Aces and Knaves

by Alan Cook

  Buchanan laughed and nodded approvingly. "Good reaction. Straight from the book. You'll go far in the business world, Arrow. However, when you've been around as long as I have, you'll realize that in spite of an army of bureaucrats from government agencies breathing down our necks we beleaguered business people still make employment and promotion decisions based on more than pure unadulterated ability, mixed with a generous dose of affirmative action."

  Arrow looked as if she might say something, but she didn't. Instead, she leaned back in her chair, regarding Buchanan with her dark eyes. I suppressed a smile.

  Buchanan continued, "As you may have noticed, I, myself prefer to employ good looking young men as my assistants. They are racially mixed and all have their MBAs, but some of them have other traits I appreciate, as well. But enough of that. Where did you get the name Arrow?"

  Arrow had recovered her poise. She said, "My mother was an Olympic archer. I guess she hoped she would hit a bull’s-eye with me, just as she does with her other arrows."

  "I think she succeeded." James took a sip of his drink and looked at me. "What is it that brings you up here...again...so soon?"

  "Police investigation," I said. "They wanted to ask me additional questions about Ned and where I was that night before I arrived here. Arrow came along to protect the good name of Dionysus."

  "There's more," Arrow said. "We know you're trying to get control of Dionysus."

  Arrow's candor surprised me and Buchanan raised his eyebrows. Then he smiled and said, "So you were sent here by Richard."

  "Richard doesn't know we're here," Arrow said.

  Buchanan looked as if he didn't believe her. He said, "I consider Dionysus stock to be a good investment, especially at its current price. My company, Tartan, invests in a lot of good companies. Just because we're buying Dionysus stock doesn't mean we're planning a takeover."

  He was trying to disarm us. I said, "Why are you buying the stock if you think Richard is doing a bad job?"

  "Who told you that?"

  Richard had told us that. I decided I was in over my head and didn't say anything. An awkward silence followed. I glanced at Arrow. She gave me a look that said she wanted to hear his answer. I forced myself to be quiet.

  Buchanan finally broke the silence by saying, "Richard is very good at doing certain things. He's a visionary, an entrepreneur. He can picture a new product and its market, get financial backing, start a company and grow it rapidly. But at a certain point in the life of every company different skills are needed in a CEO. The ability to run it on a day-to-day basis. Some entrepreneurial types aren't good at that."

  "And you think that Richard is one of them?" Arrow asked.

  "The next few years are key for Dionysus. Competition is catching up to them. Can they continue to be a leader in their field? Do they have the right management? These are questions that any investor, like myself, has to ask."

  That didn't exactly answer my question. "Do you think Ned would have been better for the job?" I asked.

  "Ned had more of the temperament of an administrator than Richard."

  "And since you had worked with Ned before, you knew him better and felt more comfortable with him."

  The corners of James' eyes crinkled in a hint of a smile and he said, "You've been doing your homework, haven't you?"

  "You're a very successful, man, Mr. Buchanan...er, James," I said. "You've made a lot of money. What drives you to keep going, to keep making investments?"

  "My fellow shareholders, for one thing."

  "But as you yourself suggested, there comes a time to turn the management over to somebody else."

  "You haven't told me what you do, Karl. I assumed you worked for Dionysus when I first met you. Since I now know you don’t I’m curious about you."

  "I'm a baseball card dealer. I sell cards on the Internet."

  "And you do this because...?"

  "I love it. Since I was four all I've ever wanted to do was to collect and sell baseball cards."

  "Are you going to build your business up to a certain point and then turn it over to somebody else to run?"

  "Why would I do that? Then someone else would be having all the fun."

  "Exactly. Someone else would be having all the fun. Someone else would be finding the perfect card. Someone else would be matching it with the perfect buyer, who has the same passion for it as you do and would give it a good home. In my case, someone else would be finding the perfect company, with the right product, the right management at the right time. Someone else would get the credit when it grows and adds to the value of the Tartan portfolio."

