The CEO

by Peter Ralph

  “He said that he’d like to see you dead.”

  “Come down to my office.”

  Kurt reached for a chair.

  “Don’t sit down, this will only take a minute. I want you to understand that I was in an accident, not an attempted homicide. No-one tried to kill me, and what Anthony Keen said, is what employees say about their bosses when they get fired.”

  “After the shock wore off, I remembered what the driver looked like. He was bald and was wearing big glasses. He definitely tried to run you do...”

  Aspine interrupted. “No, he fucking didn’t. He just lost control and panicked after he hit me. It wasn’t intentional and I want you to stop saying it was − to anyone. No more!” Who had it been? He had a number of enemies who fitted that description.

  “Yes, but...”

  “No buts. Christ, I’d know if someone was trying to kill me. They’re not, and I don’t want you running around saying anything different. Don’t waste the police’s time either, and don’t phone them about what you think the driver looked like. Now tell me what you paid Keen?”

  “Two year’s salary.”

  “You were too generous, but I can live with it. You made sure that he has no grounds to sue. Well done.”

  “He was furious; his eyes were rolling in rage. He despises you.”

  “And so do many others. They’re all talk, and so is Keen, so forget about it.”

  “Yes, Douglas,” Kurt said, backing out of the office, his face filled with doubt.

  The stock market had opened and Aspine called his former broker to get a price on Clean Energy. The stock had bounced at the open and was trading at $1.50, and he was nearly one and a half million in front. He’d never anticipated making a killing of that magnitude and was euphoric, but also anxious to sell − who knew how long the price would hold? “Charles,” he said into his prepaid, “it’s Douglas Aspine.”

  “Congratulations, you’ve jumped on a hot one.”

  “I want to sell.”

  “Everything?”

  “Yes. I don’t want to push my luck.”

  “Why don’t you sell half and let the balance run. There are huge buy orders coming into the market as I speak, and it’s now trading at $1.55. It could go to five dollars.”

  “It could also go to ten cents. Have you forgotten what my company’s name, Mapago, stands for?”

  “Make a profit and get out. Okay, Douglas I’ve got your message loud and clear,”

  “There’ll be nearly three million in the account after you’ve sold Clean Energy. I want you to transfer two million into my Swiss bank account.”

  “As I told you, your money’s safe in Hong Kong, but if you want me to make the transfer I will.”

  “I do, Charles. Good-bye.”

  “Kerry, come and see me,” Aspine barked into the intercom.

  A few minutes later Kerry knocked at the door. “Come in,” Aspine said, knowing that he had only one employee who’d tap so feebly at his door. “Take the weight off and tell me the good news.”

  “Go-good new-news?”

  “Yes. Brad tells me that we’ve sold all available apartments, so I’m guessing we’ve had a great quarter.”

  “We-we ca-came in fi-five million b-behind bud-budget.”

  “Impossible,” Aspine frowned.

  “Th-the aud-auditors won-won’t let us take up any more of the prof-profits on those three inc-incomplete office build-buildings.”

  “Why? You told me that when they were nearly completed, we could take up the budgeted profit, less some provisions for finishing costs.”

  “Tha-that’s right bu-but they’ve over-run their fin-finish dates, and the auditors are saying they can’t b-be sure wha-what the final costs will be.”

  “Fuck! How much profit would we have taken up on them in this quarter?”

  “Four-fourteen million.”

  It was Jack Gillard’s responsibility to complete the buildings on time and inside budget. The fucking dopey prick had taken his eye off the ball! “So we would have been nine million dollars in front of budget for the quarter?”

  “Ye-yes.”

  Kerry seemed more nervous than usual; his skin was a sickly white, his acne had flared up, he was sweating heavily, and appeared to have aged. “What was wrong with you yesterday?”

  “I-I had-had a touch of flu,” Kerry responded, turning bright red.

