The Twelve Apostles, page 42
Martin, in anticipation, had already discussed the matter with the other partners. He was empowered to offer three million.
He sighed as though Crim’s counterproposal were greatly disturbing. “Do any of you have any great objection?” He looked at the others, all very serious, none of their expressions revealing that Crim was shafting himself.
“All right, John, it seems we have a deal. Morris Solomon and I took the liberty of drawing up your agreement to resign the firm. All that’s needed is the amount.” He reached into the long, flat envelope in front of him and handed the papers over to Crim. “Please read them, John. I think you’ll find them in order. If you will sign them, I will issue a check for the amount you ask.”
Crim looked up from the papers. “I don’t mean to quibble, Ainsworth, but I’d like a cashier’s check.” He smiled at the others. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, of course—I’m simply being prudent.”
Ainsworth Martin’s expression remained unchanged. “I anticipated that, of course. Eugene Cryderman, the president of the Manhattan Exchange Bank, is waiting for us. You can sign the resignation papers in his office if you like, and he’ll then certify our check.”
“How did you know I’d agree to all this?”
Martin looked at him. “Under the circumstances, the result was somewhat predictable, as I’m sure you agree.”
“As always, you’ve thought things out especially well.”
Crim looked at the others as though he were about to say something further, then stopped.
“Why did you do it, John?” Asa Chamberlain asked.
Martin frowned. He didn’t want the compromise upset by recriminations. “That’s quite immaterial, Asa.”
“No,” Crim said. “I think I’d like to answer that. I owe you an explanation.” He looked at all of them, a wry smile upon his lips. “Ambition is a terrible thing, isn’t it? Here, in New York, Nelson and Clark is the top law firm, and each of us is regarded in our own world as something near to kings. But Washington is quite different. It’s not nearly as sophisticated. It’s like a small town, in a way. There, externals matter. They judge law firms, and lawyers, not by quality or reputation as much as by the numbers in the firm’s Washington office. Big equals powerful. They even judge other countries by the size of their embassies and the sumptuousness of their parties.”
He paused for a moment, then continued, “It’s not much of a world, I suppose, but it is my world. Nelson and Clark is just a rumor there. We have only a handful of lawyers, therefore by Washington standards we aren’t very important. I begged you people to enlarge the office, obviously to increase my own importance, but also to enhance the firm’s power in the nation’s capital. I am one of the Apostles, a powerful man in New York. But in Washington I am nothing. I found that galling.”
“So you sold out to Emerson Becker,” Francis Desmond growled.
“I don’t think recriminations will do anyone any good,” Ainsworth Martin interjected quickly, hoping to keep the peace and preserve the settlement.
“Don’t worry, Ainsworth,” Crim said. “I take no offense. It’s rather bluntly put, but true nevertheless. I did indeed sell out. Emerson Becker agreed to make me a full partner in his firm, obviously not as prestigious as Nelson and Clark, but almost as financially rewarding. But, like the rest of you, I really don’t need the money. Becker promised to make his Washington office larger than any other firm. In other words, in my world I would then become the king.”
Crim laughed. “Well, now Becker really believes that I was playing him for a fool, so I’m afraid that plan is finished forever. In case you’re wondering what I’ll do—which I rather suspect is low on your list of burning concerns—I will return to Washington and try to hook up with one of the larger firms. If not as a partner, then as of counsel. It may not be quite the same, but at least I won’t be so frustrated.”
Martin stood up. “Cryderman won’t wait forever. We had better go.”
Crim slowly got up. “Well, I’m truly sorry it all worked out this way.” He paused, looking from one face to the next. “I shall miss you, despite what’s happened.” He smiled. “And, of course, if you’re ever in Washington, do look me up.”
“Let’s go.” Martin said quickly, watching Desmond color even more deeply.
There was an uncomfortable silence in the room after they left.
“Damn Judas!” Desmond exploded.