  "I’m sure Richard feels the same way about being the CEO of Dionysus," Arrow said.

  "I rather imagine he does," Buchanan said. "But there's more. There's the thrill of being able to do something better than anybody else; in fact, being able to do something that nobody else can do. Karl, what's the most valuable baseball card?"

  "A T206 Honus Wagner," I said, without hesitation. "It came out in 1909. Only a few were produced, and of those there are only a handful in really good condition."

  "How much is it worth?"

  "One of the good ones sold recently on eBay for over a million dollars. The card is so famous that Wayne Gretzky, the hockey player, owned one at one time."

  "How would you like to own one?"

  "It would be a dream come true."

  "Exactly. I'll tell you what. Keep your eyes open. If one of the good ones comes on the market let me know and we may be able to arrange it, together."

  "I'm afraid it's a little out of my league." I said, although I noticed that saliva was coming into my mouth.

  "You never know until you try. The offer stands. Well, I'm going to have to get back to my guests. What would you two like to do while you're here?"

  "Ask you another question," I said. I had just remembered something that had vanished from my mind at the news of Ned's murder. James nodded, so I said, "The other night when we were trying to find Ned, between the time you called the restaurant and the police, you made another phone call, and it sounded like the person you talked to had seen Ned. I was wondering who you talked to."

  James looked puzzled. He said, "I didn't make another call. You made a call to the hotel..."

  "It was a call you made."

  "I don't think so. Although at my age I sometimes forget what I did five minutes ago, let alone three days ago." He jumped up from his chair and said, "You two look hungry. Come on downstairs and try our Friday night buffet. Prepared by one of the best chefs in San Francisco. I think you'll like it."

  He led the way to the door and opened it. As he waited for us to precede him through it, he said, "And if you want to do any gambling, Stan will get you some chips."

  Chapter 12 THE BET--1

  "What's the story you were going to tell me about Stan?" I asked Arrow.

  We had taken seats at a small table in the corner of the casino room that wasn't being used for any other purpose at the moment. Our plates were full of food. Arrow's eating aspirations, although more modest than mine, were still significant. I recognized the bluesy voice of Joe Williams above the roar of the crowd, singing to someone and asking that person to teach him tonight.

  Between bites, Arrow said, "When I started at Stanford, Stan was one of the boys who was nice to me, and as you can see he's quite handsome, so when I was given two tickets to the San Francisco opera I invited him to go with me. We saw Rigoletto, which we both enjoyed. Afterward, we had Irish Coffee at the Buena Vista Cafe. Stan is an interesting guy to be with and I was having fun so I guess somewhere during the course of the conversation I said something that suggested we might have some sort of a future together. At that point he told me he wasn't for me. I misunderstood him at first, thinking that he didn't like me. Then his meaning became clear."

  "He's gay."

  "Right. Talk about embarrassing incidents."

  "He told me he lives here at the house."

  "Yes. And I th
ink we know why our friend James prefers male assistants."

  "And I know why you made a point of finding out my sexual preference the day we met."

  Arrow laughed. "I have to know where I stand. I don't want to be fooled again."

  We ate in silence for a bit. Then Arrow said, "What was that about a phone call James was supposed to have made?"

  "We were trying to locate Ned. We found out he had never shown up at the restaurant where his meeting was supposed to be. James called somebody, and it sounded, from his end of the conversation, like whomever he was talking to had seen Ned. After he hung up he immediately called the police."

  "James said he didn't make such a call."

  "Either James is lying or he really does have dementia." But why would he lie? Was he protecting somebody? It wasn't my problem. I wasn't going to get involved in Ned's murder any more than I already was.

  Was there anything else we should be doing while we were here? Even if Buchanan was attempting to take over Dionysus, was there a good reason for us to try and prevent it? A takeover would probably be good for the stock, my holdings and Arrow's options. I suspected that if the stock went up enough her options would make her financially independent and it wouldn't matter if Buchanan replaced her with one of his men. There were a lot of ex-Microsoft employees who were millionaires and didn't have to work any more.

