Timothy's game tc-2

by Lawrence Sanders

  It really is no more than two minutes before he is ushered into the inner sanctum. Lee’s personal office is a jazzy joint with not a hint of any Oriental influence or even the slightest whiff of incense. It’s all high-tech with splashes of abstract paintings and clumpy bronze sculptures that look like hippopotamus do-do. There’s a mobile hanging from the high ceiling: a school of pregnant pollack in flight.

  “You like my office, Mr. Cone?” Chin Tung Lee asks in his boomy voice.

  “It’s different.”

  Lee laughs. “My wife decorated it,” he says. “I admit it took some time getting used to, but now I like it. My son says it looks like a garage sale.”

  He presses buttons on the arms of his electric wheelchair and buzzes out from behind the driftwood desk to offer a tiny hand.

  “So pleased to make your acquaintance, sir,” he says. “Mr. Trale has told me a great deal about you and what a fine job you did for Dempster-Torrey.”

  “That was nice of him,” Cone says, shaking the little paw gently. “You and Trale old friends?”

  “Please sit down there. I insisted I have at least one comfortable chair for visitors. As you can see, my chair is mobile, but I must sit on a Manhattan telephone directory to bring me up to desk level.”

  He laughs again, and Cone decides this guy is the most scrutable Oriental he’s ever met. Timothy flops down in the leather tub chair, and Lee whizzes around behind his desk again.

  “Oh, yes,” he continues, “Simon and I have been friends for many, many years. We play chess together every Friday night.”

  “And who wins?”

  “I do,” the old man says, grinning. “Always. But Simon keeps trying. That is why I admire him so much. Mr. Cone, I received a phone call from Mr. Jeffreys of Blains, Kibes and Thrush. He informed me that he has negotiated a satisfactory service contract with Haldering and Company, and that you have been assigned to our case. I was delighted to hear it.”

  “Thanks,” Cone says. “So what’s your problem?”

  “Before I get into that, I’d like to give you a little background on our company.”

  “I got all the time in the world,” Cone says. “You’re paying for it.”

  “So we are. Well, I’ll try to keep it mercifully brief. I emigrated from Taiwan-called Formosa in those days-in 1938, just before the beginning of the war. I had been waiting several years to get on the quota. At that time it was extremely difficult for Asians to enter the United States legally.”

  “I can imagine.”

  “However, eventually I did arrive. I came to New York and, with the aid of relatives already here, started a small business on Mott Street. It was really a pushcart operation; I couldn’t afford a store. I sold Chinese fruits and vegetables. Well, one thing led to another, and now I own White Lotus. A typical American success story.”

  “You make it sound easy,” Cone says, “but I’ll bet you worked your ass off.”

  “Eighteen hours a day,” Lee says, nodding. “In all kinds of weather. Which is probably why I’m now chained to this electric contraption. But the family members I eventually employed worked just as hard. The pushcart became a store, offering poultry and meats as well as vegetables. That one store became four, and we began selling prepared foods. And not only to local residents but to tourists and uptown visitors who came to Chinatown. They wanted mostly chop suey and chow mein in cardboard containers, so that’s what we sold. It was merely a small step from that to the canning process. We went public in 1948.”

  “And the rest is history.”

  Chin Tung Lee smiles with a faraway look, remembering.

  “Do you know, Mr. Cone,” he says, “I miss those early days. The hours we worked were horrendous, but we were young, strong, and willing. And you know, I don’t think any of us doubted that we’d make it. This country offered so much. If you devoted your life to your business, you would succeed. It seemed that simple.”

  “Things have changed,” Cone offers.

  “Yes,” Lee says, looking down at the spotted backs of his hands. “I try not to be a boring ancient who talks constantly of the ‘good old days,’ but I must admit that things have changed-and not always for the better.”

  He pauses, and Cone has a chance to take a close look. The man has got to be Simon Trale’s age or more-well over seventy. And he’s even smaller than Trale, though it’s hard to judge with him sitting in the wheelchair, propped on a telephone book, short legs dangling.