Katherine Thurston smiled. “Come on, Francis, what did you expect? As I recall, there was one in the original set of Apostles. This sort of confirms our, well, divinity.”
Even Francis Desmond started to laugh.
26
“We have nothing so grand as this in all of Ireland,” Dowd said, looking around at the delicate ferns gracefully set around the tables at the Palm Court of the Plaza Hotel. “Mind you, we have some real castles, and some quite beautiful Georgian homes, but nothing at all like this.” He chuckled. “Ah, it’s just as well. If we had something like this, our dear friends the English would have stolen it anyway.”
“Why did you wish to see me?” The old man’s face betrayed his suspicion. Teddy Edwards looked wary, like an animal caught in a trap.
“Do have some of the tea,” Dowd said. “It’s quite nice, really.”
“Mr. Dowd, you are one of the most important men in the world. I’m sure you didn’t invite me here merely to sample the tea.”
“I take mine with a touch of whiskey. It makes the world a smoother place in which to exist.”
“I can’t drink,” Teddy Edwards barked. “My doctor won’t allow it.”
“Good heavens, man, doctors kill people every day with foolish advice like that. But to each his own.”
“What’s on your mind, Mr. Dowd?”
“They’re going to take your company, Mr. Edwards. The courts have seen to that. You’re quite defenseless without the financial assistance of Mr. Kuragamo.”
“We’re working toward another source of money.”
Dowd smiled and patted the old man’s bony knee. “Now, my dear man, I know everything that’s going on. That’s my business. You’re done for. Lockwood will snap up the few shares remaining for control, break up Brown and Brown, sell off your valuable land and your profitable divisions, then close up the others. In a matter of weeks Brown and Brown will be but a memory. Ah, it’s a shame, isn’t it?”
“I trust this conversation has a purpose?” Edwards was becoming increasingly annoyed by the small Irishman’s airy manner.
He was answered by an impish grin. “It has a purpose, of course. Ah, you just don’t understand the Irish. We like to caress a bit before we get to the actual fucking, don’t you know,”
“Pardon me?”
“Crudely stated, and I apologize. Mr. Edwards, I think I know what you want.”
“What’s that?”
“You want Brown and Brown to continue as a viable company, not in name only, but as a profit-making entity, am I correct?”
Old Edwards studied the smiling, moon-shaped face for a moment. “Yes. The company has been in my family for generations. Besides the sentiment, it provides most of my family with their main source of income.”
Dowd nodded as if hearing a great and irrefutable truth. “Ah, yes. Tradition is so important to us all. May I be so bold as to make you a proposition?”
Edwards snorted. “Go on.”
“Suppose I step in and take over where Mr. Kuragamo left off. Suppose I buy Lockwood Limited?”
Edward’s beady eyes narrowed. “Suppose you did? What would you want in return?”
“Your soul.”
“Pardon me?”
“That’s a bit of a joke. I can’t help it; it’s a national imperfection. We’re always joking. It’s like drinking, after a fashion. I would want ownership of Brown and Brown.”
Edwards scowled. “You would do just the same thing: you’d sell the land and break up the company.”
Dowd signaled to a waiter. “Ah, that’s where you’re wrong. True, I would sell the land. That would help me pay for the money I’ve expended. But I would give you a five-year agreement not to sell any of the other assets of the company.”
“We would stay as Brown and Brown?”
Dowd nodded. “Yes, of course. I would merge you with Lockwood. I would sell many of Lockwood’s divisions. I am, after all, in this for the profit. I would insist on replacing all your officers and your board with my own people. Except for you. You would stay on as chairman of the board.”
The old man’s ancient face seemed to come alive as his muscles worked beneath the wrinkled facial skin. “And if we refuse?”
Dowd chuckled as he gave his order to the waiter. “Now, if you refuse, Lockwood and their Mr. Scott will own you. He’ll bust you up, and that’s the end of your precious company. You’ll also take a rather substantial loss. Scott’s known to be an unforgiving fellow, I understand. Well, what do you say? Shall I step into Kuragamo’s empty shoes and save you, or shall you go down to certain destruction? Not much of a choice if I do say so myself.”