  But what about my father? Did we owe him any loyalty? He wouldn't suffer financially if he were replaced, but his ego would take a hit.

  It wouldn't hurt to gather all the information we could. I had an idea. I leaned over the table toward Arrow, because the noise in the room was reaching a peak, and said, "Do you think you could get any information out of Stan about Buchanan's intentions?"

  "I suspect you might be more successful at that than I would," Arrow said, and she winked at me. I must have had an amazed look on my face because she said, "If you can fool your father, maybe you can fool him too. By the way, he can't hold his liquor. He always lost at those Friday night poker games."

  I didn't picture myself as queer bait. There had been a few incidents in my life, but nothing...still, there was the time in junior high when my English teacher had taken me up on the catwalks above the stage of the school auditorium, before I knew any better, and asked me to sit on his lap. He had later gotten married.

  Arrow had already caught Stan's eye and he came over to our table. Taking my cue, I said, "Are you working or can you sit and talk for a minute?"

  "I'm here voluntarily tonight," Stan said, sitting down next to me. "Since I live here it's an easy place to go on Friday nights. But of course, as long as I am here, Jamesy is going to find something for me to do. So maybe I can hide out with you guys for a while."

  "It seems to me you're in a very fortunate position," I said. "You're working with one of the best investment minds in the world, watching everything he does, learning how to evaluate opportunities. It sounds like an ideal job."

  "You don't know the half of it."

  "No, but I'd like to. Could we have a drink?"

  Stan flagged down one of the waiter-boys and ordered a Bloody Mary. I asked for a beer and Arrow requested a Tequila Sunrise. We made small talk until the drinks came.

  I remembered that Stan had been in the control room when James made the mysterious phone call. I said, "I was trying to piece together what happened just before we found out about Ned. Do you remember what phone calls James made?"

  He thought for a few seconds and said, "I remember that James asked me what restaurant Ned was supposed to be at. Then he called them, I think. I wasn't really listening so I can't tell you exactly who he called, but at some point he must have called the police."

  "He called somebody else just before he called the police."

  Stan shook his head. "You'll have to ask James."

  I had struck out on that one. What else could I do? Start slowly. I said, half jokingly, "Tell me, Stan. What really goes on here? You've got lots of beautiful people flocking here every night, the cream, it would appear, of San Francisco society, gambling as intently as if their last dollar were riding on it, and yet no money ever changes hands. There's something wrong with this movie."

  Stan looked slowly from one of us to the other, and smiled. He said, "Don't you have any fantasies, any dreams, any desires? I know Arrow does; she wants to be a CEO."

  Arrow didn't deny it. I looked at her and believed it.

  Stan paused while he took a sizeable gulp of his Bloody Mary and crunched on the celery stalk that came with it. Then he said, "What we have here is an adult Disneyland. Your dreams can come true and you don't even have to wish upon a star. All you have to do is get a few blackjacks or land on a double zero or roll three sevens in a row."

  "Would you care to elucidate?" I asked, finishing my beer and signaling the waiter to bring us another round. Stan's patronizing manner was irritating, but at least he was talking.

  "Karl, what is your secret desire?" Stan asked placing his hand on my knee.

  My secret desire wasn't to have his hand on my knee and I had to exercise a lot of self-control not to shake it off. I said, "I'd like to own a certain Honus Wagner baseball card." An easy choice since I'd just been talking to Buchanan about it.

  "Tell James. With his help you can own that card."

  "He already did," Arrow said. She was still working on her first drink. The second one sat untouched in front of her. "Let's come down to earth for a moment and change the subject. How much Dionysus stock does Tartan own and what are Buchanan's plans in regard to Dionysus?"

