by Stephen Frey
David watched Finnerty and Mohler nod like puppets.
“So, let’s say the GEA transaction nets Sagamore a three-billion-dollar profit. If Sagamore keeps two percent for itself, which I believe is the agreement the executive committee strikes with investors”—David paused for a moment and glanced at Mohler, who nodded in agreement—“that’s sixty million dollars. Senator Webb, let’s say you take twenty million of that.” David laughed cynically. “Twenty million sure beats the hell out of a senator’s salary.”
“It certainly does,” Webb said quietly.
“And there’s probably no way to track funds out of Sagamore. Taxes are probably paid on gains through some kind of sharing agreement, then money is distributed through some intricate network running through Europe, Southeast Asia, and South America. A network erected by experts. A network no one could ever figure out.”
“You seem to have it all figured out.”
“So why am I here tonight?” David asked. “Why the intrigue of the limousine ride just to tell me that I sent myself the money out of Doub Steel? Something I already knew anyway.”
“Several reasons, David.”
They were being awfully friendly tonight. He hadn’t heard his last name once. “What reasons?”
“Art.” Webb motioned to Mohler.
“Yes.” Mohler cleared his throat. “David, Sagamore Investment Management Group has recorded tremendous investment results for years. We’ve done so, as you’ve probably surmised, through our relationship with Carter Webb. We use his access to information to our advantage, and as you accurately stated, he shares in our success. Just as with you tonight, we have explained all of this to each of the small number of managers who have made it to their fifth anniversary with Sagamore. We were just as open in explaining all of this to them as we’ve been with you, because just as with you, we had them in a very tight corner.”
Mohler paused so they could gauge David’s reaction, then continued. “Your test was GEA, admittedly the largest project we have ever embarked on at Sagamore. But the portfolio managers who were invited before you into what is a rather exclusive society had their own baggage—the same kind of fraud or embezzlement trail you have, which could land them in jail, just as it could you,” Mohler said sternly, pausing for just a second to allow the truth to sink in. “You see, it isn’t your performance in the first five years at Sagamore that concerns us. It isn’t the fact that you’ve been in the bottom half of the monthly rankings that we really care about. I know that’s what all you people who haven’t been initiated believe. What we really care about is whether you’re willing to take on the responsibility of that inside trade, in your case GEA, and excuse it. Whether you’re willing to take a cue from Jack Finnerty to approach Senator Webb, then enter into the investment and lock yourself in to us by sending him the money out of a Sagamore subsidiary. Whether you’re willing to protect Sagamore’s executive committee, Senator Webb, Jack Finnerty, the other portfolio managers and the rest of our group.”
“Because if I’m willing to do that, I’ve effectively committed myself to a life of crime,” David murmured.
“To us,” Webb corrected. He turned to Finnerty. “David’s heard enough bad news, Jack. Tell him the good stuff.”
Finnerty smiled. “David, we’ve never had a problem at Sagamore after making all this clear to a portfolio manager. In fifteen years no one has ever turned on us. There are two reasons for that. First, as Art said, we have the stick. We have you nailed on fraud. But we also recognize the need for an incentive.” Finnerty’s smile broadened. “If you agree to secrecy, which I trust you will because there’s really no other logical option, you will receive a one-time cash payment of two million dollars.”
David looked at Finnerty incredulously. “Two million?” His voice was almost inaudible.
“That’s right. And you can count on at least that much in salary and bonus every year. Probably much more. Would you say that’s accurate, Art?” Finnerty leaned forward and glanced past Webb to Mohler.
“Yes.”
Two million dollars. A nervous smile David couldn’t control played across his face. He really was going to be rich.
“You should feel honored, David,” Webb said. “GEA is the largest transaction we’ve ever executed. And we chose you to execute it for us. You scored very well on the psychological tests we asked you to take before we made you the offer. Higher than anyone else ever has at Sagamore. You’ll have a long and prosperous career at the firm, I guarantee you. We’ve got a lot planned for you. I can even envision you on the executive committee someday.”
“You people play a mean game of poker.” David turned to Mohler. “I was convinced you really wanted me to sell GEA that day you were in my office screaming about how it was the worst investment Sagamore had ever made.”
“If you had tried to sell it, I would have intervened.” The men shared a loud laugh.
“I was also sure you didn’t like me.”
“I didn’t,” Mohler admitted, his laughter fading. “But these gentlemen convinced me I should feel otherwise. Now I’m glad they did.”
“Why isn’t Elizabeth here? After all, she founded the firm.”
“Usually she is,” Finnerty responded quickly. “But . . . um . . .”
“But she had other business to attend to.” Webb finished Finnerty’s sentence, but offered no further explanation.
“I’ve got another year before my fifth anniversary,” David pointed out. “Why are you doing this now?”
“Sometimes it isn’t necessary to wait until the end of the fifth year. Sometimes we feel there is more to be gained by allowing the individual insight into our group before that time. This is one of those occasions.” Webb inhaled from the cigar once more, then snuffed it out in the ashtray. A thick smoke column rose before him. “On your fifth anniversary, Art will call you in before the executive committee and officially knight you for appearance sake, but you’ll already know what’s going on.”