“What about Scott?”
“You mean if I acquire Lockwood?”
“Yes.”
Dowd smiled widely, reached over and again patted the old man’s knobby knee. “Ah, don’t worry your head about them small details. I’ll attend to all that. Well, sir, now what do you say?”
“Do I have any choice?”
“Not that I can see.”
“All right, I’ll have our attorneys draw up—”
Dowd laughed. “No offense, of course, but my solicitors will do the job. They are, well, rather used to it.”
“Do I have to sign in blood?” Edwards growled.
Dowd roared with laughter. “No, not now, Mr. Edwards. Perhaps another day.” He stood up. “I’ll have the paperwork by this evening. Will you be at the office?”
“I’ll be there.”
“No regrets about losing your officers?”
“None. They are, for the most part, a bunch of horses’ asses.”
Dowd beamed. “You see, we think very much alike.” He put his hands in his pockets. “Oh, would you mind taking care of the check? I left Ireland so quickly that I didn’t have time to get much cash and forgot my credit cards.”
Teddy Edwards looked after the short, squat man as he walked through the aisles between the tables. He moved with the easy grace of a seaman, as though he were used to pitching decks.
Edwards knew he should feel jubilant, but he did not. He felt like a modern-day Faust who had, in reality, just sold his soul.
Nancy Merriam entered the lobby of the Lockwood Building. It was the first morning in some time that she allowed herself to sleep late. The battle had always kept her in the office well into the evening. Sometimes she’d had to settle for sleeping on her office couch.
The uniformed guard stepped up to her as she strode toward the elevator bank. “I’m sorry. Miss Merriam,” he said, his voice kept low. “I can’t allow you up. Mr. Scott’s orders.”
At first she thought he was joking. “What did you say?”
He looked uncomfortable. “He gave written orders that you weren’t to be allowed in the building. I’m very sorry. Miss Merriam, I truly am, but you’ll have to leave.” His face jerked involuntarily. “If it was up to me, there’d be no problem, but I’ll get fired if I let you up.”
“Do you have a copy of the orders?” she asked, still in shock.
“Yes, ma’am.” He fished inside his uniform jacket, pulled out a folded paper, and handed it to her.
She read the short message. “Miss Nancy K. Merriam is no longer an employee of this company. In order to safeguard the integrity of this organization. Miss Merriam, or any of her agents or associates, are not permitted access to any Lockwood Limited properties.”
John Norman Scott had signed it with his customary flourishing hand.
“Again, I’m awfully sorry,” the guard said. “Didn’t anyone tell you?”
She forced a smile and shook her head.
The guard frowned. “Shitty way to do things.”
A television camera crew hurried by. One of them recognized her and called a greeting as they boarded an elevator.
“What’s that all about?” she asked.
“Mr. Scott has called a ten-thirty press conference. I understand he’s blowing his own horn about this Brown and Brown thing. One of the executives said something about it earlier.”
“Is he in the building?”
He looked distressed, even a little fearful. “Yes, he came in early. First time he’s been in in a week. But you can’t see him, Miss Merriam.”
She put the paper into her purse. “I wouldn’t want to,” she said, not knowing whether she was experiencing tears of fear or anger. She had never been fired before.
“I imagine they’ll send your personal stuff to your apartment.”
She nodded and turned, walking quickly through the lobby, hoping she wouldn’t see anyone she had to talk to.
The tears were flowing freely now, but at least she knew now what she felt. It wasn’t anger, it was rage.
The whole Nelson and Clark office, all six floors, was abuzz with the news.