  Stan laughed out loud. "You don't want much, do you? Just give away our corporate strategy. You always were very direct, Arrow. I admire you for that. But I guess you'll have to wait for the next SEC report to come out."

  "By the time the report comes out the information will be completely out of date and useless."

  "Yes."

  Stan took another healthy swallow of his drink. I surreptitiously signaled the waiter to bring yet another round.

  "Is that what you want most in life right now?" Stan asked Arrow. "Because like I said, dreams can come true here."

  "My future is tied up with Dionysus," Arrow said. "I also owe it to Richard to find out all I can because he's my boss and he started the company—it’s his child."

  "Wait here," Stan said. He got up and stumbled slightly before he regained his balance and headed in the direction of Buchanan, who was talking to some people at the roulette wheel.

  At least his hand was gone from my knee. I watched him for a few seconds, then turned to Arrow and said, "Do you understand what's going on?"

  "Not exactly," she replied, "but I think we'd better take it easy on the booze so we can stay alert."

  Good advice. Too much beer made me sleepy and dulled my senses. After a couple of minutes Stan came ambling back, swinging his body in a way that suggested he was feeling no pain. He sat down and took a swig of his third Bloody Mary.

  "Okay, here's the deal," Stan said. "James isn't averse to giving you the information you asked for even though he knows it will go straight to Richard. After all, he's not a secretive person. In fact, he's willing to give you daily updates on Tartan's holdings of Dionysus stock and any strategic moves we're making in regard to Dionysus. You'll be a hero, Arrow."

  "What's the catch?" I asked.

  "The catch, as you call it, is that you have to gamble for the information. Roulette, craps or blackjack, your choice."

  "Blackjack," I said, immediately. The odds would be most in our favor because I knew how to count the cards.

  "All right, blackjack. You start off with $500 in chips. If you can triple your money you win. If you lose the five hundred you lose."

  "What's the penalty for losing?" Arrow asked.

  "What if we win and James welshes?" I asked before Stan could answer Arrow.

  Stan looked hurt. "James doesn't welsh on his bets. Ask anybody here. They wouldn't keep coming back if he did."

  My
adrenaline was flowing. "I'm ready to try it," I said.

  "What's the penalty for losing?" Arrow repeated.

  Why was she worried about losing when we were going to win?

  "Ah, yes," Stan said, sipping his drink. "Sometimes we offer live entertainment here. You'll notice that the floor at the other end of the room is raised and can be used as a stage. We have spotlights and everything," he said, pointing to the ceiling.

  "Sorry, I can't sing like Joe Williams," I said.

  "No need. You both have gorgeous bodies and we have a sophisticated audience that would love to see you both in—and out of your clothes. We can provide the mood music of your choice."

  "You want us to strip!" Arrow exclaimed.

  "That's a vulgar way of saying it, don't you think? I prefer to call it an artistic exhibition." He leered at Arrow. "But we will find out what you have on under that dress."

  "Not much," she said, shortly.

  I could confirm that.

  "It will be educational. We'll learn the difference between panties and pants. Unless, of course, you aren't wearing panties," he said to Arrow. And to me, "Is it briefs or boxers with you?" Then feigning sadness, "Whichever it is, I'm afraid they'll have to go."

  I swear Stan smacked his lips. "Leave us for a minute," I said, harshly.

  He bowed and left the table, taking his drink with him. I turned to Arrow. She was actually smiling. Then I noticed that in the last few minutes she had finished all three of the drinks in front of her.

  "Of course we're not going to do it," I said.

  "Of course not. But the look on your face is so funny."

  "Funny! That coc...." I caught myself.

  "I don't think we're in Palos Verdes anymore, Karl. Of course we're not going to do it. But..."

  "Arrow! Don't even think about it. What if my father found out?"

  "I know. But I'd like to get my hands on that information so badly I can taste it. You're a good blackjack player, aren't you?"

  "Yes." I had to admit it since I felt as if I was under oath. "But there's still a chance I might lose."