Aces and Knaves

by Alan Cook

  "Did that incident alter your feelings toward James?" Arrow asked, breaking the silence.

  "Over a period of time that and the fact that he deserted me did," Elma said. "When I ran into him here years later and found out he was married, the news had no effect on me."

  Was Elma telling us this as a way of assuring us that she would vote her stock against James? Possibly. I certainly felt more at ease.

  "What happened to the other members of the gang?" I asked.

  "When I left Wick they were all still there. They're probably there to this day. For most of them a long trip is to Glasgow or Edinburgh."

  Chapter 19 PROXIES

  For the next six days I did my own thing. I ran and worked my baseball card business. Each day I checked the auction for the Wagner card on eBay and each day I was still the leading bidder. I tried not to think of what would happen if I actually got the card.

  I visited my father in the hospital. When he came home on Saturday I visited him in the castle. We didn't talk about Dionysus. I actually told him something about my business and he was interested enough to give me a couple of suggestions. I couldn't remember when we had talked so much.

  Jacie and I were nice to each other—the way people are when they've been through an ordeal together. Luz fussed around my father, cooking food for him that he wasn't ready to eat yet, and ended up giving it to me.

  I spent a day and two wonderful nights with Esther. I took her and her son, Emilio, to a Dodger game and even got him a baseball autographed by Steve Garvey, who was there for an old-timers' day.

  On Tuesday morning I got a call from Arrow. Her first words were, "Karl, we've got a problem."

  I almost asked her whether she had spilled food on her kitchen floor again and needed help with the cleanup, but her tone of voice warned me to be serious. I said, "What's the matter?"

  "James is going to mount a proxy fight to take over Dionysus and Elma is going to vote her shares with him."

  I hadn't spent much time thinking about Dionysus for the last few days and this news came as a complete shock. I stuttered incoherently for a few seconds before my brain got into gear and I said, "What made Elma change her mind?"

  "I don't know that she actually changed her mind. Remember, she never told us before how she would vote. Apparently, James spent most of yesterday with her. I went to her house this morning to work on her finances. James convinced her that Richard is in no shape to run Dionysus, and without Ned new management is needed."

  "Actually, Richard is well enough so that he can probably deal with this personally in a few days."

  "I've already talked to him."

  I had a strong desire to scream at Arrow, but before I could get beyond "What!" she said, "He called me after he got home from the hospital and made me promise, on pain of instant dismissal, that I would let him know if I heard anything at all about what James was up to."

  Damn! This was a good way to give my father a setback. But it was too late now. "What are your plans?" I asked.

  "Richard wants me to come to the house at noon for a strategy session with him. I want you to be there too."

  "I can't. I have an appointment this afternoon." My regular volunteer session at Emerge.

  "This is important. Can't you change it? Please? I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t important."

  "Does my father want me there?"

  "Karl, I want you there. You've been in this thing up to your eyeballs and you know more than anyone else about what James has done lately. And you owe it to your father. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

  I was silent.

  Arrow continued, “Richard said his cook would make us lunch."

  Now I could agree without acknowledging that I owed something to my father. "At least we won't starve. When Luz makes lunch she goes all out."

  I didn't want canceling my sessions at Emerge to become a habit. This was the last time I would do it for my father or Arrow or anyone else.

  ***

  I slipped into the castle through one of the sliding doors near the pool and delicious aromas emanating from the kitchen immediately drew me there. Luz was up to her armpits in pots.

  I said, "The only reason I agreed to come to this meeting was because I heard you were cooking a feast."

  "Gracias," Luz said, giving me a hug even though she had a large spoon in her hand. "Mrs. Patterson told me you might come so I made more."

  "Wild toros couldn't keep me away. And with you cooking for him, Mr. Patterson will soon be well."

  "Es verdad. He looks better already."

  "Dionysus stock is up this morning. It is because people know you are taking care of Mr. Patterson."