The Apostles were to meet that afternoon to decide who would fill Frank Johnson’s vacancy and the surprising vacancy created by the resignation of John Crim. He had been the first Apostle in the firm’s long history ever to resign. No satisfactory reason was given for Crim’s action. Office gossip had it that Crim was about to become a member of the President’s cabinet, probably as Attorney General of the United States. But except for raw gossip, no one seemed to possess any hard facts.
It was a tradition, when selecting main partners, for the Apostles to meet in their sacred dining room after lunch. The candidates were expected to wait in their own offices. If selected, they were invited up to the dining room; the first time they would see it. After that they were full members, main partners. Apostles themselves.
The losers, who usually found out within minutes of the selection, were expected to put on a show of good sportsmanship, congratulate the winner, then hang around cheerfully for a few weeks or a month until they found something else. But on that day, selection day, the losers knew they were through forever with the firm of Nelson and Clark.
Christina came rushing into Dan’s office. He looked quite relaxed, his feet up on the desk, a law book in his hands.
“Did you hear?” she asked.
He nodded. “Yes. Everyone seems quite excited.”
“Oh, come on, Dan, don’t tell me you aren’t?”
He smiled. “I don’t know if you could call it excitement.”
“Well, I suppose you can afford to be calm. They couldn’t deny you a spot, not after what you did in the Lockwood matter.”
“That would also apply to you, Chris. Ainsworth and the rest know it was your efforts that saved the day.”
She sat down opposite him. “I don’t know, Dan. They already have a woman Apostle. The betting is that they won’t want two.”
“At least with two spots open, you and I aren’t in head-to-head competition.”
“I know. It makes it much easier.”
“Chris, have you really thought about this main partner business? I wonder if it’s worth all this fuss in the long run.”
“Dan, what are you saying? My God, as a main partner in Nelson and Clark a person would never have to worry about money again. And the prestige is at least double that. I know lawyers who would much rather be an Apostle than President of the United States. Really—I mean it.”
“I suppose.”
“Oh, you’re just having last-minute butterflies.”
“Chris, what will you do if you don’t get selected?”
“Isn’t that bad luck? I mean talking about losing?”
“Luck is something you make yourself. Really, have you given the alternative any thought?”
She looked at him. He was very serious. “I’d be a fool if I hadn’t done so.” She paused. “I have made some pretty good connections in the banking world. I suspect I might become a vice president in charge of business finance somewhere. It’s what I do best. And, if all I hear is correct, the firm likes to see that the losers are helped out. I won’t starve.”
“But would you be unhappy being something other than an Apostle?”
She frowned. “Yes, very unhappy. Oh, if I’m not selected, I’ll survive, but all I have ever wanted to do was to make it to the top here. And being a main partner at Nelson and Clark is the top, Dan. It’s what I want.”
He studied her for a moment. “You know, you and I have a serious relationship going on here.”
“Ah, what a poetic lover.”
He laughed. “Hardly. Never claimed to be, but the fact remains.”
“So?”
“So, what if one of us makes it and the other doesn’t?”
“What do you mean?”
“If you feel that strongly about becoming an Apostle. I think it could make a difference between us. One of us might be jealous of the other, or worse, patronizing. Have you considered what it might do to us?”
“No, to be truthful, I haven’t. But I don’t think it would really matter between us. Besides, I’m the only one who has to worry. The office hot line says you have it locked up.”
“We’ll see. The world is full of surprises.”
Ainsworth Martin drew Morris Solomon aside before they entered the dining room. “I just received a telephone call from Brown and Brown. They want to set up a meeting tonight. I’d like you to be in on it.”
“Where’s the meeting?”
“Here. They want me to ask John Norman Scott to come. I talked to Teddy Edwards, the chairman of the board. You know him?”
“Yes. Crusty old bird. I doubt all this is going down very well for him.”
Ainsworth sighed. “Obviously they want to talk settlement.”
“They lost; of course they do. Why meet with them, anyway? There’s nothing to be done now. Scott holds the winning hand.”
“Maybe. Edwards says that Patrick Dowd will be there too.”
