rattled on, optimism returned, once again totally absorbed with the success of his company.

Inspired by Craig's enthusiasm, I called Jeff Lieberman in New York. He was pleased to hear from me. He liked the Net Cop deal. Daniel had indeed put a good word in over the weekend. In fact, Jeff had talked to a couple of his colleagues, and they had agreed to put in a hundred and fifty thousand dollars between them for an appropriate share of the company yet to be haggled over. It was much more than I had expected. Craig was impressed. Net Cop would still need more funds to develop the prototype, but Jeff and his friends had bought us a couple more weeks to find them. Not much, but it was something.

I took the train from Wellesley back to South Station and put in a couple of hours' work. I left the office early. I was worried about Lisa.

I went straight home, walking rapidly across the Common. I usually found that was the time when the problems of the day came crowding back into my mind, begging to be solved.

Gil's conversation with me jostled its way to the front of my brain. Mahoney hadn't said I was a suspect, but it was clear I was heading that way. I might need Gil's lawyer friend.