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CHAPTER thirty-nine

  Detective Leech wanted to see Mr. Oakes. Now. He’d had an appointment to meet him last evening and when Oakes broke that he made another one for this morning. Oakes never showed up.

  "He should be here any minute Detective," I told him. "But I don’t proclaim to have any say over his schedule. His secretary is the master of his day."

  "His secretary wasn’t in. So I thought I’d try you," he said hopefully.

  "You’re mistaken if you think I can make magic when it comes to Oakes’ schedule," I said. I pointed to Vanessa on the other side of the room. "His secretary is over there. You should talk to her." He glanced in Vee’s direction and I asked him how he had found us. "The location of this meeting is supposed to be confidential." He shrugged and dismissed me with a wave as he walked towards Vee.

  I heard more voices and saw the rest of the gang arrive. Oakes and Larry Everly looked like twins dressed in old-fashioned, light-blue and white striped seersucker suits. I knew white shoes were a no-no before the long weekend in May but this was ridiculous. There should be a law, I thought. Larry’s ferret eyes were scanning the room while Chris spoke into his ear.

  Jack Vincent was standing behind them with his hands clasped in front of him. His briefcase rested on the floor between his feet.

  I leaned back against the wall and took in the scene before me. The noise level had risen and conversations were taking place all around the room. Vanessa had her hand on the Detective’s arm and was gesturing at Oakes with the other hand. She was talking rapidly to him.

  Larry Everly was trying to get everyone’s attention. He obviously wanted to get the show on the road. People were reluctantly picking up their briefcases and heading into the meeting room.

  Chris was shaking hands and patting everyone on the shoulder. I spied some shaving cream on his ear and smiled. Vanessa led Detective Leech closer to the crowd and I fumbled in my dress pocket for a cigarette. I took a deep drag and waited for the scene to unfold.

  As the last director before Oakes passed through the double doors into the meeting room, Vanessa hurriedly presented the Detective to Oakes. I couldn’t hear the conversation but Oakes was pointedly ignoring him and looking past him into the meeting room. The Detective spoke sharply at Oakes and Chris walked away. Vanessa threw her hands up in the air.

  I was glad to see that Chris Oakes treated everyone equally. Like a bug that needed squashing. But he was never prepared to do the squashing. He left that up to Vanessa.

  The room was suddenly quiet because Chris had pulled the double doors closed behind him. I heard Vee apologizing to Detective Leech.

  "I’ll wait," he said. "What time do they normally break for coffee?"

  Good luck, I thought. Chris’ coffee break time was reserved exclusively for harassing employees on voice mail.

  Vanessa led Leech out the door towards the elevator bay. If anyone could handle a disgruntled civil servant it was Vanessa. I found an ashtray and butted my cigarette and waited for her to return.

  I spent the next hour quietly, listening to Vanessa on the phone and reading the discarded Globe & Mail which I hated because it didn’t have a very good sports section and the movie reviews were too highbrow. The busboy busied himself clearing away the dirty dishes.

  I was bored and thought about all the things I could be doing at the office. I hated this part. Waiting around. Fiddling my thumbs. I checked at the office for messages and was disappointed that there wasn’t one from Jay. I slumped in a chair and put my feet up and smoked several cigarettes and wished I had a pack of cards in my purse.

  When I heard voices in the hall I sat up and put my feet on the floor and tried to look busy. I was surprised when Detective Leech walked back in the room with Cleveland Johnston.

  I stood up and went to stand by the window. The only exit out of the room was by the door that was filled with the two men. I kept my back to them and recalled my last conversation with Cleve. I was stilled pissed off at him and was embarrassed to see him here although I shouldn’t have been surprised because I remembered typing his name on the list of attendees for the meeting. He was supposed to give the directors a resounding speech reminding them of their duties to the shareholders of the company at the time of a takeover bid.

  I watched Cleve and the Detective talking to Vee in the reflection of the window and felt my stomach sink when Cleve walked towards me.

  "Detective Leech a friend of yours?" I spoke at the window without turning around. Cleve stood closely beside me and my shoulder touched his arm. I moved away slightly.

  "We met on the elevator coming up."

  I lit a cigarette and blew the smoke against the window. It wafted right back at us and Cleve waved his hand to clear the smoke.

  "When are you going to quit that disgusting habit?" he asked me.

  "On my list of disgusting habits, Cleve, smoking rates at the bottom. There’re other things I want to quit first," I told him.

  "Like what?" he asked.

  "Like useless friendships," I snapped.

  "Our friendship is useless?"

  "You catch on quick, counsellor."

  "Thanks for not calling me a miserable shit. I prefer counsellor," he quipped. "And, if you’re having trouble drawing a line in the sand to delineate between friendship and my relationship with TechniGroup as a lawyer, let me outline it for you."