Solomon raised his eyebrows. “That could make it an entirely new ball game.”
He sighed as though Crim’s counterproposal were greatly disturbing. “Do any of you have any great objection?” He looked at the others, all very serious, none of their expressions revealing that Crim was shafting himself.
“All right, John, it seems we have a deal. Morris Solomon and I took the liberty of drawing up your agreement to resign the firm. All that’s needed is the amount.” He reached into the long, flat envelope in front of him and handed the papers over to Crim. “Please read them, John. I think you’ll find them in order. If you will sign them, I will issue a check for the amount you ask.”
Crim looked up from the papers. “I don’t mean to quibble, Ainsworth, but I’d like a cashier’s check.” He smiled at the others. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, of course—I’m simply being prudent.”
Ainsworth Martin’s expression remained unchanged. “I anticipated that, of course. Eugene Cryderman, the president of the Manhattan Exchange Bank, is waiting for us. You can sign the resignation papers in his office if you like, and he’ll then certify our check.”
“How did you know I’d agree to all this?”
Martin looked at him. “Under the circumstances, the result was somewhat predictable, as I’m sure you agree.”
“As always, you’ve thought things out especially well.”
Crim looked at the others as though he were about to say something further, then stopped.
“Why did you do it, John?” Asa Chamberlain asked.
Martin frowned. He didn’t want the compromise upset by recriminations. “That’s quite immaterial, Asa.”
“No,” Crim said. “I think I’d like to answer that. I owe you an explanation.” He looked at all of them, a wry smile upon his lips. “Ambition is a terrible thing, isn’t it? Here, in New York, Nelson and Clark is the top law firm, and each of us is regarded in our own world as something near to kings. But Washington is quite different. It’s not nearly as sophisticated. It’s like a small town, in a way. There, externals matter. They judge law firms, and lawyers, not by quality or reputation as much as by the numbers in the firm’s Washington office. Big equals powerful. They even judge other countries by the size of their embassies and the sumptuousness of their parties.”
He paused for a moment, then continued, “It’s not much of a world, I suppose, but it is my world. Nelson and Clark is just a rumor there. We have only a handful of lawyers, therefore by Washington standards we aren’t very important. I begged you people to enlarge the office, obviously to increase my own importance, but also to enhance the firm’s power in the nation’s capital. I am one of the Apostles, a powerful man in New York. But in Washington I am nothing. I found that galling.”
“So you sold out to Emerson Becker,” Francis Desmond growled.
“I don’t think recriminations will do anyone any good,” Ainsworth Martin interjected quickly, hoping to keep the peace and preserve the settlement.
“Don’t worry, Ainsworth,” Crim said. “I take no offense. It’s rather bluntly put, but true nevertheless. I did indeed sell out. Emerson Becker agreed to make me a full partner in his firm, obviously not as prestigious as Nelson and Clark, but almost as financially rewarding. But, like the rest of you, I really don’t need the money. Becker promised to make his Washington office larger than any other firm. In other words, in my world I would then become the king.”
Crim laughed. “Well, now Becker really believes that I was playing him for a fool, so I’m afraid that plan is finished forever. In case you’re wondering what I’ll do—which I rather suspect is low on your list of burning concerns—I will return to Washington and try to hook up with one of the larger firms. If not as a partner, then as of counsel. It may not be quite the same, but at least I won’t be so frustrated.”
Martin stood up. “Cryderman won’t wait forever. We had better go.”
Crim slowly got up. “Well, I’m truly sorry it all worked out this way.” He paused, looking from one face to the next. “I shall miss you, despite what’s happened.” He smiled. “And, of course, if you’re ever in Washington, do look me up.”
“Let’s go.” Martin said quickly, watching Desmond color even more deeply.
There was an uncomfortable silence in the room after they left.
“Damn Judas!” Desmond exploded.
Katherine Thurston smiled. “Come on, Francis, what did you expect? As I recall, there was one in the original set of Apostles. This sort of confirms our, well, divinity.”