  He’s got a polished ivory complexion and sports a faded and wispy Vandyke that makes his face appear truncated and incomplete. His eyes are dark and sparkling-nothing enfeebled about those eyes-but he’s wearing what is obviously a toupee, and a hellish one at that: a mustardy mixture of white, gray, black, with reddish strands. The guy who made that rug, Cone decides, should be shot.

  “All those relatives,” Chin Tung Lee goes on, “who worked so hard with me-brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins-I’m afraid I’ve outlived them all. Their portions of the business have passed to the second and, in some cases, to the third generation. But I still think of White Lotus as a family business, Mr. Cone. Not as large as La Choy, certainly, but with a personality and distinctiveness all its own. I am sorry to bore you with all this; you must forgive the maunderings of an old man.”

  “No, no,” Cone says. “I’m getting the picture. But how come you haven’t retired?”

  “To what?” Lee says, flaring up. “To chess every Friday night with Simon Trale? No, thank you. White Lotus has been my life and will continue to be while life lasts.”

  “You mentioned the second and third generations-you’ve brought them into the business?”

  “Only my son, Edward Tung Lee. He is my child by my first wife, who died several years ago. The others-nephews, nieces-none showed any interest in White Lotus, other than cashing their dividend checks. Perhaps they all thought devoting their lives to the production of quality canned chop suey was beneath them. However, I must admit that most of them have done very well-doctors, lawyers, musicians. One nephew is doing computer research at M.I.T. I’m very proud of him.”

  “And the son who works for the company-what is his position?”

  “Edward? I suppose you might call him our Chief Operating Officer. He oversees production, labor relations, marketing, financial planning, advertising, and so on. I want him to be experienced in every department.”

  “That means you expect him to take over someday.”

  “Perhaps,” Chin Tung Lee says, looking at Cone queerly. “Perhaps not. But enough of these personal details. They really have nothing to do with why you are here.”

  “Your financial problem?”

  “More of a puzzle than a problem. Mr. Cone, have you any idea what price White Lotus common stock closed at on Friday?”

  The Wall Street dick shrugs. “I don’t know exactly, but I’d guess it was somewhere between thirty-one and thirty-four dollars a share.”

  Lee stares at him a second, then breaks into a jovial laugh again, tugging at his silky beard. “Ah,” he says, “I see you have been doing your homework. I like that. Well, if you had given me that answer six months ago, you would have been exactly right. But as a matter of fact, on last Friday White Lotus stock closed at forty-two and a half.”

  “Oh-ho,” Cone says, “so that’s it. How long has this been going on-for six months?”

  “Approximately.”

  “Has the volume of trading increased?”

  “Appreciably. And the price of the stock continues to rise.”

  “Are you planning anything? Like a buyout? A merger? A big expansion? New products?”

  “No to all your questions. We are a very well-structured corporation, Mr. Cone. Profitable certainly, but not wildly so. We keep a low profile. We don’t dabble in anything in which we have no expertise. As far as I’m concerned, our product line is complete. No increase in the dividend has been declared or even discussed. You may think we are ultraconservative, perhaps du
ll, but that has been my business philosophy all my life: Learn what you can do, do it as well as you possibly can, and don’t take risks trying to conquer new worlds. So I really can’t account for the run-up in our stock. As I say, it puzzles me-and it disturbs me. I’m at an age where I don’t enjoy surprises-especially unpleasant surprises. I want to know what’s going on.”

  “Yeah,” Cone says, “can’t blame you for that. Okay, I’ll look into it and see if I can come up with something. I’d like to talk to your son if that’s all right.”

  “Of course. Today he’s at our factory in Metuchen, New Jersey, but he should be back later this afternoon. I’ll tell him to expect a call from you and to cooperate fully.”

  “Thanks. That should help. All of your stuff is produced in New Jersey?”

  “Only the consumer products. The restaurant and institutional sizes are made up at a new facility in the industrial park at what used to be the Brooklyn Navy Yard. We also have several small buying offices around the country to ensure a steady and dependable supply of fresh ingredients.”