  "Mucho dinero," Luz nodded. "The company will be all right."

  It was more likely that the stock was up because something had leaked out about James' plans, but I didn't mention that. I continued on through the house and up the stairs to the master bedroom, an appropriate place to hold a business meeting.

  Two card tables were set up by the window, covered with a tablecloth. My father sat in a wheelchair in front of one of them. He wore a blue bathrobe with his initials on it that Jacie had bought him, with pajamas underneath. He was still a little pale but he looked alert and ready for action.

  Jacie was there, of course. Since his stroke she had stuck to him like superglue. And Arrow was there already. As I said my hellos I glanced at Jacie's face to see how she was reacting to the news that Arrow was her husband's executive assistant. Nothing showed in her expression so she may have found out before. Arrow was dressed in a conservative pantsuit, thank God.

  We sat down at the card tables and Luz immediately appeared, carrying a tray with a mouth-watering gazpacho to start off the meal. I took a spoonful, savoring the taste and thinking that it would be better to postpone business until after lunch, but that was not my father's way.

  As soon as Luz disappeared back down the stairs, he said, "The purpose of this meeting is to determine a course of action, based on Arrow's information that James Buchanan is shifting his plan to take over Dionysus into high gear. I purposely didn't ask our attorney to this meeting because I want to discuss the matter in a non-legalistic atmosphere before doing anything."

  Mindful of my father's health, I said, "Can't this be put off for a few weeks? It will take James at least that long to mail out proxies and do the other stuff he has to do."

  "By then it may be too late..."

  "I think Karl is right," Jacie said. "Your health is the top priority right now. And what's the worst that can happen? If this guy gets control of Dionysus, you always have your golden parachute. You can retire gracefully."

  With lots of cash, and stock options intact. Jacie had a point, even beyond the fact that her financial security would be assured.

  It was obvious from the expression on my father's face that he wasn't buying it. He said, "The Company is at a critical place right now. We are about to bring out some new products that are revolutionary in concept and design. I don't trust anybody else to do it properly. This is what I've worked for all these years."

  Luz returned, carrying strips of skinned chicken and steamed rice. She was learning how to prepare low-fat meals. She picked up the dirty bowls and exited again.

  I had a basic question. I asked Arrow, "Do we know how many shares James needs in addition to Elma's in order to get control?"

  "Not exactly," Arrow said, "because we don't have the latest figures on the shares he owns outright." She looked at me with an expression that may have said, "because you turned down his offer." Or perhaps I interpreted it like that because I sometimes wondered what would have happened if I had played that blackjack game.

  Nobody else noticed and she continued, "Our best guess is that if he can get proxies for another 15 percent of the shares outstanding in addition to what he and Elma have between them he can swing it."

  We discussed the possibility of this happening. My feeling was that if he could get Elma's proxy he could
get others as well. And of course he could buy more on the open market, but now that the price had started to rise that was becoming more costly. Or maybe the price was rising because he was buying.

  The discussion meandered aimlessly for a while. Finally, my father, who didn't like to waste time, said to Arrow, "What can we do to get Elma's proxy?"

  "Prove to Elma that James is the blackguard she suspects he is." She gave a short version of the story Elma had told us about James and Ned and The Game that had cost one of their friends his life.

  Prove it how? There was only one possible way I could think of. Was I willing to do it for my father? I realized I was. I said, "I will go to Scotland and try to find one of the boys in their gang. Elma mentioned some names and I wrote them down because I figured if I saw James I'd ask him about them. But of course he won't incriminate himself. Elma said most people in northern Scotland live their whole lives in one place so they're probably still there. Dad, if you'll let me use some of your frequent-flyer miles I can do it on the cheap."

  "Does Elma still have relatives there?" my father asked. "Maybe she can call them and ask..."

  "Her parents are dead," Arrow said. "She has no brothers or sisters. And her parents moved to Wick from someplace else so she has no other relatives there."