Even Francis Desmond started to laugh.
26
“We have nothing so grand as this in all of Ireland,” Dowd said, looking around at the delicate ferns gracefully set around the tables at the Palm Court of the Plaza Hotel. “Mind you, we have some real castles, and some quite beautiful Georgian homes, but nothing at all like this.” He chuckled. “Ah, it’s just as well. If we had something like this, our dear friends the English would have stolen it anyway.”
“Why did you wish to see me?” The old man’s face betrayed his suspicion. Teddy Edwards looked wary, like an animal caught in a trap.
“Do have some of the tea,” Dowd said. “It’s quite nice, really.”
“Mr. Dowd, you are one of the most important men in the world. I’m sure you didn’t invite me here merely to sample the tea.”
“I take mine with a touch of whiskey. It makes the world a smoother place in which to exist.”
“I can’t drink,” Teddy Edwards barked. “My doctor won’t allow it.”
“Good heavens, man, doctors kill people every day with foolish advice like that. But to each his own.”
“What’s on your mind, Mr. Dowd?”
“They’re going to take your company, Mr. Edwards. The courts have seen to that. You’re quite defenseless without the financial assistance of Mr. Kuragamo.”
“We’re working toward another source of money.”
Dowd smiled and patted the old man’s bony knee. “Now, my dear man, I know everything that’s going on. That’s my business. You’re done for. Lockwood will snap up the few shares remaining for control, break up Brown and Brown, sell off your valuable land and your profitable divisions, then close up the others. In a matter of weeks Brown and Brown will be but a memory. Ah, it’s a shame, isn’t it?”
“I trust this conversation has a purpose?” Edwards was becoming increasingly annoyed by the small Irishman’s airy manner.
He was answered by an impish grin. “It has a purpose, of course. Ah, you just don’t understand the Irish. We like to caress a bit before we get to the actual fucking, don’t you know,”
“Pardon me?”
“Crudely stated, and I apologize. Mr. Edwards, I think I know what you want.”
“What’s that?”
“You want Brown and Brown to continue as a viable company, not in name only, but as a profit-making entity, am I correct?”
Old Edwards studied the smiling, moon-shaped face for a moment. “Yes. The company has been in my family for generations. Besides the sentiment, it provides most of my family with their main source of income.”
Dowd nodded as if hearing a great and irrefutable truth. “Ah, yes. Tradition is so important to us all. May I be so bold as to make you a proposition?”
Edwards snorted. “Go on.”
“Suppose I step in and take over where Mr. Kuragamo left off. Suppose I buy Lockwood Limited?”
Edward’s beady eyes narrowed. “Suppose you did? What would you want in return?”
“Your soul.”
“Pardon me?”
“That’s a bit of a joke. I can’t help it; it’s a national imperfection. We’re always joking. It’s like drinking, after a fashion. I would want ownership of Brown and Brown.”
Edwards scowled. “You would do just the same thing: you’d sell the land and break up the company.”
Dowd signaled to a waiter. “Ah, that’s where you’re wrong. True, I would sell the land. That would help me pay for the money I’ve expended. But I would give you a five-year agreement not to sell any of the other assets of the company.”
“We would stay as Brown and Brown?”
Dowd nodded. “Yes, of course. I would merge you with Lockwood. I would sell many of Lockwood’s divisions. I am, after all, in this for the profit. I would insist on replacing all your officers and your board with my own people. Except for you. You would stay on as chairman of the board.”
The old man’s ancient face seemed to come alive as his muscles worked beneath the wrinkled facial skin. “And if we refuse?”
Dowd chuckled as he gave his order to the waiter. “Now, if you refuse, Lockwood and their Mr. Scott will own you. He’ll bust you up, and that’s the end of your precious company. You’ll also take a rather substantial loss. Scott’s known to be an unforgiving fellow, I understand. Well, what do you say? Shall I step into Kuragamo’s empty shoes and save you, or shall you go down to certain destruction? Not much of a choice if I do say so myself.”
