The Simpatico Series Box Set (3 books in 1)

by Dermot Davis

  “I guess so,” Andrew answered, not too concerned. “A small price to pay if they do manage to get me off, don’t you think?”

  “Yeah, of course, considering the alternative,” Fiona mused. “You should still find out, though, just so you know what it is that you’re agreeing to, I should think.”

  “Well, the way I see it is…” Andrew started and stopped to gather his thoughts. “Your father said that his company pays well, especially if I apply myself and climb the ranks or whatever. So, compared to what I could make on my own it’s an incredible opportunity and, let’s face it, I’m now an ex-con. I have a record, so what kind of job could I get, right?”

  “Janitor, anybody?” Fiona said mockingly.

  “So, working for your dad could get me out of the hole quicker than anything I could get for myself. I don’t see why he’d have his attorneys represent me if I’m not going to work for him and pay it off. I don’t see any other way, unless you have a better idea?”

  “The world of work and money is, admittedly, not my forte,” Fiona joked. “Just feels weird with you going to work for my dad, I guess,” she said, unsure if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

  “Tell me about it,” Andrew retorted. “Considering that the guy hated my guts for the longest time. Sometimes I think that maybe he still does and he only tolerates me to make you happy. You were pretty ill there, for a while.”

  “Yeah, maybe,” Fiona agreed.

  “Seriously?” Andrew asked, shocked that that might be true.

  “I don’t know,” she backtracked. “Maybe partly true… mostly,” she then said.

  “Whatever,” Andrew said and laid on his back, fully on the ground, like he was exhausted already. “I know that I’m going to feel a lot better once the court and all the legal business is free and clear. Hate to have that hanging over my head for too much longer.”

  “Hanging over our heads,” Fiona corrected. “Synergy, remember. We’re in this together, buster.”

  “Yeah, I forgot. How’d you like to go work for your father for a few years?” he asked playfully.

  “Yeah, that would work out brilliantly. He’d be grounding me and sending me to my room every two minutes. Especially when I messed up his computer system and destroyed his QuickBooks or whatever financial software they use to rule their empire.”

  “Yeah, pretty sure they use QuickBooks,” Andrew said, trying to keep a straight face. “All the billionaires use it to buy and sell companies and take over independent nation states.”

  “You’re such a moron,” Fiona then said, punching him playfully on the chest.

  “People use QuickBooks to balance their checkbooks, sweetie,” he said. “But I do take your point that whatever software program they do use to rule the world with, you would definitely mess up, big time.”

  “My gifts are in other areas, I’ll have you know,” she said with a pout. “Just because I don’t know how to use a calculator doesn’t mean that I’m a dummy.”

  “I know that, sweetheart,” he said softly. “You have gifts that the gods themselves would be envious of.”

  “Darn tootin’ I do,” she said defiantly. “You got that right!”

  Andrew and Fiona stood before the full length mirror in the guest house of her father’s mansion. Fiona tried to help Andrew with his tie but she was equally inept as he in knowing the proper way in which the tie should be tied. “I think it goes this way,” she said, having folded the tie over a few too many times.

  “The small end is supposed to be shorter and it goes in the back,” Andrew argued, looking in the mirror at the mess she had made. “That, I do know,” he said firmly.

  “You look so cute!” she said when she finally stood back to check how dashing he looked in his new suit and shorter haircut.

  “Thanks,” Andrew said drably as he fumbled still with his tie. “I think this is sorta how it should be,” he said, turning his body this way and that to check it out in the mirror. The tie bulged hugely from his chest but the narrow, shorter part was finally behind the wider part and he decided that it was the best he was going to achieve.

  “Yeah, that looks pretty good,” Fiona said with a grin.

  “I’m not messing with it anymore,” Andrew protested, still staring at it in the mirror. “You’d think it should come with instructions, it cost so much.”

  “You look amazing,” Fiona said, her head nodding in approval. “Seriously.”

