Aces and Knaves

nodded. "The company will be all right."
    It was more likely that the stock was up because something had leaked out about James' plans, but I didn't mention that. I continued on through the house and up the stairs to the master bedroom, an appropriate place to hold a business meeting.
    Two card tables were set up by the window, covered with a tablecloth. My father sat in a wheelchair in front of one of them. He wore a blue bathrobe with his initials on it that Jacie had bought him, with pajamas underneath. He was still a little pale but he looked alert and ready for action.
    Jacie was there, of course. Since his stroke she had stuck to him like superglue. And Arrow was there already. As I said my hellos I glanced at Jacie's face to see how she was reacting to the news that Arrow was her husband's executive assistant. Nothing showed in her expression so she may have found out before. Arrow was dressed in a conservative pantsuit, thank God.
    We sat down at the card tables and Luz immediately appeared, carrying a tray with a mouth-watering gazpacho to start off the meal. I took a spoonful, savoring the taste and thinking that it would be better to postpone business until after lunch, but that was not my father's way.
    As soon as Luz disappeared back down the stairs, he said, "The purpose of this meeting is to determine a course of action, based on Arrow's information that James Buchanan is shifting his plan to take over Dionysus into high gear. I purposely didn't ask our attorney to this meeting because I want to discuss the matter in a non-legalistic atmosphere before doing anything."
    Mindful of my father's health, I said, "Can't this be put off for a few weeks? It will take James at least that long to mail out proxies and do the other stuff he has to do."
    "By then it may be too late..."
    "I think Karl is right," Jacie said. "Your health is the top priority right now. And what's the worst that can happen? If this guy gets control of Dionysus, you always have your golden parachute. You can retire gracefully."
    With lots of cash, and stock options intact. Jacie had a point, even beyond the fact that her financial security would be assured.
    It was obvious from the expression on my father's face that he wasn't buying it. He said, "The Company is at a critical place right now. We are about to bring out some new products that are revolutionary in concept and design. I don't trust anybody else to do it properly. This is what I've worked for all these years."
    Luz returned, carrying strips of skinned chicken and steamed rice. She was learning how to prepare low-fat meals. She picked up the dirty bowls and exited again.
    I had a basic question. I asked Arrow, "Do we know how many shares James needs in addition to Elma's in order to get control?"
    "Not exactly," Arrow said, "because we don't have the latest figures on the shares he owns outright." She looked at me with an expression that may have said, "because you turned down his offer." Or perhaps I interpreted it like that because I sometimes wondered what would have happened if I had played that blackjack game.
    Nobody else noticed and she continued, "Our best guess is that if he can get proxies for another 15 percent of the shares outstanding in addition to what he and Elma have between them he can swing it."
    We discussed the possibility of this happening. My feeling was that if he could get Elma's proxy he could get others as well. And of course he could buy more on the open market, but now that the price had started to rise that was becoming more costly. Or maybe the price was rising because he was buying.
    The discussion meandered aimlessly for a while. Finally, my father, who didn't like to waste time, said to Arrow, "What can we do to get Elma's proxy?"
    "Prove to Elma that James is the blackguard she suspects he is." She gave a short version of the story Elma had told us about James and Ned and The Game that had cost one of their friends his life.
    Prove it how? There was only one possible way I could think of. Was I willing to do it for my father? I realized I was. I said, "I will go to Scotland and try to find one of the boys in their gang. Elma mentioned some names and I wrote them down because I figured if I saw James I'd ask him about them. But of course he won't incriminate himself. Elma said most people in northern Scotland live their whole lives in one place so they're probably still there. Dad, if you'll let me use some of your frequent-flyer miles I can