“What about Scott?”
“You mean if I acquire Lockwood?”
“Yes.”
Dowd smiled widely, reached over and again patted the old man’s knobby knee. “Ah, don’t worry your head about them small details. I’ll attend to all that. Well, sir, now what do you say?”
“Do I have any choice?”
“Not that I can see.”
“All right, I’ll have our attorneys draw up—”
Dowd laughed. “No offense, of course, but my solicitors will do the job. They are, well, rather used to it.”
“Do I have to sign in blood?” Edwards growled.
Dowd roared with laughter. “No, not now, Mr. Edwards. Perhaps another day.” He stood up. “I’ll have the paperwork by this evening. Will you be at the office?”
“I’ll be there.”
“No regrets about losing your officers?”
“None. They are, for the most part, a bunch of horses’ asses.”
Dowd beamed. “You see, we think very much alike.” He put his hands in his pockets. “Oh, would you mind taking care of the check? I left Ireland so quickly that I didn’t have time to get much cash and forgot my credit cards.”
Teddy Edwards looked after the short, squat man as he walked through the aisles between the tables. He moved with the easy grace of a seaman, as though he were used to pitching decks.
Edwards knew he should feel jubilant, but he did not. He felt like a modern-day Faust who had, in reality, just sold his soul.
Nancy Merriam entered the lobby of the Lockwood Building. It was the first morning in some time that she allowed herself to sleep late. The battle had always kept her in the office well into the evening. Sometimes she’d had to settle for sleeping on her office couch.
The uniformed guard stepped up to her as she strode toward the elevator bank. “I’m sorry. Miss Merriam,” he said, his voice kept low. “I can’t allow you up. Mr. Scott’s orders.”
At first she thought he was joking. “What did you say?”
He looked uncomfortable. “He gave written orders that you weren’t to be allowed in the building. I’m very sorry. Miss Merriam, I truly am, but you’ll have to leave.” His face jerked involuntarily. “If it was up to me, there’d be no problem, but I’ll get fired if I let you up.”
“Do you have a copy of the orders?” she asked, still in shock.
“Yes, ma’am.” He fished inside his uniform jacket, pulled out a folded paper, and handed it to her.
She read the short message. “Miss Nancy K. Merriam is no longer an employee of this company. In order to safeguard the integrity of this organization. Miss Merriam, or any of her agents or associates, are not permitted access to any Lockwood Limited properties.”
John Norman Scott had signed it with his customary flourishing hand.
“Again, I’m awfully sorry,” the guard said. “Didn’t anyone tell you?”
She forced a smile and shook her head.
The guard frowned. “Shitty way to do things.”
A television camera crew hurried by. One of them recognized her and called a greeting as they boarded an elevator.
“What’s that all about?” she asked.
“Mr. Scott has called a ten-thirty press conference. I understand he’s blowing his own horn about this Brown and Brown thing. One of the executives said something about it earlier.”
“Is he in the building?”
He looked distressed, even a little fearful. “Yes, he came in early. First time he’s been in in a week. But you can’t see him, Miss Merriam.”
She put the paper into her purse. “I wouldn’t want to,” she said, not knowing whether she was experiencing tears of fear or anger. She had never been fired before.
“I imagine they’ll send your personal stuff to your apartment.”
She nodded and turned, walking quickly through the lobby, hoping she wouldn’t see anyone she had to talk to.
The tears were flowing freely now, but at least she knew now what she felt. It wasn’t anger, it was rage.
The whole Nelson and Clark office, all six floors, was abuzz with the news.
The Apostles were to meet that afternoon to decide who would fill Frank Johnson’s vacancy and the surprising vacancy created by the resignation of John Crim. He had been the first Apostle in the firm’s long history ever to resign. No satisfactory reason was given for Crim’s action. Office gossip had it that Crim was about to become a member of the President’s cabinet, probably as Attorney General of the United States. But except for raw gossip, no one seemed to possess any hard facts.
