Silent Partner by Stephen Frey Page A

recommended you highly.”
    She smiled despite herself. Then it hit her, and her enthusiasm faded. “I’m your mole,” she whispered.
    “What?”
    She grimaced, wishing she hadn’t said anything.
    “What did you mean by that?” he demanded.
    She glanced up into his eyes. They were burning beneath the brim of the Stetson. “I, I—”
    “You think what I’m really planning is the takeover of Sumter? That I want to use you as some kind of undercover agent?”
    “I just thought—”
    “Well, you thought wrong,” Lawrence snapped. “Although,” he said, his tone turning to one of amusement, “from what I understand, Sumter’s chairman is extremely concerned about my creeping ownership stake in his beloved bank.” He laughed harshly, as if that discomfort gave him a great deal of pleasure. “Hey, if I buy enough shares, I might be able to find out about the girlfriends he’s got stashed away.” He laughed again, even louder this time. “Then what would his wife think?”
    “I don’t know,” she murmured, glancing down. Maybe Jake Lawrence didn’t just kill big game for sport. Maybe he enjoyed destroying people’s lives, too. Maybe that was why he needed a personal army.
    “That man will not be comfortable about the fact that you and I have talked.”
    Angela glanced up. “Which man?”
    “The chairman of Sumter Bank. Bob Dudley.”
    She shook her head. “I’m just a vice president, Mr. Lawrence—”
    “Jake,” he interrupted. “Please.”
    “Jake,” she repeated. It didn’t sound right, and she wondered if that was because she didn’t feel she could trust him. “There are hundreds of vice presidents at Sumter,” she said. “I’m so far down the corporate ladder the senior people don’t even know who I am.” She’d met the chairman and president of the bank briefly at last year’s Christmas party, and each of them had given her nothing but a limp handshake and a fake smile before quickly moving on. “I don’t think you have to worry about that.”
    “Bob Dudley will grill you at length about our conversation as soon as you return to Richmond. Count on it.”
    “I doubt he even knows I came out here.”
    “Oh, he knows.”
    “If you say so,” she answered skeptically.
    “Don’t tell him anything specific when he asks,” Lawrence added. “Tell him only that we talked in general about a project I want you to work on for me. Don’t mention anything about a public tender offer.”
    “All right,” Angela agreed. “But, assuming you’re right and he does want to grill me about our conversation, won’t my lack of details make him even more curious? And he may not appreciate the fact that all of a sudden I’m working for you when the bank is the one cutting my paycheck twice a month.”
    Lawrence nodded. “You might be right. Okay. Tell him I’m thinking about leveraging one of my companies, and that the company operates in an industry you already have experience with. That you’d lead the debt financing and make lots of money for Sumter in the process. That ought to make him feel better. All right?”
    “All right.”
    Lawrence turned his glass upside down and finished what little remained. “So, will you help me?”
    “I’d like to talk about the situation with my boss first. But if it involves potential loan business for Sumter, I don’t think he’ll have a problem with me working on it.”
    “I can guarantee you he won’t have a problem with it,” Lawrence replied confidently. “As you pointed out, I own 8 percent of the bank.”
    “That’s true.” The senior executives had to pay attention to Lawrence, whether they wanted to or not. For a public company as big as Sumter, 8 percent was a meaningful stake. “So what company are you thinking about buying?” she asked.
    “I’ll let you know in a few days,” Lawrence answered cautiously. “I’ve still got a bit more preliminary information to gather before we go live on this one.”
    “Oh.” Then why