  Aspine watched as Kerry squirmed in his chair. He had all the symptoms of a full blown alcoholic. “I’m sorry to hear that. I know you’re putting in massive hours. After the half yearly results are complete, why don’t you take a week off and head up to Mansfield? You could use the break.”

  “I-I’d like that,” Kerry said, brightening up a little, “b-but wha-what are we going to do about the figures? We-we’ve go-got nine-nineteen mil-million dollars hidden in the fir-first quarter and we’re down another fi-five million in the second.”

  “Do the auditors know what the overall result is?”

  “No-no they-they’ve been con-concentrating on the office buildings, an-and some of the apart-apartment sales where the dep-deposits have b-been less than a thousand dollars. Do-do you wan-want to talk to them about the off-office buildings?”

  “I don’t know anything about accounting, so no; I don’t want to talk to them. Can you put through an adjustment for twenty-four million that they won’t be able to detect?”

  “You-you said you would-wouldn’t ask me to do that ag-again,” Kerry said, nearly in tears.

  “I didn’t think I’d have to, and it’s not really twenty-four million; it’s only ten because we know we’ve got the profit in the office blocks when they’re completed.”

  “No we-we do-don’t. There mightn’t b-be any profit after the cos-cost over-runs.”

  “You know that’s not true, and look what’ll happen if you don’t make the adjustment. It’ll be obvious that you cooked the books. Nope, you’ve just got to keep going now until we make enough profit to cover the adjustment. Hell, by Christmas we’ll have made so much profit you won’t need to make any adjustment. It’s not like we’re cheating or lying − we’re just borrowing some of our future profits to flatten out this half’s result. We’ll look back on this in a year’s time and laugh about it.”

  “I-I ho-hope you’re right. I nearly for-forgot, the aud-auditors have also been look-looking at the loans that we’ve made to Balmoral Finance Company.”

  Aspine felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. “In what way?”

  “One of them said he’d like to see Bal-Balmoral’s balance sheet.”

  “Would it help if I asked for some of our monies back?”

  “It-it would-wouldn’t hurt.”

  “I’ll get 'em to transfer three million into our account today,” Aspine said, giving silent thanks to Brad.

  “I-I’m really nerv-nervous, Douglas. I-I feel si-sick with worry.”

  “Kerry, you said that you’re too smart for the auditors, and you know that I’m going to make enough profits to ensure that this little adjustment is behind us by Christmas. Relax, don’t worry.”

  “I-I’ll try.”

  “I’ll talk to Jack about the remaining costs on the office buildings but in the meantime make the adjustment twenty-five million,” Aspine said nonchalantly, “it’s a nice round figure and easily remembered.”

  “Kelly, find Jack Gillard and get him in here now. I don’t care what site he’s on, I don’t care who he’s with, and I don’t care what he’s got planned. Just get him in here,” Aspine snarled.

  Kelly had obviously conveyed the tone of the message, because within fifteen

  minutes Jack Gillard was at his door. “Sit down, Jack,” he said, not looking up. “What’s the status of the three office blocks in Queens Road?”

  “They’re nearly complete?”

  “They were meant to be finished before the end of June.”

  “Yeah, they’ve over-run a bit because of the concentration on fi
nishing the Docklands apartment blocks.”

  “Why? The project managers on the office blocks have got their own teams. What the fuck does the Docklands have to do with not finishing the office blocks?”

  “We lost labour at the Docklands, so we borrowed some from the office blocks.”

  Aspine groaned and held his head in his hands. “You took workers off uncompleted projects, and failed to meet the finishing deadlines. Whose bright idea was that?”

  “Mine. The office blocks were nearly completed so we were going to have surplus labour. It seemed silly to be hiring workers at the Docklands.”

  “Silly? I’ll tell you what’s fucking silly. Not finishing on time and within budget. The auditors are saying that because of the over-runs, they mightn’t be profitable.”

  “Bean-counters,” said Jack, perking up. “What would they know? I’ll bring the office blocks in on budget or damn close to it.”

  “Damn close to it? You’re worrying me, really worrying me. What are the costs going to over-run by?”