It was a tradition, when selecting main partners, for the Apostles to meet in their sacred dining room after lunch. The candidates were expected to wait in their own offices. If selected, they were invited up to the dining room; the first time they would see it. After that they were full members, main partners. Apostles themselves.
The losers, who usually found out within minutes of the selection, were expected to put on a show of good sportsmanship, congratulate the winner, then hang around cheerfully for a few weeks or a month until they found something else. But on that day, selection day, the losers knew they were through forever with the firm of Nelson and Clark.
Christina came rushing into Dan’s office. He looked quite relaxed, his feet up on the desk, a law book in his hands.
“Did you hear?” she asked.
He nodded. “Yes. Everyone seems quite excited.”
“Oh, come on, Dan, don’t tell me you aren’t?”
He smiled. “I don’t know if you could call it excitement.”
“Well, I suppose you can afford to be calm. They couldn’t deny you a spot, not after what you did in the Lockwood matter.”
“That would also apply to you, Chris. Ainsworth and the rest know it was your efforts that saved the day.”
She sat down opposite him. “I don’t know, Dan. They already have a woman Apostle. The betting is that they won’t want two.”
“At least with two spots open, you and I aren’t in head-to-head competition.”
“I know. It makes it much easier.”
“Chris, have you really thought about this main partner business? I wonder if it’s worth all this fuss in the long run.”
“Dan, what are you saying? My God, as a main partner in Nelson and Clark a person would never have to worry about money again. And the prestige is at least double that. I know lawyers who would much rather be an Apostle than President of the United States. Really—I mean it.”
“I suppose.”
“Oh, you’re just having last-minute butterflies.”
“Chris, what will you do if you don’t get selected?”
“Isn’t that bad luck? I mean talking about losing?”
“Luck is something you make yourself. Really, have you given the alternative any thought?”
She looked at him. He was very serious. “I’d be a fool if I hadn’t done so.” She paused. “I have made some pretty good connections in the banking world. I suspect I might become a vice president in charge of business finance somewhere. It’s what I do best. And, if all I hear is correct, the firm likes to see that the losers are helped out. I won’t starve.”
“But would you be unhappy being something other than an Apostle?”
She frowned. “Yes, very unhappy. Oh, if I’m not selected, I’ll survive, but all I have ever wanted to do was to make it to the top here. And being a main partner at Nelson and Clark is the top, Dan. It’s what I want.”
He studied her for a moment. “You know, you and I have a serious relationship going on here.”
“Ah, what a poetic lover.”
He laughed. “Hardly. Never claimed to be, but the fact remains.”
“So?”
“So, what if one of us makes it and the other doesn’t?”
“What do you mean?”
“If you feel that strongly about becoming an Apostle. I think it could make a difference between us. One of us might be jealous of the other, or worse, patronizing. Have you considered what it might do to us?”
“No, to be truthful, I haven’t. But I don’t think it would really matter between us. Besides, I’m the only one who has to worry. The office hot line says you have it locked up.”
“We’ll see. The world is full of surprises.”
Ainsworth Martin drew Morris Solomon aside before they entered the dining room. “I just received a telephone call from Brown and Brown. They want to set up a meeting tonight. I’d like you to be in on it.”
“Where’s the meeting?”
“Here. They want me to ask John Norman Scott to come. I talked to Teddy Edwards, the chairman of the board. You know him?”
“Yes. Crusty old bird. I doubt all this is going down very well for him.”
Ainsworth sighed. “Obviously they want to talk settlement.”
“They lost; of course they do. Why meet with them, anyway? There’s nothing to be done now. Scott holds the winning hand.”
“Maybe. Edwards says that Patrick Dowd will be there too.”
Solomon raised his eyebrows. “That could make it an entirely new ball game.”