  “The thoughts of wearing a suit for the rest of my life, sheesh,” he said with utmost gravitas.

  “Isn’t that why you went to college, big boy?”

  “I went to college to perfect my nine ball pool game, I thought I told you that already,” he joked.

  “I wouldn’t mention that at the interview,” she cautioned. “They might take you for a slacker or something. Are you nervous?” she then asked, sensing a shift in his mood.

  “A little, yeah,” he confessed. “I know your dad said it was a slam dunk but what if they decide to pass and hire someone else with a bit more… motivation or experience or something?”

  “Just be yourself and agree to everything they say,” she advised. “Except the part where they want you to trade your soul; you should decline with as much courtesy and grace as is possible on that one.”

  “Thanks, coach,” Andrew said drily. “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” he then said, still trying to decide if he liked the smart-looking business person in the mirror. He looked okay, he decided, more grownup and mature. He looked like a guy people might take seriously.

  “You can’t believe you’re doing what?” Simon asked as he walked straight through the guest house open door as if he owned the place, which he did.

  “Oh, uh, good morning, Simon,” Andrew said nervously.

  “Hi, daddy,” Fiona said and smiled.

  “That’s not how a tie should look,” Simon said immediately, upon seeing Andrew in his new suit. “Your father never showed you how to…” Simon asked but stopped himself when he remembered that the boy’s father had cut out on Andrew when he was very young. “Here, stand still,” he said as he unfurled the tie and tied it correctly. “There you go,” he said, standing back to check on the rest of the outfit. “You clean up pretty good,” he said, as if surprised.

  “Thank you, sir,” Andrew said uncertainly.

  “We should get going,” Simon then said, checking his watch. “Ready to rock and roll?”

  “Sure,” Andrew said and smiled when Fiona made a comically distorted face at him behind her father’s back.

  Simon turned heel and seemed to prefer to avoid seeing his daughter kiss Andrew goodbye. As Andrew scampered to catch up with her father, he quickly turned to wave to Fiona who stood at the guest house front door, looking adorable in her sweats and fluffy pink house slippers. She blew him a kiss which he would later regret not making a better effort to catch.

  “You got everything?” Simon asked when Andrew flopped into the passenger seat of the luxury Mercedes.

  “Yeah,” Andrew answered quickly and he just had time to put on his seat belt before Simon engaged the engine and headed towards the opening gate.

  Simon barely spoke, nor did he look over much at Andrew, as he drove on mostly surface streets toward downtown Los Angeles. Looking idly out of the door window, Andrew reflected upon the past few months and the changes in his life which he could never have anticipated. Owing much to Fiona’s father, for taking him in and shielding him from the long arm of the law, he felt very thankful.

  At the same time, he still feared Simon and wouldn’t wish to ever end up on the man’s enemy list. Although he didn’t know Fiona’s father that well, he had an idea that Simon was one of those people who could just as easily destroy you just as he could readily champion you, depending on his mood or the other person’s allegiance. Rich and powerful people had a certain aura surrounding them and, even though Andrew didn’t get to hang out with Simon very much, he admitted to having a lot of preconce
ived ideas about him, which might or might not be true.

  In normal circumstances, Simon wouldn’t have had much time for a kid like Andrew, he mused. He was merely putting up with the young man for the sake of his daughter’s happiness.

  “Only talk if you’re asked a question,” Simon said, his sudden conversation causing Andrew to feel a bit shocked. “Only answer the question you are asked and never, ever, volunteer information that you are not asked to provide, do you understand?”

  “Oh, yeah, sure,” Andrew answered nervously.

  “Don’t say yeah, say yes; and never use the word ‘sure’ unless you’re being asked if you are certain or uncertain about a specific topic,” Simon continued.

  “I understand, yes,” Andrew answered and he sat up straighter in his seat.

  “I’m vouching for you and I know that you’re not going to let me down,” he continued, looking over at Andrew for the first time.

