Aces and Knaves

we hadn't had dinner. This wasn't the time to get muddle-headed. I asked for iced tea. Arrow requested a diet drink. He picked up a phone sitting on the table and pressed a button. He spoke briefly and hung up.
    "What's the latest on the investigation into Ned's death?" he asked, without any preliminaries.
    "His rental car was found with cocaine in it," I said, speaking carefully, trying to give him only information that was common knowledge. "His house was searched, but it was clean."
    "Ned wasn't into drugs," Buchanan said. "He wasn't a user and he had no need to be a dealer."
    "Do you think he was set up?" Arrow asked.
    Before Buchanan could answer, one of his young men opened the door and came in with a tray and three glasses. Although Buchanan hadn't ordered anything for himself the server brought him the same drink I had seen him with before: a colorless liquid in a tall glass, filled with ice, with a slice of lime and a straw.
    The waiter silently served us our drinks and paper napkins, placing the drinks on coasters on the table. Then he went out and shut the door behind him.
    "If Ned wasn't into drugs, who would have killed him?" I asked, trying to keep Buchanan talking.
    He stirred his drink with his straw and then sipped it through the straw, before saying, "Anyone who has a certain amount of success in business is bound to acquire enemies. I think Ned was killed by someone who knew him. The cocaine was an attempt at a cover-up. It may work. From what I've heard there aren't any good clues."
    "Do you have any idea who did it?" Arrow asked.
    Buchanan regarded her with a smile as he sipped some more of his drink. He said, "Richard always did have good taste in women."
    Arrow leaned forward and uncrossed her legs. Her eyes flashed. She said, "Richard and I have strictly a business relationship."
    Buchanan laughed and nodded approvingly. "Good reaction. Straight from the book. You'll go far in the business world, Arrow. However, when you've been around as long as I have, you'll realize that in spite of an army of bureaucrats from government agencies breathing down our necks we beleaguered business people still make employment and promotion decisions based on more than pure unadulterated ability, mixed with a generous dose of affirmative action."
    Arrow looked as if she might say something, but she didn't. Instead, she leaned back in her chair, regarding Buchanan with her dark eyes. I suppressed a smile.
    Buchanan continued, "As you may have noticed, I, myself prefer to employ good looking young men as my assistants. They are racially mixed and all have their MBAs, but some of them have other traits I appreciate, as well. But enough of that. Where did you get the name Arrow?"
    Arrow had recovered her poise. She said, "My mother was an Olympic archer. I guess she hoped she would hit a bull’s-eye with me, just as she does with her other arrows."
    "I think she succeeded." James took a sip of his drink and looked at me. "What is it that brings you up here...again...so soon?"
    "Police investigation," I said. "They wanted to ask me additional questions about Ned and where I was that night before I arrived here. Arrow came along to protect the good name of Dionysus."
    "There's more," Arrow said. "We know you're trying to get control of Dionysus."
    Arrow's candor surprised me and Buchanan raised his eyebrows. Then he smiled and said, "So you were sent here by Richard."
    "Richard doesn't know we're here," Arrow said.
    Buchanan looked as if he didn't believe her. He said, "I consider Dionysus stock to be a good investment, especially at its current price. My company, Tartan, invests in a lot of good companies. Just because we're buying Dionysus stock doesn't mean we're planning a takeover."
    He was trying to disarm us. I said, "Why are you buying the stock if you think Richard is doing a bad job?"
    "Who told you that?"
    Richard had told us that. I decided I was in over my head and didn't say anything. An awkward silence followed. I glanced at Arrow. She gave me a look that said she wanted to hear his answer. I forced myself to be quiet.
    Buchanan finally broke the silence by saying, "Richard is very good at doing certain things. He's a visionary, an entrepreneur. He can picture a new product and its market, get financial backing, start a company and grow it rapidly. But at a certain point in the life of every company different skills are needed in a CEO. The ability to run it on a day-to-day basis. Some entrepreneurial