20
THE BAR WAS CROWDED FOR HAPPY HOUR, OFFERING
GREAT APPETIZERS, primarily deep-fried stuff, and cheap drinks.
Where there were cheap drinks, good food, and big-breasted
waitresses, there were lots of men. The noise level was therefore
earsplitting, mitigated only by the fact that Dominic and Hansen
had a small table in a corner by the front window and were spared
the volume on two sides. Dominic had set up the meeting right after
leaving WEU today, but he hadn’t chosen the place, Hansen had; one
of his favorite haunts.
Short and sandy-haired, Hansen had probably been
hassled as the freckle-faced kid when he was a schoolboy
thirty-five-odd years ago. If so, it had toughened him, or maybe
being a lawyer, which was a confrontational occupation, had done
it. Lawyers moved from one battle to another, hence the reasons
lawsuits were either “won” or “lost.” Because they were always a
fight.
Dominic slugged his Italian soda. He had to
drive. Hansen had ordered a very expensive chardonnay, a glass of
sparkling water, and deep-fried artichoke hearts that smelled too
dangerous for his arteries.
“Is this going on my bill?” Dominic asked.
“Of course,” Hansen said without cracking a
smile. “Lawyers live by one rule: everything is billable.”
“Good to know.” Nevertheless, Dominic doubted
the food and drink would show up on his “expense” section. He
figured it was lawyer humor.
“Okay, show me what you received.”
Dominic pushed the WEU letter he’d received this
morning across the table for Hansen to read.
After his visit to Brooks, Dominic had half a
mind to throw the letter in the trash for good, call Hansen off,
and take his chances as to whether Brooks would follow through on
his threat. But Erin couldn’t live with that risk. He wouldn’t
force her to.
Hansen gave an infinitesimal nod signifying he’d
finished reading.
“It’s an extremely accurate guesstimate,”
Dominic said. “I paid Garland Brooks a visit about it today and
he—”
Hansen slapped his hand on the table. “You did
what?”
“I talked with Brooks,” Dominic answered,
uncowed.
Hansen put his hand to his forehead and looked
heavenward. “Lord save me from my clients.” Then he pointed a
finger. “Don’t get in my way, Dominic. You’ll just make the
situation worse and my job more difficult.”
Dominic had known he’d say something like that,
but he didn’t care. “I wanted to know what I was up against. Brooks
doesn’t give a damn about the validity of that patent. He wants to
extort money, and he figured I’d find it cheaper to pay up than
spend the money to defend myself against him.”
Hansen flapped a hand and went back to the
artichokes. “That’s standard operating procedure, Dominic.”
“Yeah, well here’s his mistake. He asked for too
much, and he pissed off my wife.”
Hansen gave a belly laugh. “Your wife scares
me.”
Dominic added his smile. “Me, too.”
“Then let’s nail his ass to the wall.” Hansen
tapped the letter. “This isn’t from their attorney so I consider it
a scare tactic, as you’ve already surmised.” Hansen held up his
hand before Dominic could interrupt. “But I’m still taking it
seriously.” He took off his glasses, setting them on the table as
he attacked the artichoke hearts. “The biggest point in their favor
is that they have other manufacturers paying them a royalty. Which
gives them validity and muddies our waters.”
An expletive rose to his lips, but Dominic shut
himself down, letting Hansen go on.
“That will be our biggest hurdle, and we’ve got
to have all our ducks in a row, no stone unturned, et cetera, et
cetera.” Those et ceteras were going to
cost DKG big bucks. Hansen shrugged as if he could see the dollar
signs flashing in Dominic’s eyes and went on. “These other guys
could be paying just to avoid the hassle of having to fight it. Or
hoping someone else will fight their battle.”
Because if DKG proved they didn’t have to pay
the royalty, then all WEU’s leverage was gone. Dominic felt his
blood pressure rising. Garland Brooks was playing the bully on the
playground, and everyone else was rolling over, sticking DKG with
the bill for going toe-to-toe with the big boy.
“So what you’re saying is we have to sit and
wait.” And pay Hansen’s fees up the wazoo.
Hansen nodded, his mouth full. Dominic would
have scarfed an artichoke heart, but he’d told Erin he’d be home
for dinner. Not that he expected they’d be talking at dinner. She
was probably going to punish him for his high-handedness in the
lab. He didn’t care; it had been worth it. It had turned around his
whole attitude from the previous night.
Hansen swallowed. “Nothing’s going to happen
until after the holidays anyway.”
The holidays. Dominic hadn’t forgotten, though
this year there was no holiday potluck at work, no gift exchange.
The office hadn’t been decorated. Erin used to arrange all that
stuff. She hadn’t even brought it up. No one else had either. The
whole group worked tomorrow, Wednesday, but then there was the
four-day weekend for Christmas and the holiday for New Year’s the
following week.
Christmas might not be coming to DKG, but those
four days loomed ahead of him. A huge reminder. What the hell were
they going to do with four days? The twinge in his gut rose to an
ache around his heart. Christmas without Jay. Jesus. Last year,
they’d been so torn apart, they’d been numb to the meaning of the
days. This year, the holiday season was like a chasm looming ahead
of them, almost as if it were the first Christmas without
him.
He didn’t know what Erin would do. He didn’t
know what the hell he’d do for her.
“So,” Hansen said, “who’s feeding WEU
information?”
“No one at DKG,” Dominic said
emphatically.
Hansen didn’t say a word. He merely smiled as if
he were looking at a completely delusional man.
“We don’t put out public financial information.”
They had an annual report, but it was primarily for customers, and
they didn’t publish the P and L. “We’ve got the governmental stuff;
property tax, sales and use tax, income tax.” He waved a hand to
encompass the sheer volume of forms.
“Well, the government’s not giving it out.”