  "Arrow should go with Karl," Jacie said.

  We looked at her in surprise.

  "It makes sense. This affects the future of Dionysus and she's an employee, whereas Karl isn't. And she's met this bastard, James."

  Jacie was beginning to sound like my father. Was I doomed to have Arrow tagging along everywhere I went? Was Jacie trying to keep Arrow from having daily meetings with my father in the master bedroom? Did Jacie swim in the nude?

  "Jacie is right," my father said, touching her arm in a loving gesture. "Arrow, pack your bags."

  Chapter 20 SCOTLAND

  "There aren't any houses down there. Nobody lives here!"

  Arrow looked out the window of the 777 and marveled at the emptiness of northern Canada.

  "Who said the earth was overpopulated?" I stood up and leaned over Arrow to look at the barren countryside below, softly lit by the setting sun and punctuated with lots of small bodies of water, but no people. I bemoaned the fact that she had tricked me into giving her the business-class window seat and vowed that I would get it on the return flight.

  "If you think this is destitute, wait until we fly over Greenland," I said with the superior knowledge of someone who has done it before. Arrow had never been to Europe.

  "Explain to me again why the shortest route from Los Angeles to London goes so far north," Arrow said, looking at the route map in the airline magazine.

  "If you form a plane—a geometric plane, not an airplane —using three points: the center of the earth, Los Angeles and London, the arc created where the plane intersects the surface of the earth is the shortest distance between LA and London, and it goes through Greenland. It has something to do with both cities being in the northern hemisphere."

  "It has something to do with bullshit. And what time will it be when we arrive in London?"

  "There's an eight-hour time difference so it will be tomorrow morning about 10 a.m."

  "So it's well after midnight there now."

  "Right," I said, consulting my watch.

  "In that case, maybe we should get some sleep."

  It wasn't a bad idea. We had both done a lot of running around since the lunch yesterday, making reservations, packing and doing all the things one has to do before one leaves town. Except that one usually has more than 24 hours in which to do them.

  We turned out our reading lights and Arrow lifted the armrest between us, saying, "I have trouble sleeping on airplanes. May I use your shoulder for a pillow?"

  That sounded like a reasonable request so we arranged a blanket to cover both of us. In order to get comfortable and balanced I had to put my arms around her. Her curls tickled my cheek. She placed her hands on mine and arranged them against her sweater.

  My fingers enjoyed the smooth feel of the wool until they came to a couple of hills that a quick mental review of female anatomy told me were her breasts. I verified that fact by locating a nipple before I realized that this wasn't a good idea. I quickly readjusted my hands to a position lower down.

  Arrow stirred and said, grumpily, "What's the matter? You are certainly more squeamish than Richard."

  I jerked my hands away from her and sat up straight. I stared at her. "Arrow, did you sleep with my father?"

  She kept her face averted so I couldn't see it and muttered, "What if I did?"

  I couldn't speak. I just stared at her. She finally turned her head and looked at me. She said, "If it will make you feel any better it happened before he met Jacie. Even before I was his assistant. I was new in the company but I went on a business trip with him to handle some grunt work he needed done."

  She paused, but when I still didn't speak she continued. "It was all very glamorous for me then—and your father was a god. Karl, you may not believe this but your father is a very sexy man. We only used one hotel room that trip, although of course we charged the company for two."

  I was still tongue-tied. Arrow said, belligerently, "Don't get on your high horse with me. It's not the first time a woman slept with her boss and it won't be the last. All the laws in the world won't stop that. And so what if he is your father? He was a very lonely man until he met Jacie."

  Arrow jerked my part of the blanket over to her seat and slammed down the armrest. We didn't touch each other for the rest of the flight.

  ***

  "Watch out!" Arrow screamed, and I slammed on the brakes of our red Nissan Primera rental car to avoid hitting the truck that was sweeping through the roundabout from the right. That was how I learned the rule of roundabouts: traffic on the circle has the right-of-way.