  "Forget it. I don’t want to know because I already figured it out. The company comes first, then our friendship. I understand that Cleve. So call me when the take-over bid happens and we have new corporate lawyers. You’ll be off the file then." With that I turned and marched out of the room.

  There were several more surprises that day but when I thought about them collectively, they weren’t that surprising.

  I was sitting in my living room with all the lights out sipping a decaf coffee. I had left the hotel when the meetings adjourned about four-thirty and returned to the office to fetch my car. I felt exhausted when I got home and fell into a deep sleep on the couch. It was now eleven and I wondered if I’d be able to get back to sleep. Sitting around a nice hotel suite all day, doing practically nothing was more exhausting than being run off my feet at the office.

  Cleve Johnston had hung around for the rest of the meetings and had avoided me the whole day for which I couldn’t blame him. I had been out of line and I knew it. But fuck it, I thought. Sometimes friendship has to rule.

  Chris Oakes had surprisingly kept his appointment with Sherlock Holmes at the coffee break. Their interview had been short and Detective Leech left shaking his head. You’ll be okay, I wanted to yell after him. He had the look about him of someone who had just been returned to earth after being poked and prodded by aliens. I wondered who had done the interviewing because giving someone the third degree was an art that Oakes had perfected himself. If he could concentrate long enough, I reminded myself. I almost ran into the hall after Detective Leech to beg him to cuff Oakes and drag him out.

  Not that Chris Oakes was any stranger to handcuffs. Vanessa had reported to me one day that yet another limo driver had called and quit. She was upset because there weren’t many more limousine services in the city that would serve us. If Oakes wasn’t firing them, they were quitting. The latest driver had quit because when he arrived at Pearson Airport to drop off Oakes, Oakes wouldn’t get out of the car because he was on the car phone talking to someone. The conversation dragged on and on, and the police knocked on the driver’s window a few times motioning for the driver to pull away. The driver waved over his shoulder a few times at Oakes who pointedly ignored him. Finally, the driver got out of the car and explained to the police that his passenger wasn’t moving.

  The police tried gesturing to Oakes through the passenger window but he ignored them too. Chris finally caught on that he had to hang up the phone when the police officer reached behind him and pulled out his handcuffs which he waved at O
akes through the window. Oakes quickly hung up the phone and got out of the car. The driver got a fine that we ended up paying. The saying that no man is above the law didn’t seem to apply to Chris. He was in his own world and he had his own rules. I hoped that one day his attitude would catch up with him.

  Tom James and Philip Winston had showed up at the directors’ meeting during the coffee break. I knew Tom would be needed for the compensation committee meeting but I had no idea why Philip was there. I waved at Tom and motioned him over to where I was standing.

  "What’s Mr. Winston the Third doing here?" I asked.

  Tom shrugged. "Chris wants the board members to meet him."

  "Why?"

  "Figure it out Kate." I looked over at Philip, grinning from ear to ear, shaking Arthur’s hand. "You’re looking at one of our new senior officers."

  "Senior officer of what?" I asked him.

  "Confidential," Tom whispered.

  "Oh, fuck off Tom. Confidential my ass. I’ll be doing the minutes of the meeting and I’ll find out soon enough."

  Tom leaned over and whispered in my ear. "Oakes wants to put his name up for chief operating officer."

  "Larry Everly’s obviously bought in," I stated.

  Tom nodded and walked away.

  So, I wondered. What the hell had Rick and Phil been up to the night before? Philip was taking over the chief operating officer side of Rick’s job but I couldn’t possibly fathom why Rick would be meeting with Philip. Rick had been fired and was the latest untouchable in our company’s leper colony of cast-offs. Philip was shaking everyone’s hand and moving about the room. When he headed my way I wiped my hand on my dress, waiting for the inevitable handshake.

  "Kathleen," he pronounced as he walked up and held out his hand.

  "Philip," I boomed back and gripped his hand. "So, I understand congratulations are in order."

  He nodded and grinned.

  "You’re sure you’re up for the challenge?"

  "I think it’ll be a good fit. I’ve got big shoes to fill and I hope to live up to the board’s expectations," he pontificated.

  "Save it Phil. You sound like a press release." I had made him uncomfortable and he looked around for another hand to shake. Time to go for the kill, I thought.

  "So, how was dinner last night?" I asked sweetly.

  He was looking across the room and my question obviously didn’t sink in right away.

  "Fine, fine," he mumbled. He started to walk away and I grabbed the sleeve of his suit jacket.

  "Rick give you some good pointers?" I asked. Now I had his attention.

  "Pardon?"

  "I asked you if Rick gave you some good pointers. You know, where the best place is to go for lunch. Which secretaries in the office have the cutest buns. When and how to avoid Oakes. You know. Inside stuff."

  He was staring at me and I knew, that he knew, that I knew.

  "Rick who?" he asked innocently and walked away.