  “I can’t tell you exactly. We’ve had problems with the sewerage and commissioning the air conditioning.”

  “Christ, it’s your business to know − it’s what I pay you for. When are we liable for liquidated damages?”

  “Not until the end of September.”

  “Six weeks! Six weeks! That’s what you’ve got to fix your fucking mess. And Jack, I want to talk to you about your bonus. I’m going to let you keep your job − for six more weeks! That’s your bonus − now get the fuck out of here and get those buildings finished.”

  Aspine felt the stress building behind his eyes and the onset of a migraine. The stitches in his leg had started to tighten and he could feel them pulling around his quad. He’d never worried about telling Kerry to fudge the figures, because he’d known that future profits would be more than large enough to hide the false accounting. His focus had been on the apartments; he’d taken his eye off the office blocks and Jack Gillard had let him down. Now all he could do was pray that they’d be finished within six weeks, and still be profitable. He crashed his fist down onto his desk. “Fuck you, Jack.”

  “I have Duncan Milgate for you, Douglas,” Kelly said.

  - 30 -

  “HELLO, DUNCAN. HOW are you?”

  “I’m well, Douglas. How are the half yearly figures looking?”

  “We’ll do marginally better than consensus forecasts.”

  “No nasty surprises?”

  “No.”

  “That’s good. I’m pleased.”

  “How does the business look going forward?”

  “We might do a little better than budget by year’s end, providing the economy holds up.”

  “I understand. The last thing you’d want is an increase in interest rates. Inflation appears under control so I don’t think you need worry. The share price is up ten per cent today.”

  “I didn’t know. I don’t pay much heed to daily stock prices.”

  “I think the market liked the news that you’re not on a hit list.”

  “I’m not with you,” Aspine lied.

  “It was in the newspapers this morning. It seems the police have no evidence of an attempted homicide.”

  “I could have told them that.”

  “Yes, Douglas. Do you remember the stock we recommended a few weeks back?”

  “Vaguely, I can’t recall the company’s name.”

  “Clean Energy Limited. You didn’t mention it to anyone else did you?”

  “Of course not. Why?”

  “There was heavy buying of the shares after we spoke, and what was bought was sold today. The price more than doubled so someone’s made a nice profit.”

  “Hell, it sounds like I missed a great one. How do you know?”

  “The brokers, who did the buying, were the sellers. You don’t need to be Einstein to know that there was a leak. It’s very disappointing, because our clients had to pay significantly more to get set than they should’ve. Anyhow, we’ll find out who it was, and remove them from our list of preferred clients.”

  “Perhaps it was just coincidence?”

  “With one broker, yes, but in this case there were six, and the clear intent was to hide the buying. It was very amateurish.”

  “I understand, but how will you find out who it was?”

  “We have our ways. We’ll find out from these smaller brokers where their orders came from, and once we know that, we’ll find who the buyer was.”

  Aspine wasn’t worried. He had no apparent connection with Mapago. He wasn’t a shareholder. He wasn’t a director. How could he be traced?

  “I hope you don’t come up against a corporate maze.”

  “It won’t make any difference. Once we find out who instructed the brokers, we’ll find out who the buyer was. We can be very persuasive.”

  “I’m sure you can.”

  “Douglas, we have another company that we think you should invest in: Cyber-Games Ltd. I’ve put you down for fifty thousand dollars. Are you in?”

  “I’m having some marital problems and my cash is tied up for want of a better description. I can’t come up with more than twenty-five thousand.”

  “Sorry to hear it. You’re going through a rough patch, what with your accident, that Jeczik woman and now your marriage.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  Aspine put the phone down and immediately rang Charles Ong on his prepaid, relating what Duncan Milgate had told him, without mentioning Cyber-Games. “He’s bluffing, Douglas; it’s nigh on impossible to trace you.”

  “Nigh on impossible?”

  “Blayloch & Fitch, are a very powerful firm and have a wide range of contacts.”