  “That’s another thing,” Cone says. “Why don’t you put more chicken in your chicken chow mein? There’s no meat in there.”

  Chin Tung Lee looks at him with an ironic smile. “Eat more noodles, Mr. Cone,” he advises.

  “Yeah,” Cone says, “I guess that’s one solution. Well, thanks for the information. I’ll ask around and see what else I can pick up. And I’ll get back to you if there’s anything more I need.”

  “Whenever you wish; I am at your disposal. You may think it odd that I should be concerned at this sudden and unexplained increase in our stock price and trading volume. Other companies would welcome such activity, I know. But it’s so unusual for White Lotus that I can’t help wondering what is going on. And I must admit to a fear that if you discover what it is, it will not be pleasing. I hope you will expedite your investigation, Mr. Cone.”

  “I’ll see what I can do,” Cone says. “If I come up with something, you’ll be the first to know.”

  He rises, reaches across the desk to pump the little hand again. He’s still in that position when he hears the office door open behind him. He straightens, turns slowly.

  A woman has come bursting into the room. She is young (about twenty-five), tall (almost six feet), blond (very), with a velvety hide (tawny), and summer-sky eyes. She is wearing a cheongsam of thin, pistachio-colored silk that clings.

  Those jugs have got to be silicone, the Wall Street dick decides, because if they were God-made there’d be a slight sag just so He could remind the public of human imperfection.

  “Oh, darling,” she carols, “please excuse me. I didn’t know you had a visitor. Sorry to interrupt.”

  “Come in, Claire,” Chin Tung Lee says gently. “You’re not interrupting at all. Mr. Cone, I’d like you to meet my wife.”

  Cone nods from where he stands across the room. Which is just as well, he figures, because if he went close to shake her hand he might flop to his knees in humble obeisance.

  He meanders back to John Street, inspecting the women he passes and comparing them to Mrs. Claire Lee. She’s got them all beat by a country mile.

  So stricken was he by her sudden appearance that his impressions are still confused, and he tries to sort them out. He debates if she is the model type, the dancer type, the actress type.

  “The goddess type,” he says aloud.

  He buys a meatball hero and a couple of cold cans of Bud, and goes up to his office. He reflects mournfully that it’s a fitting lunch; that’s exactly what he is-a meatball hero. Besides, she’s the client’s wife, and he doesn’t dast fantasize depraved dreams about her. A waste of time. Still, a few modest dreams couldn’t hurt anyone. Not even Samantha.

  He resolutely vanquishes the scintillant image of Claire Lee, and unwraps his oozing sandwich. While he’s scoffing, he calls Jeremy Bigelow at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

  “Hey, old buddy,” Jerry says happily, “that short-trading scam is really panning out. The bad guys are falling all over themselves to squeal and cop a plea.”

  “Yeah, I read about it,” Cone says. “So you owe me one-right?”

  “Oh-oh,” Bigelow says, instantly worried. “Now what?”

  “Very easy. Your secretary could look it up. There’s this outfit on the OTC exchange. White Lotus. They sell canned chop suey. I just want to know if anyone has filed a 13-D public disclosure form on them.”

  “Why would anyone want to buy five percent of canned chop suey?”

  “Beats the hell out of me. Look it up, will you?”

  “Okay,” the SEC man says. “I’ll get on it and let you know.”

  “How soon?”

  “As soon as my secretary gets back from lunch.”

  Cone finishes his hero and starts on the second beer. He leans back in his squeaky swivel chair, puts his feet up on the desk, and broods about what he knows and what he doesn’t know.

  He knows that a sudden run-up in stock price and an increase in trading volume is frequently-not always, but frequently-a tipoff that someone is going to make a tender offer for the company concerned. Usually the first step is to accumulate sufficient shares to prove you’re serious and then make a bid to purchase enough stock from other shareholders-customarily at a premium over the current market price-to give the offeror control.

  It can be a friendly takeover in which the company’s management cooperates, or unfriendly, during which the company’s executives and directors fight tooth and nail to defeat the bidder-and keep their jobs. The benefaction of shareholders is not always the highest good on Wall Street. “Corporate democracy” has all the modern relevance of “Fifty-four forty or fight,” and sometimes the poor shareholders have to take their lumps.

