By six-thirty all the partners except Roland had gathered. He and Regina were on speaker, driving back from Charlotte. The seven men and four women made a tousled, weary, worried bunch. Lucas was there as well. Only Lucretia was absent. An e-mail had popped up on Aaron’s screen the instant he’d entered the office portal: Lucretia’s brother was critically ill, she had snagged a last-minute seat to Caracas, please count this against her annual vacation, end of story.
At seven-thirty Mira arrived with Ethan, both of them bearing coffee and hot egg-and-cheese bagels from the diner across the street. Colin started to call Celeste, then decided there was no reason to give her another reason for early morning concerns. He sat behind Lucretia’s computer, as deaf and blind to the swirling tension as he could possibly remain. Lucretia’s trio of screens were hooked into all the major news feeds. Colin kept the off-market activity on the left screen. The early morning financial sources could be programmed to shoot up alerts, similar to the runningelectronic ribbon that surrounded most trading floors. That occupied the right-hand screen.
On the central monitor, Colin hunted.
At a quarter past eight, he found what he had been seeking.
When he looked up, it felt as though he was suddenly brought to full wakefulness. He had become so deep inside the fund’s records he had lost track of what was going on around him. Two different arguments gripped the room. One was over the timing, whether they should take things at a more gradual pace. Levi had apparently called twice, alerting them to buys that had covered less than half of their total position. And already the prices were down twelve percent from the previous day’s close. The second argument was whether they should be doing this at all. Colin realized he needed to use the bathroom. As he crossed the main room he listened to the angry voices and the strident urgency, his opponents almost shouting that it wasn’t too late. When he returned, he stopped by the side wall and said, “There’s something you need to know.”
The angriest voices paid him no mind whatsoever. Colin waited. He viewed the room from a far distance, sheltered now by the conviction that he had gotten it right. It was Mira who first noticed the change. She nudged her father, and together they gradually silenced the room.
Colin waited until the last angry voice went silent. Then he announced, “Lucretia has erased her involvement.”
Aaron was the first to comprehend. “That’s not possible!”
Ethan came next. “Son, are you certain?”
“Our records show her not having invested anything.”
“Of course she does.” Aaron started for Lucretia’s computer.
“Not that one,” Colin said. “Use another.”
Aaron veered toward the next desk. “I know for certain she invested every cent. …”
“Check the fund accounts,” Colin said.
Ethan stepped over beside the older man. Aaron was so small the accountant could lean over him and insert his face directly alongside the attorney’s. Aaron snapped, “Do youmind?”
Ethan straightened. “She’s not listed among current investors.”
One of Roland’s other partners snapped, “That doesn’t mean a thing.”
Aaron’s fingers flew over the keyboard. “She’sneverbeen listed.”
His partner who had been protesting the loudest went pale. “We both know that’s not true.”
“I’m looking at the initial investors. A month later. Sixty days.” Aaron appeared to have aged a dozen years in minutes. “Her name is nowhere in the accounts.”
The partner spoke more uncertainly this time, “Maybe you got it wrong. Maybe she just said she put her money in.”
Colin said, “There’s more.”
When all eyes were on him, he said, “She covered her tracks well. All her involvement was erased from the firm’s duplicate records. But I kept a third set. A separate cloud account.”
The partner demanded, “Is that legal?”
Ethan asked, “Did you actually say that?”
“Let him finish,” Aaron snapped.
“Those records show she withdrew all her funds and erased her involvement at seven-fifteen on the morning of New Year’s Day.”
Aaron passed a trembling hand over his face. “I counted her as a friend.”
People came and went. Time seemed to reluctantly proceed forward, one stubborn tick at a time. Aaron continuedto field calls from Levi. He made notes on a yellow legal pad and reported the sales as they came. Colin did not pay much attention. He couldn’t. The events crowded in now. The closeness of how they had come to losing it all. Going long on such a large portion of their holdings meant they could potentially have been held liable for a huge amount more than was actually invested. … His limbs grew so weak he sank into a chair he did not see and sat there, trembling. All these people, and those who were not present, they had counted on him. They hadtrustedhim. And he had led them right to the brink of ruin.
Finally, at twenty minutes past nine, as the support staff clustered in the firm’s foyer, confused and uncertain, Aaron took yet another call. He listened, thanked Levi, and cut the connection. “It’s done. Our position has been fully covered.”