  “No, sir, I won’t let you down,” Andrew answered.

  “Listen carefully before you answer any question. If you don’t understand a question, ask them to repeat it; don’t just keep answering yes or no when you don’t even understand the questions being asked, alright?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Sit up straight in the chair and don’t slouch. Whoever’s talking to you, look them in the eye and be as honest as you can. Don’t smirk or try to make conversation and for heaven’s sake don’t try to make a joke about anything, understand? These people do not have a sense of humor and they are not in business to make friends; they are in business to make money.”

  “Gotcha,” Andrew said and instantly regretted it.

  “Don’t look guilty or nervous. Look like you’re confident and that you know yourself well enough not to take anybody’s bull crap. You want to give the impression that you don’t have to accept what they’re offering. You want to give the impression that you have other offers, better offers, and they need to sell you on the position rather than the other way ‘round.”

  “I can do that,” Andrew answered, psyching himself into the required mindset.

  “You’ll do okay,” Simon then said more softly. “Main thing is to show them some respect. Show respect to everyone you get to do business with and you’re half-way there already.”

  “I appreciate the advice, Simon,” Andrew said.

  “There you go,” Simon said, allowing himself a rare smile.

  Andrew never had much reason or opportunity to visit the downtown Los Angeles skyscrapers, or the financial district. As they entered the underground parking lot of a tall steel and glass monstrosity, Andrew felt like he was entering the subterranean layer of a giant beast. Not expecting the underground parking area to be quite so large, Andrew felt turned around by the number of sharp turns Simon took as he continued to drive deeper into the lower tiers of the structure.

  Wishing that he were with Fiona and not her serious-minded, scary father, Andrew knew exactly the kind of jokes that he would be telling her. For starters, he’d pretend that the building was shaking as a result of the not too infrequent earthquakes common to the city. ‘This could be the big one,’ he’d tell her. ‘Just our luck to be trapped underneath the largest and deepest building in the city.’ Then again, on reflection, it wasn’t all that funny, after all, he considered.

  When Simon finally did park it was beside a parking elevator. “This is it,” he said, as if Andrew hadn’t figured out that they had arrived at their final destination. The elevator took them to the lobby where they disembarked to take another elevator. Business people swarmed the large lobby, which indicated to Andrew that it must be lunch time already. The interior looked like it had marble walls, as well as marble floors. The place screamed decadence and over-the-top. Nobody seemed happy nor did they talk to each other beyond some cursory, polite greetings and small talk exchanges. Andrew felt a shiver run through his body at the thought that this could be his life for the foreseeable future.

  “This one,” Simon barked, as if he were waking up a sleeping Andrew. “Stay alert, kid,” he said quietly, yet sharply, as Andrew followed him into an elevator across the way.

  Several other joyless bodies entered through the open elevator doors and the metal body compactors wasted no time in closing. With a swift swoosh, the elevator climbed and, according to the numbered lights on the panel by the door, appeared to be traveling at warp speed. By the fifty-fifth floor all of the other passengers had disembarked. Andrew watched the remaining buttons light up and could barely believe the height to which they must have climbed.

  Floor seventy-three was the very last stop and Andrew resisted the urge to give Simon a look and say, ‘The Penthouse Suite. Seriously, dude?’ When the doors opened they stepped out onto another marble floor that had some kind of insignia, with a Latin inscription, that added even more gravitas to the sickly affluent suite of offices. The dark wood-paneled walls probably tricked some people into thinking that they were in a small office in a small town somewhere but a single glance out of the window on the right side and Andrew could seriously see a helicopter that appeared to be flying below, and not above him.

  Andrew followed Simon to a recessed reception area that looked like it didn’t get a lot of visitors. Stepping off of the marble and onto the plush carpet, Andrew almost lost his balance. Not expecting the carpet to be so thick and plush, he felt like he had just stepped into a bouncy castle.