  The Airport Posthouse Hotel, where we were going to spend our first night in the UK, was right across the street from the Glasgow Airport, but in order to drive there we had to follow the circular road and negotiate three roundabouts.

  "I think it's the next exit," Arrow said, intently watching the signs.

  Now that I was on the roundabout I needed something more definite than "I think" but I attempted to activate my turn signal. I turned on the windshield wipers instead. There was a learning curve here. I had never driven on the left side of the road before nor shifted with my left hand.

  After more roundabouts and only a couple of wrong turns we finally made it to the parking lot of the hotel, which we could have walked to in two minutes, and I thankfully pulled into the only empty spot I saw.

  "Tomorrow maybe you can get out of second gear," Arrow said, smugly, and I would have hit her if I hadn't still had a hands-off policy.

  "Tomorrow you can drive," I said.

  We checked in and went to our adjoining rooms. We took showers and changed clothes; Arrow didn't call me to zip her up. A half-hour later we met in the hotel lobby.

  "We need to get our bodies on local time as soon as possible," I said, "so we shouldn't eat dinner until at least five."

  "What time is it now?"

  I glanced at my watch. "About 3:30."

  "I'm all mixed up," Arrow said. "I'm tired but I don't know if I can sleep. I'm hungry but I don't know if I can eat. What time is it in my head?"

  "Don't try to figure it out. Let's take a walk."

  We went outside and walked to the street. Arrow started to cross while a car was coming and I had to grab her arm.

  "You have to look to the right here," I said as she shook me off.

  A cold wind penetrated our sweaters so we re-entered the airport terminal building. We strolled past some shops and up a flight of stairs. On the second floor there were a bunch of fast-food restaurants.

  "We can eat breakfast here," I said. "These places are a lot cheaper than breakfast at the hotel." I had temporarily forgotten that we were on an expense account.

  "Everybody talks funny," Arro
w said, listening intently to scattered bits of conversation. "And some of the words on the signs are different. I haven't seen the word 'biscuit' used in years."

  "I think that's their word for 'cookie.'"

  "So the Cookie Monster from Sesame Street would be the Biscuit Monster here."

  "I guess so. And they say 'knickers' instead of 'panties.'"

  Arrow gave me a sarcastic smile and said, "Thanks. I'll remember that when I go shopping."

  When we crossed the street to return to the hotel she took my arm. Even if it was for safety reasons I understood it as a peace offering and decided to return to my usual congenial self.

  We finished dinner by six. By that time Arrow was completely beat and I wasn't far away. We retired to our hotel rooms. I watched television for a while and then tried to go to sleep. Thinking about Arrow and my father together made sleep difficult. Was that because I wanted her for myself?

  Chapter 21 WICK

  We could have taken the train from Glasgow, but I had said that driving would give us more freedom. I should have held my tongue. The "A" roads are supposed to be the best roads in the UK next to the "M" roads (limited-access motorways like the good old LA freeways) but soon after leaving Glasgow on A82 we encountered seven miles of hell along the west bank of mythic Loch Lomond.

  Between the cliff rising on the left and the stone wall on the right that separated us from the lake shore was a winding road so narrow that two cars could barely pass each other, not to mention the big rigs that kept lumbering by.

  "You're going off the road!" became Arrow's favorite shout as I kept edging the car to the left to avoid the imminent collisions that were constantly looming.

  At one point the local engineers even acknowledged that the road was too narrow for two cars and stop lights were set up so that traffic could only move in one direction at a time.

  North of Loch Lomond the road widened and I breathed easier. Arrow relinquished her death grip on the door handle. We followed the road up toward Rannoch Moor Summit, with bare granite peaks rising on either side.

  A roar behind us told me that we were about to be obliterated by some monster machine. As my heart went into double-time and I frantically searched for an escape route, the roar passed over us.