“I see.” David brushed a piece of lint from his suit pant. A $2 million one-time payment. Huge annual salaries and bonuses. That kind of money would mean a lifetime of large houses in exclusive neighborhoods, private schools for children, and the best vacations money could buy. The alternative was prison. “How do I officially accept your generous offer?”
“Look us in the eye and tell us you accept,” Webb answered immediately.
For a few moments there was no sound in the room. Finally David smiled graciously. “Of course, I accept.”
“Remember, someone will always be watching,” Webb warned. “We’ve never had to resort to this, but we wouldn’t hesitate to dispose of someone who would make trouble, who would try to destroy what we have built at Sagamore.”
“Is that what happened to the men who supposedly committed suicide?” David asked. “The one who jumped from the Bay Bridge and the one who sucked down carbon monoxide in his garage? Were they . . . disposed of?”
“No. Those were real suicides. I told you we’ve never had to resort to that. Perhaps those men were driven to suicide by what they were hiding. Maybe they just weren’t mentally strong enough. I really don’t know and I really don’t care. The only thing I do care about is that those two events brought unwanted attention to Sagamore. Which is why we implemented the psychological testing to rectify that potential problem.” Webb tapped the arm of the chair. “I’m happy to tell you, David, you have no chance of killing yourself.”
“Great,” he whispered to himself.
“David, the bottom line is that you can look forward to an extremely prosperous life.” Webb crossed one leg slowly over the other. “There is one more thing.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s come to our attention that you know a woman named Jesse Hayes.”
David tried not to allow the recognition of Jesse’s name to register on his face.
“Elizabeth Gilman relayed this information.”
Still David said nothing
.
“Is what she said accurate? Do you know Jesse Hayes?”
“Yes,” David said quietly. It would have been stupid to deny their relationship. Webb obviously knew about it or he wouldn’t have said anything.
“David, we need to find her. Quickly.”
“Why?”
“She’s taken something of ours and we want it back.”
“Are you talking about the copy of the canceled check from LFA?” David knew he had just dropped a bomb.
The three men looked up together. “How the hell do you know about that?” Webb asked.
“She told me. I’ve made her believe she can trust me.” They were clearly impressed. “Elizabeth Gilman was a guest lecturer at the Maryland Business School and met Jesse Hayes there. Afterward, Elizabeth asked me to get to know Jesse. Elizabeth thought Jesse might be a good candidate for Sagamore, as a portfolio manager. So I did get to know her. And I found out that for some reason Jesse was investigating Elbridge Coleman’s political campaign. I think it had to do with tax violations or something. Anyway, it led her to LFA, and she found the check from Doub Steel.” David’s expression became grim. “I believe she said I was the signatory on the check, but I didn’t write it.” He watched the three men carefully. “I couldn’t figure out why someone at Doub would be sending checks to LFA or would use my name to do it. I was going to say something, but I didn’t know who to tell. So I just kept quiet.”
“You did the right thing.” Webb nodded approvingly. “Can you contact her for us?”
“Her number’s probably in the phone book.”
“She hasn’t returned to her apartment since early this morning. As I said, we need to reach her as quickly as possible.”
“So that you can retrieve the information?” David asked.
“Yes.”
“And dispose of her?”
Webb suddenly wondered if David Mitchell might not be just as good a poker player as they were. “That may be necessary.”
“I wouldn’t do that,” David warned.
“Why not?” Webb asked suspiciously.
“I can’t understand why Elizabeth was so adamant about me getting to know Jesse Hayes so well, but as I said, I did as she asked. After all, as far as I knew then, Elizabeth was my ultimate superior.” David noticed a subtle glance between Webb and Finnerty. “So I made Jesse believe I cared about her, and I think I did a pretty good job, because she confided to me she was involved in something she was frightened about. Even when she found the copy of the Doub Steel check made out to LFA with my signature, I was able to convince her that I hadn’t written it, that there had to be some sort of conspiracy going on and that I was just as confused as she was. Which, frankly, I was. But I also wanted to keep track of her for selfish reasons at that point because of the check copy. I had to find out what was going on, so I convinced her that we should work together to figure out what was happening. Fortunately, she bought everything I told her and agreed.”
They were hanging on his every word now. “Anyway, Jesse told me she believed someone was manipulating the Elbridge Coleman campaign,” David continued, glancing at Webb. “She didn’t tell me exactly what she had, but she said she had put together a great deal of information which in the aggregate would nail someone. She also told me she had hidden the information, and that if anything happens to her, there is another person who has instructions to take the material to federal authorities. So you can’t just find her and dispose of her. That won’t work. You’ll still be vulnerable.”
“Why hasn’t she gone to anyone yet?” Webb asked.
“I told her she couldn’t be certain of who to trust, and that if the information she had wasn’t compelling enough, wasn’t enough to convince someone to investigate right away, she would pay the price. I scared her, but I had to. Even though I didn’t write it, I couldn’t have her giving the copy of the Doub Steel check to her superiors with my name at the bottom. That would have been very bad for me. It would have caused them to go through Doub’s books with a fine-tooth comb, and someone would have discovered that I’d sent the other money out as well. I would have gone to jail. I’m sorry, but that isn’t in David Mitchell’s future.”
