tape had poked out from beneath the short sleeve of his shirt.
“You okay?”
“Fine.” Conner saw in Gavin’s expression that a one-word answer wasn’t going to cut it. “I caught my arm on a hook in my bedroom closet as I was packing to come out here. I was rushing, you know. I wanted to get out of there. It’s just a scratch.” He shook his head. “I’ve been meaning to get rid of that hook, too. I did the same thing a couple of months ago.”
“Doesn’t look real
sh
ip-
sh
ape,” Gavin said, grinning.
Sometimes Gavin consciously used words that challenged his lisp in front of people he trusted. It was his way of letting you know you were inside the fort, Conner knew.
“Yeah well, I—”
“You’re off your game tonight.”
Conner rolled his eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Gavin shrugged. “Having your place broken into stinks. Believe me, I know. I’ve been robbed a couple of times, but it isn’t the end of the world, pal. Cheer up.”
“Gavin, I’m beat.” It was almost four thirty. In a few minutes, sunlight would begin creeping through the bay window beside him. “Can we get on with this?” He was tempted to ask if they could put off the discussion until he’d had a chance to catch some sleep. But he knew what the answer would be.
On Gavin’s rolltop desk were two copies of a presentation Conner had prepared for their meeting with Pharmaco, a drug company headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey. Last week, the company had been surprised by an unsolicited takeover offer from a European conglomerate. And the CEO and his board of directors needed advice. The CEO was a friend of Gavin’s from the Harper Manning days, and suddenly Phenix Capital had an opportunity to get that first transaction the
Wall Street Journal
and the
New York Times
would report on. The competition was a young gun at Harper, and Conner knew that Gavin desperately wanted to win the mandate. He craved the long-lost personal publicity, but what he sought most was the chance to wave a victory flag in the faces of his ex-partners.
Gavin picked up the presentations, tossed one to Conner, then put on a pair of reading glasses. “Right off the bat there’s a problem, pal,” he said, tapping the page emphatically. “The goddamn company’s name is misspelled. And there are lots more mistakes like this one throughout the presentation.” He held the deck out toward Conner and rifled through the pages with his thumb to make his point. “I’m just glad I caught this stuff now. We would have looked like idiots in that boardroom tomorrow if I hadn’t,” he snapped. “This isn’t like you. Usually you really pay attention to details.”
Conner gazed at the page. The typo was right there. But that was impossible. He’d checked the whole thing three times before going home last night, and there hadn’t been a mistake anywhere. “It wasn’t like this when I left the office, Gavin.”
The old man peered over his half-lens glasses. “Well, it is now.”
“How did you get this?” Conner asked. “We were supposed to go over it yesterday afternoon, but after lunch you decided to come out here instead of staying in Manhattan. And I didn’t e-mail it to you here.”
Gavin owned a sprawling apartment in an Upper East Side high-rise where he usually stayed during the week. But occasionally he headed out to the mansion to get away. “You ended up taking off around three o’clock yesterday. You came by my office and we talked about how I hadn’t finished yet, and how it didn’t make sense for you to review it until I was done. We were going to go over it this morning when you got in, remember?”
“I changed my mind.” Gavin gestured toward the living room. “I realized we didn’t have much time. Paul printed out two copies and brought them out. He was coming here to Easthampton tonight to discuss another deal anyway. I talked to him at the office around eight. Apparently . . .” Gavin paused,
“You okay?”
“Fine.” Conner saw in Gavin’s expression that a one-word answer wasn’t going to cut it. “I caught my arm on a hook in my bedroom closet as I was packing to come out here. I was rushing, you know. I wanted to get out of there. It’s just a scratch.” He shook his head. “I’ve been meaning to get rid of that hook, too. I did the same thing a couple of months ago.”
“Doesn’t look real
sh
ip-
sh
ape,” Gavin said, grinning.
Sometimes Gavin consciously used words that challenged his lisp in front of people he trusted. It was his way of letting you know you were inside the fort, Conner knew.
“Yeah well, I—”
“You’re off your game tonight.”
Conner rolled his eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Gavin shrugged. “Having your place broken into stinks. Believe me, I know. I’ve been robbed a couple of times, but it isn’t the end of the world, pal. Cheer up.”
“Gavin, I’m beat.” It was almost four thirty. In a few minutes, sunlight would begin creeping through the bay window beside him. “Can we get on with this?” He was tempted to ask if they could put off the discussion until he’d had a chance to catch some sleep. But he knew what the answer would be.
On Gavin’s rolltop desk were two copies of a presentation Conner had prepared for their meeting with Pharmaco, a drug company headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey. Last week, the company had been surprised by an unsolicited takeover offer from a European conglomerate. And the CEO and his board of directors needed advice. The CEO was a friend of Gavin’s from the Harper Manning days, and suddenly Phenix Capital had an opportunity to get that first transaction the
Wall Street Journal
and the
New York Times
would report on. The competition was a young gun at Harper, and Conner knew that Gavin desperately wanted to win the mandate. He craved the long-lost personal publicity, but what he sought most was the chance to wave a victory flag in the faces of his ex-partners.
Gavin picked up the presentations, tossed one to Conner, then put on a pair of reading glasses. “Right off the bat there’s a problem, pal,” he said, tapping the page emphatically. “The goddamn company’s name is misspelled. And there are lots more mistakes like this one throughout the presentation.” He held the deck out toward Conner and rifled through the pages with his thumb to make his point. “I’m just glad I caught this stuff now. We would have looked like idiots in that boardroom tomorrow if I hadn’t,” he snapped. “This isn’t like you. Usually you really pay attention to details.”
Conner gazed at the page. The typo was right there. But that was impossible. He’d checked the whole thing three times before going home last night, and there hadn’t been a mistake anywhere. “It wasn’t like this when I left the office, Gavin.”
The old man peered over his half-lens glasses. “Well, it is now.”
“How did you get this?” Conner asked. “We were supposed to go over it yesterday afternoon, but after lunch you decided to come out here instead of staying in Manhattan. And I didn’t e-mail it to you here.”
Gavin owned a sprawling apartment in an Upper East Side high-rise where he usually stayed during the week. But occasionally he headed out to the mansion to get away. “You ended up taking off around three o’clock yesterday. You came by my office and we talked about how I hadn’t finished yet, and how it didn’t make sense for you to review it until I was done. We were going to go over it this morning when you got in, remember?”
“I changed my mind.” Gavin gestured toward the living room. “I realized we didn’t have much time. Paul printed out two copies and brought them out. He was coming here to Easthampton tonight to discuss another deal anyway. I talked to him at the office around eight. Apparently . . .” Gavin paused,
Similar Books