Hansen savored his chardonnay a moment. “Who does all your
filings?”
“We have an in-house accountant who prepares the
data, and an outside accounting firm who prepares the actual forms
and submits everything.”
Hansen wiped his fingers on a napkin. “Do you
trust them?”
“Yes.”
This time Hansen didn’t say a word or make a
face. “Have you applied for any loans online, any new credit
applications?”
“No. Besides information is never that specific,
right down to the product line level.”
Hansen sighed, twisted his lips, thinking.
“Dumpster diving?”
“We use a bonded shredding service.” Dominic had
already considered this stuff, and sadly, the most logical
explanation still came down to someone in the company.
“Okay, okay.” Hansen sipped his wine
thoughtfully. “What about your data storage?”
“We’ve got an online enterprise system for all
our manufacturing, accounting, sales, everything. All the data
resides on their server, backed up regularly, and I already called
to see if they’d had any hacking problems.”
“That doesn’t mean that you couldn’t have been hacked.” Hansen narrowed his
eyes. “Maybe you’ve got some malware on one of your
computers.”
“But malware isn’t that targeted.” At least he
didn’t think it was. “Besides, we have virus protection.”
“Some of these things can be really
sophisticated and damn near undetectable coming in.”
Dominic drummed his fingers on the
tabletop.
Hansen smiled. “You’re the one who says the
numbers are too close to the real thing, so it’s your choice,
Dominic. Targeted malware. Or one of your employees.”
Hell, it was worth the expense. “All right. I’ll
bring in a geek to go through all the machines.” They’d need an
expert. He’d tell everyone they were optimizing the
computers.
DOMINIC WAS MEETING WITH THE LAWYER. WHEN HE’D
INFORMED her, Erin had an irresistible urge to invite herself
along. Almost irresistible. She’d stopped
the runaway thought. Instead, very wifely, she’d told him to be
home in time for dinner, which was usually whatever one of them
felt like picking up.
That was the epitaph for her life over the last
year; she couldn’t be bothered. Even now, she cut up cheese,
salami, and apples, putting it all on a plate with some crackers.
After staring a moment, she added a handful of peeled baby carrots
and cherry tomatoes to the plate. So it wasn’t gourmet. At least
she’d poured his beer into a mug. That was saying something.
She carried the plate and mug out to the back
patio. The chairs and table were still covered with plastic
protecting them for the winter, last year’s
winter. They’d never even uncovered them this summer.
What had been the point?
Erin closed her eyes against the ache.
Setting the plate and glass down, she removed
the plastic from one chair, pulling it over to the stand-alone fire
pit. The night was chilly but dry. Glowing logs arranged in a metal
casing, the fire pit was gas and lit easily despite having been
idle for so long. They’d used it in the spring and fall, when the
days were lovely but the nights could be cool.
With the chair next to it, the gas fire would
keep Dominic warm tonight until his blood heated. Standing behind
it, she cocked her head one way, then the other, repositioned the
chair slightly. The view was now directly into the sunroom, the
rattan sofa spotlighted and clearly visible. Instead of returning
inside the way she came, through the kitchen, she entered the
sunroom, turning off the light as she went.
It was all about staging and good lighting. He
wanted to watch her, see her pleasure rise. It wasn’t in her to say
she was sorry; she didn’t want to talk about last night or her
feelings. Or anything. But he’d understand she was trying to make
it up to him.
He would park his car in the garage next to hers
as usual, and come in through the kitchen door. There, he’d find a
note with instructions.
He’d gone to see Hansen because she’d told him
to fix it. She’d told him to do something. He could never fix
everything; it was too late. But he was trying.
She had to make an effort, too.
THE HOUSE WAS DARK WHEN HE PULLED IN THE
DRIVEWAY. GLANCING at the dash clock, it wasn’t even seven yet, so
he wasn’t late. But she’d turned off all the lights. He let out a
breath, punching the garage door opener. Her car was inside. He
parked in his spot next to it.
She’d probably left him takeout on the counter,
then closeted herself in her office.
Dominic closed his eyes a moment, then yanked on
the door handle. He should have eaten the artichoke hearts.
The garage was clean, neat, a lawn mower to one
side, hedge clippers, various garden tools. He managed to mow the
lawn at least once a month, but he hadn’t been out to do the
trimming. The box hedge was no longer a box.
Inside, she’d left the stove light on for him,
that was all. He stood there a long moment staring at the empty
counter. No takeout, not even the scent of takeout.
He wanted to howl.
Then he saw the note on the floor, and his skin
chilled. He swallowed. She wouldn’t. No. She couldn’t. His limbs
seemed to move like an automaton. He bent, the creak of his knees
loud pops in the empty, soundless house.
For a moment, he couldn’t see, couldn’t read,
spots swam before his eyes. Then his vision cleared, and he slid
the note into the pool of light from the stove.
“Your dinner and beer are out on the patio. Get
yourself all warmed up by the fire pit.”
He didn’t realize he’d stopped breathing until
he gulped in a searing breath. He didn’t know his heart had
arrested until it started pounding in his chest.
She’d left him dinner and a mug on the patio.
She’d lit the fire. She had a plan. He would never tell her the
momentary fear that had seized him. She’d be horrified it could
have crossed his mind. He almost ran to the patio, shoving open the
back screen door, slamming it against the wall in his rush.
She wasn’t there, but the fire pit glowed with
warmth, and a plate of cheese, meat, crackers, and vegetables lay
on the low table next to the chair. The arrangement faced the
darkened sunroom.
It had been one of Erin’s favorite rooms. She
hadn’t used it in a year, just as they hadn’t used the barbecue or
the patio or the fire pit.
Then the light came on inside, illuminating the
sunroom sofa as if it were a stage, and his heart stopped all over
again.