Coldwater Revenge, James Ross [books for 9th graders txt] 📗

gods rolled it back again? That’s the flaw in your tool theory, smart boy. The sacrifices are worth it, only if you get to the finish line. If you don’t, you could have been doing something else. With Susan. Is it really the journey, not the arrival, that matters?

He felt a jab in the ribs and opened his eyes.

“You’re talking in your sleep,” said Joe.

Tom unfolded his body from a dashboard/seat back fetal position, sat up and rubbed his face. “Need a pit stop.”

“We’re ten miles from home. You slept the whole way.”

“Still need to stop.”

The multi-colored canopy of fall foliage had come and gone while he was sleeping. It was dark now and the strobes of oncoming headlights forced him to look away.

“Who’s Camille?” Joe asked.

“What?”

“You were talking to her in your sleep.”

He closed his eyes again. “French co-counsel on an anti-trust case.”

“‘Je t‘aime? ’ Is that how you address fellow lawyers these days?”

“In my dreams.”

Joe pointed to a roadside billboard. “We can stop at Trudy’s? Might as well eat, too, while we’re there.”

“Let’s go. I haven’t been to Trudy’s in…I don’t know when. Can’t believe it’s still there.”

Joe yawned. “I need fuel or something. Feel like crap.”

Tom stretched. “Manhattan is an acquired taste.”

Joe rolled down a window and let in a blast of cool air. “You can keep it.” He stuck his forehead into the breeze. “So what were you trying to get out of Sharp with all those arithmetic questions, if you don’t mind my asking? That was no criminal lawyer he had, or he would have thrown us out.”

“He’s a corporate lawyer,” Tom said. “Probably represented Sharp when he sold out his NeuroGene interest to his partner, Willow.”

“So what were you after?”

“Trying to find out if he’s a liar. If he cheated his partner in the buyout. And if he did, did Billy Pearce play a role and did he get whacked on account of it?”

“Ambitious, aren’t you?” Joe’s voice sounded relieved and disbelieving at the same time. “So how did any of that gobbledygook get you there? Because I sure as hell had no idea what you and he were fan-dancing about. And I’m sure his lawyer didn’t either or he would have stopped you.”

“Yes, yes, yes and maybe.”

“Quit showing off, Tommy. Put some meat on it.”

“Okay, first, the guy’s a liar. Every time you asked him for a significant memory, like the first time you showed him Billy’s picture, or when you asked him if Susan had any siblings, he lied.”

“How do you know?”

“I’ll show you when we get to Trudy’s.”

“Tell me now.”

Tom turned his face away from the oncoming headlights. “You need to be looking at me. And right now I’d rather have you looking at the road.”

“All right, but tell me how you know he cheated his partner.”

“Cheat’s probably overstating it. Let’s just say he took advantage of Willow’s financial naiveté.”

“Cooking the books?”

“Nothing that crude. Like he made sure to point out, everything was on the financial statements and accounted for properly.”

“So how did he cheat him?”

“By making the business profitable.”

“Quit busting my chops, Tommy. I’m tired.”

“You don’t look so good either.” Joe’s face looked like dead fish belly in the strobe of passing headlights.

“Just tell me.”

“All right. Sharp knew what I was getting at when I asked him if the buyout was a multiple of earnings. Do you remember he asked if I thought he was going to be next? He meant the next corpse.”

“It’s not getting any clearer.”

“Listen. It’s simple. A business is basically worth a multiple of its future earnings. You noticed that Sharp never mentioned how much this petri dish sideline brought in. That wasn’t an oversight. My guess is that Willow and whoever backed him thought they were buying a marginally profitable research business with some potential upside, not a sinkhole propped-up by a sideline business in cross-border, no questions asked, sealed packages. You noticed something too, when you asked him about illegal substances. They may not have been sending recreational drugs across the border. But I’m certain that when we look at the NeuroGene financials, we’re going to find this U-Labs was paying more for its U. S. mail room than can be explained by a need for scientific secrecy.”

“You sure about that?”

“Pretty sure. It looks to me like Sharp was doing what’s called a ‘pump and dump.’ When he figured out that his partner was looking for an angel investor, he pumped the company’s earning with this ‘no questions asked’ distributor scheme, and then dumped his stock at an inflated price when Willow exercised the shotgun.”

“You’re making my head ache, Tommy.”

“You’re tired, that’s all. I’ll write it down for you when we get back.”

“Good, Watson. Stick around. I always thought there were more shenanigans going down in Coldwater Park, than there were up in the woods with the Cashins and the Dooleys. You should come home and specialize.”

“What’s the pay?”

“What do you care, you’re rich already. The job can be anything you want to make it.”

Don’t think about Susan. “How about I just help you find Billy Pearce’s murderer.”

“Okay, but I’m not through with you on this. Now what’s the connection between this financial sleight-of-hand and Billy getting dumped in the lake?”

“I don’t know yet. But tell me that a legitimate scientific research outfit entrusts some loser like Billy Pearce with its ultra-secret whatevers. Forget about trusting him, how would a legitimate Canadian biotechnology company even come to know a small-town punk like Billy Pearce? It’s not like he hung with the scientific jet set.”

“Okay. But unless there’s a connection between Sharp cheating his partner and Billy getting dead, this is just a distraction.”

“Is there a way to check on Sharp’s story of where he was Saturday night?”

“Don’t need to,” Joe yawned. “We already know he wasn’t in bed watching the Yankees.”

“How?”

“Because he’s no more of a Yankee fan than you are. The Yankees don’t play on Saturday night. Weekend games are in the afternoon.”

* * *

Trudy’s Diner hadn’t changed since the Morgan family used