  One kicker here is that when any entity-individual or corporate-accumulates 5 percent or more of another company’s stock, the entity must file a 13-D public disclosure form with the SEC, stating the purpose of the purchase: tender offer or simply an investment.

  Jeremy Bigelow’s secretary calls in about an hour and tells Cone there is no record of a 13-D form having been filed for White Lotus. He thanks her, hangs up, and goes back to his pondering, demonstrating his enormous physical strength by crumpling an empty aluminum beer can.

  The absence of a 13-D form doesn’t faze him; it’s still possible a tender offer for White Lotus is in the making. There are several ways of getting around the 13-D law, all of them devious. If you like things in black and white, security regulations are not for you. Wall Street prefers grays.

  Cone is certain of one thing: If a tender for White Lotus is in the works, it’s going to be treated as an unfriendly offer by Mr. Chin Tung Lee. Cone will not soon forget the little man’s passion when he spoke of a “family company” and how White Lotus was his entire life. Any hopeful raider is in for a knock-down-and-drag-out fight before Lee surrenders White Lotus-if he ever does.

  What Cone can’t answer is the question Jeremy Bigelow asked: Why would anyone want White Lotus? Admittedly it has a clean balance sheet; the bottom line looks good. But it has no subsidiaries that could be spun off for instant profit. Its product line offers nothing new or different. It would take an enormous infusion of advertising dollars to increase its market share at the expense of La Choy.

  Figure White Lotus stock is selling at forty bucks a share. That means, with two million shares outstanding, anyone taking over the company would have to come up with eighty million dollars. That may not sound like much, Cone acknowledges, in this era of megadeals, but it’s still a nice piece of change.

  And Cone doesn’t think White Lotus is worth it. There’s little opportunity for growth there, and even with a more dynamic leadership than Chin Tung Lee offers, the company seems fated to amble along at a tortoise pace, paying a nice dividend but with no potential of becoming a real cash cow. Cone can name a dozen companies at the same price, or lower, that would provide a better chance to make a killing.

  A
ll this cerebral activity makes him drowsy. His chin sinks onto his chest, and he dozes at his desk for almost an hour. He doesn’t even dream of Claire Lee, but he twitches awake when the phone rings. He picks it up.

  “Mr. Timothy Cone?”

  “Yeah. Who’s this?”

  “Edward Tung Lee. Mr. Cone, I’m still in New Jersey, but I just spoke to my father and he said you’d like to talk to me.”

  “That’s right. Whenever you have the time.”

  “Well, I’m about to drive back to Manhattan. I have a business appointment at a restaurant on Pell Street at five o’clock. It shouldn’t take long-ten or fifteen minutes. If you could meet me there, perhaps we can have a drink together.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Cone says. “What’s the name of the place?”

  “Ah Sing’s Bar and Grill. They’re in the book.”

  “I’ll find it. I better describe myself so you can spot me.”

  “Don’t bother,” Edward Lee says, laughing. “You’ll be the only honkie in the joint.”

  He disconnects, and Cone hangs up thoughtfully. The guy sounded high. Maybe he’s snorting monosodium glutamate or mainlining soy sauce. Cone shakes his head to rid his still sleep-befuddled brain of such nonsense, and starts flipping through his tattered telephone directory to find the address of Ah Sing’s Bar amp; Grill on Pell Street.

  It turns out to be exactly like a hundred other cheap Chinese restaurants Timothy has frequented from Boston to Saigon: all Formica and wind chimes, fluorescent lights and plastic poppies. The walls are white tile, reasonably clean, decorated with paintings of dragons on black velvet and a calendar showing Miss Hong Kong in a bikini.

  A small bar is on the right just inside the entrance. Drinkers have a fine view of the frenetic activity on Pell Street through a big plate glass window, though right now the bar is empty. But the remainder of the long, narrow restaurant has plenty of early diners, all men, all Asian, seated at tables and in booths.