  “Are they here yet?” Simon asked what looked like a James Bond heroine sitting alone, and looking a bit lost behind a huge reception desk. The woman and Simon obviously knew each other so well that they didn’t even pretend to greet each other nor did he indicate who the ‘they’ were that he was referring to.

  “They’re meeting in the conference room,” the lady said in an accent that Andrew failed to place. It sounded American but was neither Northern nor Southern. If her accent were once British, she had lost its distinctiveness already. Is it possible not to have an accent at all? Andrew wondered, anxious to hear her speak one more time. She didn’t.

  As Andrew followed Simon down a corridor, presumably towards the conference room, he now noticed that the building might be actually swaying. It sure felt like it was swinging from side to side but he couldn’t see anything else outside the windows with which to frame a reference and confirm the sensation. He could see the tops of some other buildings in the distance but nothing was tall enough to match the one he was looking out from.

  “Pay attention,” Simon said as he stopped and turned so suddenly that Andrew walked right into the man.

  “Yes, sir,” Andrew blurted out, like he understood that he needed to get with the program.

  “Behind that door lies your future,” Simon said like he was a coach, coaching a losing team and was about to send in his last chance player from the bench. “You can walk out of that room with a future that most kids can only dream of or you can walk out of there a loser, the choice is totally up to you. From here on in, you’re on your own and you need to make choices like an adult. Adults make choices and take action and there are consequences. Are you willing and able to make your own choices as an adult?” Simon asked, his tone dead serious, as if his own life depended upon Andrew’s answer.

  “Yes, sir, I am,” Andrew replied, feeling like he was now a private in some secret army.

  “Very good,” Simon said as he checked out Andrew’s suit and straightened the young man’s tie one last time. “Go in there and make yourself proud.”

  “Yes, sir,” Andrew said and reached for the door handle.

  “What are you doing?” Simon almost yelled as he pulled Andrew’s hand away. “I haven’t introduced you yet,” he said as if now Andrew had just revealed that he was a moron. “Stay here and wait until you’re called.”

  “Of course,” Andrew answered, like he forgot that he was mentally challenged. “My bad. I mean, my mistake.”

  With a sigh and a shake of his head, indicating perhaps that Simon was worried that h
e was doing the right thing, after all, Simon knocked lightly on the conference room door and then quickly opened it and entered.

  Left alone in the long, empty corridor, Andrew clasped his hands behind his back and oddly felt an urge to whistle to himself, which he suppressed. Although it was eerily quiet, he got the sense that the offices were full of busy workers diligently going about their business affairs. He had no idea, however, exactly what kind of business they might have been involved in here. Were they lawyers or bankers or industrialists (whatever they were)? Simon had never specified and Andrew hadn’t had the courage nor, in truth, the interest to ask.

  A male businessman surprised him by passing by from behind him. “Yo!” Andrew instinctively greeted the man but the middle-aged man kept walking past, without acknowledging him, as if Andrew weren’t there.

  The conference room door swung open and Simon held it wide and non-verbally invited Andrew to enter. Andrew took a deep breath and walked confidently into the room. As the door closed behind him, he turned and discovered that Simon had remained on the outside of the room. He felt suddenly alone and small as he noticed how huge the conference room table was and how distant the three businessmen were who sat at the end of the table, looking at him expectantly.

  No one spoke for what seemed like ages and Andrew wondered if he should just go ahead and take a seat at the table or something. Wait to be invited, he cautioned himself.

  “Come join us,” a voice finally said and Andrew was pretty sure the guy in the middle had been the first to speak. He’s probably the boss man, Andrew reckoned and made a note to pay him most of his attention.

  “Thank you, I will,” Andrew said as he puffed out his chest a bit more and remembering what Simon told him about faking confidence, he strolled towards the three men like he was doing them a favor.

  “Take a seat,” the same man instructed, not indicating any in particular.