“If what you say is true, you’ve acted with great foresight, David,” Webb said. “And I appreciate your advice about dealing with her fate delicately. But the question still stands. Can you contact her? Do you know where she is?”
“I want to ask another question first.”
“Go ahead,” Webb growled, growing impatient.
“Was Jesse Hayes correct in her investigation of the Coleman campaign? Is someone attempting to manipulate his election?”
The young man was smart, perhaps too smart. He knew exactly what was going on, but he wanted confirmation. He wanted to hear the words. “Yes, she was correct.” Webb leaned forward in his chair. “David, what we have put in place here, Sagamore’s coordination with the black budget, is much too valuable to let wither away once I’m gone. I’m pragmatic enough to realize I won’t be around forever, and we need to make certain it keeps going. You will benefit from our hard work on Coleman’s campaign.” His jaw was clenched. “Now, can you find Jesse Hayes for us?”
David rifled through Rebecca Saunders’s files. Hager, Halston, Hayes. He yanked the thick file from the cabinet, set it down on the table and opened it. As he leafed quickly through the pages his expression did not change despite what he was reading. Raped by her stepfather at age seventeen. Rage, guilt, fear. An abortion. But where? Clinic or hospital? Jesse would have been nothing but a number at a clinic. But there might be a name on her file at a hospital.
And then he saw it, scrawled in script on the edge of a typewritten page. The answer. Edgewood General.
David replaced the papers in the envelope, closed the file, put it tightly under his arm, and headed toward the door.
It helped to know people—and to have a face women were attracted to. “Thanks, honey,” the young man said sweetly as the nurse handed him the bag. Inside was confirmation that Jesse Hayes had visited Edgewood General at age seventeen and had an abortion performed. Something she was still guilt-ridden over. Information they could use against her.
“I shouldn’t have done this.” The nurse shook her head.
“Don’t worry. No one at Edgewood General will ever know it was you,” he assured her. “I promise. Here.” The young man slipped the letter-size envelope into the nurse’s hand. Inside was $1,000.
The nurse snatched it from the young man’s hand, checked the contents, and walked away into the night.
Chapter 31
David sipped black coffee from the Styrofoam cup in his left hand as he held the receiver and punched in the number with his right. It was six in the morning, but time of day was of little concern to him now. If she wasn’t awake yet, she soon would be.
“Sheraton North,” the operator answered loudly.
“I’m trying to reach Jesse Hayes. She’s in room ten-eleven.”
“One moment please,” the woman said enthusiastically.
David groaned. Anyone who was that chipper at six in the morning didn’t have a life, or had been completely brainwashed during corporate training. Finally the line began to ring.
“Hello,” a groggy male voice answered.
David pulled the receiver away from his ear for a second. What the hell was going on? “Is Jesse Hayes there?” he asked hesitantly.
“There’s no one here by that name.”
“Sorry.” David hung up quickly and hit the phone’s automatic redial button.
“Sheraton North.” The same obnoxiously chipper voice greeted him.
“Yeah, I just called. I’m trying to reach Jesse Hayes. I believe she’s in room ten-eleven. Could you check that?”
“Just a minute.”
He heard the tapping of fingertips against a keyboard, then the woman’s voice was back on the line.
“She is a guest here, but not in room ten-eleven. I’ll connect you
now.”
“Operator!”
“Yes?”
“Could you tell me which room she’s in?”
“I’m sorry, I can’t do that. We aren’t allowed.”
“She’s my fiancée,” he lied. “And it’s my credit card paying for the room. The name is David Mitchell. You can check it out. I can give you the Visa number. I think I’m entitled to the information.”
“I’m sorry, sir. It’s corporate policy not to give out room numbers over the phone or at the front desk no matter what,” the woman answered firmly. “Would you like me to ring her room?”
“Yes,” he said quietly, accepting that this woman wasn’t going to violate protocol.
There was a single ring and then an answer.
“Hello.”
“Jesse?”
“Yes.”
“It’s David.”
“What do you want?” she asked coolly.
“What the hell is your problem?” David sensed the chill instantly.
“My friend Sara Adams, the one I told you about at the bar the other day, is dead.”
He heard the accusatory tone. “I’m sorry.”
“You know whoever killed her meant to kill me.”
“Is that why you switched rooms? In case they figured out their mistake?”
“Yes.”
“Because you knew the operator wouldn’t divulge room numbers?”
“Yes.”
“But I’m the only one who knew which room you were in?”
“Yes,” she said evenly.
For the moment he ignored the implication. “When you switched rooms, why didn’t you use an alias if you wanted to keep people away?”
“I was worried the front desk would give me trouble if I changed names when it was your card paying for the room. And of course I don’t want to use my card.”
“You have to have faith in me, Jesse,” he said, interrupting the flow of conversation, subtly acknowledging the distrust so evident in her tone. “I’m trying to help you. You must believe that.”