"Phil," Carl Matuszek was saying, "how many times do we have to go over this? We bought fourteen percent of your stock and it cost a cool twenty-four million. You know what we got for that? We got to be your biggest shareholders. And you know what we got for that? We got the right to tell you that you work for us."
"You cannot assess a company's record on six months' worth of business," Phil was saying. "Especially a business like this which we're not just trying to expand, we're trying to shift the entire paradigm. I don't understand how you can be that shortsighted."
Justin wasn't sure what business Phil was in, but he realized soon enough that whatever business it was, it wasn't doing well enough to suit Matuszek.
"Actually, we can make that assessment, Phil. We can and we're doing just that. What I don't understand is how people like you think you can get away with not making your numbers and then not having to face the consequences."
"Because the consequences you're talking about are ridiculous," Phil was saying. "This is a long-term project. We're changing the way kids all over the country are eating, for Christ's sake. We're remaking the entire school cafeteria structure, moving them from slop to healthy, well- balanced meals. That's why we've taken on employees and, believe me, the risk-reward value long term-"
"Phil, let's get something straight right now. We're not interested in long term. We're interested in value. Kids want to eat chocolate cake for breakfast, that's fine with me as long as we're making a profit on the goddamn cake."
"Carl, you do realize that's an inane statement, I hope."
"I'll tell you what's inane, my friend." Matuszek's voice, on the surface, stayed friendly and calm. But underneath that surface it turned to ice. "Thinking you can lose money and still run this company."
"What are you, firing me?"
"Congratulations. That's the first perceptive thing you've said since we've been doing business together. We're also selling you. To CafRite."
Phil seemed able to ignore the fact that he was fired. Justin, just from listening to this brief conversation, had a feeling that getting fired by Carl Matuszek would be a relief and a blessing. But Phil wasn't able to shake off the sale of his company. "You'll put about five hundred people out of work down here. And maybe another seven fifty to a thousand around the country. You can't do that."
"It's done, Phil. It's done. Someone from our end'll speak to HR and we'll work out your details."
"My details? You scumbag-"
"Bye, Phil."
Carl Matuszek clicked off the speakerphone and now swiveled his chair around to face Justin and Reggie. He had a perfectly placid expression on his face. The conversation he'd just had with Phil, the mysterious cafeteria person, hadn't left an iota of stress on Matuszek's face. "So what is it I'm actually supposed to help you with?" he asked.
"Quite a conversation you were having."
Matuszek shrugged. "I don't let it bother me anymore. I talk to guys like that three, four times a day now."
"Doesn't bother you messing around with people's lives like that?"
Matuszek shook his head. "First of all, I don't mess around with anything, certainly not people's lives. I don't have anything to do with people's lives."
"Firing someone doesn't count as anything?"
"People find their own level. They fail or succeed on their own. I might be the one who has to point out their failure or success, but I'm not responsible for their fate. I take businesses and make them stronger. That's all I do."
"Stronger meaning more profitable," Justin said.
"There's no other definition, is there?"
"Sounds like you don't just invest in companies. Sounds like you have quite a bit of control over them."
"If we invest heavily enough, we do. And that's the way it should be. You put up the money, you get to demand results. And if you don't get them…"
"You do what you have to do," Justin said, "to make sure you do get them."
"Bingo," Carl Matuszek said. "Want to come work here?"
"I'm afraid," Reggie interrupted, "we're already working. Can we talk about Evan Harmon, please."
"A tragedy," Matuszek said. He put as much emotion into the word "tragedy" as he would if he were discussing a problem he might have with a suit that didn't fit properly.
"Did you work with Mr. Harmon?" Reggie asked.
"Of course. He was my mentor as well as my boss."
"So you learned from him?" Justin said.
"Almost everything I know," Matuszek answered.
"And did you work closely with him? On a daily basis?"
"Oh yeah. As close as it's possible to work with someone. Hey," Matuszek said, and Justin was pretty sure he saw an actual wink, "you mind if I see your ID or some badges or whatever you people carry? I mean, I know you're who you say you are, but even so…"
Reggie took her FBI ID out and held it out. Justin held up a badge he'd bought in the East End Harbor five-and-dime. It said FBI on it in big letters. Matuszek found them both equally convincing. As Justin put his badge away, he could see Reggie staring at him incredulously.
"So you'd know a decent amount about Mr. Harmon's dealings for the company," Reggie asked Matuszek once she was able to recover from the sight of Justin's toy badge.
"Pretty much," Matuszek said.
Reggie shoved a piece of paper across the desk. "So, for instance, if I asked you to identify these companies, you could?"
Matuszek scanned the list in front of him. "Sure," he said. "I don't know every single one, but we do business with most of these guys."
"Meaning what?"
"We handle their money. Do corporate investments. Some of them we invest in."
"Can you tell me what they do?"
"Every company on the list?"
"If you can."
"I don't think I can do every one but…" Matuszek ran his finger down the list. "Penzine is an energy company, does that new shit with corn… Balbear makes ball bearings. Not very glam but incredibly solid business… CafRite manages school cafeterias…"
"That's the company you just sold Phil's company to."
"Phil?"
"The guy you were just talking to. The guy you fired?"
"Oh, right, right. Yes, we just sold it to CafRite."
"That's allowed? Selling one client's company to another client?"
"It's not just allowed, it's what we do. We invest for our clients. We buy and we sell. Doesn't really matter who we buy from or who we sell to, as long as it's profitable and there's no exchange of inside information."
"All right," Justin said. "Keep going down the list."
And he did. One company designed and built ice-skating rinks around the country; one company was a trucking and shipping line; one manufactured lightbulbs. One company made substrates-and when Justin asked what a substrate was, half expecting Matuszek to come up with some kind of idiotic punch line-he was told it was the key to auto exhaust systems; it's what allowed those systems to meet environmental standards around most of the world. A big business, Matuszek said. A big business. And a good example of the way they worked. They didn't just invest in substrates. The next company on the list was an auto parts company that made the exhaust systems that used substrates.
"One hand washing the other," Justin said.
"Washing has nothing to do with it," Matuszek said. "It's one hand taking money from one pocket and putting even more money in the other pocket. That's what we do."
Other than the link between the two businesses that dealt in auto parts, there was no rhyme or reason to the others being on the same list except that they all were involved in a transaction handled by Ascension. Matuszek explained that they weren't developing a core business. Nothing had to relate to anything else. Their core business, he said, was money.
There were several companies on the list that Carl Matuszek didn't know. And there were two he knew but had nothing to do with.
"And why don't you deal with those two?" Reggie asked.
"They deal in commodities. Not my area. If you want more info on them, you have to talk to Hudson Fenwick."