  “Yes, but they’d actually have to have contacts in Crossley & Leyland to find about me.”

  “They might have.”

  “Christ, you’re making me nervous.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll delete all references to you from the computer, and I’ll take your files home with me for safekeeping. Even if they have contacts in this firm, they’ll find nothing.”

  “Thanks, Charles.”

  The board meeting to review the half yearly figures was a subdued affair, and even Harry Denton was quiet. Aspine hadn’t had the stitches from his leg removed and was walking with a pronounced limp. Perhaps Harry’s feeling sorry for me, he pondered.

  “An excellent result, Douglas,” Sir Edwin said. “Are you going to confirm earlier guidance to the market for the full year?”

  “Thank you. Yes, I’ll confirm a full year increase of thirty per cent.”

  “The office blocks were due to be completed by the end of June. What’s happened?” Harry asked.

  “The timing of completion is slightly overdue. There’s nothing to worry about.”

  “They were the last contracts that I negotiated as CEO. Remember there’s a liquidated damages clause that takes effect at the end of September.”

  “Yes, I know. They’ll be finished and handed over before then.”

  “We declared an interim dividend of 8 cents last year. I think we should be looking to increase it to 10 cents this year,” Stan Pettit said.

  “As you know, I’m opposed to paying any dividend,” Aspine said. “We need to conserve our cash; we’ve got a ninety-five million dollar settlement on the Melton property coming up later this month.”

  “Our shareholders expect increased dividends when the company’s doing well. I agree with Stan. We should declare an interim dividend of 10 cents,” Sir Edwin said.

  “I don’t know why Vic Garland sold you that Melton property for such a bargain price? It concerns me,” Harry opined.

  “I think Vicland’s overstretched and has liquidity problems, so he didn’t have much choice but to sell.”

  “Look, Vic Garland mightn’t appear in Business Review Weekly as a billionaire, but he most certainly is. Vicland wouldn’t have had any liquidity problems that he couldn’t have looked after personally,” Harry responde
d.

  Aspine frowned. “Maybe Vicland’s land supply bank had grown too large, and he was looking to reduce it.”

  “Maybe,” Harry said, without conviction.

  “Are there any other matters anyone would like to raise?” Sir Edwin asked, pleased the meeting was running so smoothly.

  “I’d like to inform the board of my intention to exercise my options,” Aspine said. “I’ll need to borrow monies, and then sell some of my shares to cover the loans and income tax on the profit on conversion of the options.”

  “That’s great. I guess you’ll be supporting the declaration of dividends from now on,” Harry grinned.

  “I’m not going to dignify that comment with a response, however, I’d appreciate it you’d sign my half yearly bonus cheque, Sir Edwin.”

  “It’s my pleasure, Douglas, and again my congratulations on delivering another fine result.”

  “Hear, hear,” William Claymore added, making his only contribution to the meeting.

  Mercury’s shares had risen to $4.40 on controlled buying in the morning session. Aspine guessed that it was Blayloch & Fitch’s clients buying, courtesy of inside information provided by Duncan Milgate. Just after midday, Kelly faxed Mercury’s results to the Stock Exchange showing an increase of nearly thirty-one per cent in half yearly profit, with guidance for more of the same for the full year. As expected, the market embraced the result, and there was heavy buying in the afternoon, pushing the shares to an all-time high of $4.90.

  Aspine phoned Phil Kendall and told him that he’d like to borrow eleven million dollars from the bank, so that he could exercise three and a half million options. Kendall immediately agreed to the loan, saying that he’d be at Aspine’s office at ten o’clock the following morning with the documents, and a bank cheque made payable to Mercury. For Douglas Aspine the day had finished very well.

  Barbara hadn’t been keen to see her estranged husband but had agreed when he said that he only wanted to discuss the children’s welfare. She had been reluctant to see him without her lawyer, but he’d been persistent and she’d relented. She looked like she’d been working out hard in the gym, her arms were toned and she gave off an air of vibrancy and confidence. “You’re looking great,” he said.