'Vinnie is very short-tempered,' I said.
Bernie stared at me for a moment.
Then he said to the health-club suit, 'Get security up here.'
'I think you should consult first with your CEO,' I said.
'Coop?'
'The very one.'
Bernie stared at me, then he nodded the cycle/tennis guy toward a phone on the desk beside my crossed ankles.
'Call Coop,' Bernie said. The suit dialed a number.
'Bernie Eisen,' he said after a moment. 'For Bob Cooper.'
He handed the phone to Bernie.
'Coop?' Bernie said after a moment's wait. 'Goddamnit, Coop, you got any idea what's going on down here in Gavin's old office?'
Bernie listened silently for a moment.
'Well, I think you need to get down here,' Bernie said. He listened again.
'No, Coop. Listen to me. You need to come down.' He listened.
'Okay,' he said and hung up.
I smiled at him. He turned away from me. The two suits stood without purpose near him.
'You guys may as well go back to work,' Bernie said. 'Coop and I will deal with this.'
'You want security up here, Bernie?'
'No. Just go ahead back to work.'
Bernie stood and stared in at Adele as if he could somehow impale her on his gaze. We were quiet until Coop swept in. 'Spenser, great to see you,' he said and stuck out his hand. After I shook it, Coop turned to Bernie and put a hand on his shoulder.
'Bernz,' he said, 'I'm sorry. I understand your concern and it's my bad that I didn't give you a heads-up on this.'
'You see Adele in there?' Bernie said.
'Adele is fine. We have nothing to hide here, Bernie, that I know about.'
'Coop,' Bernie said. 'That's not the point. We have nothing to gain from this. There's no good in it for us to have some quite possibly hostile entity rummaging around in the way we conduct our business.'
'Oh, come on, Bernzie. Don't get your knickers all twisted. I welcome any inquiry into any aspect of Kinergy's operations. I believe that the inquiry will simply underscore the fact that we run one of the great companies. And, however unlikely, if there is something amiss, no one wants to know it more than I do.'
'Coop . . .'
'Bernie,' Cooper said, and his tone became a little harder. 'I have authorized this audit.'
E isen took a breath and held it and let it out slowly. Then he turned without a word and walked out. Cooper grinned at me.
'Don't mind Bernie,' he said. 'He cares a lot about this company.'
'He cares a lot about something,' I said.
Coop grinned harder.
'Anything you need,' he said, 'you just let Edith know. And if there's any problems, send them straight to me.'
'Right,' I said.
Coop was so enthusiastic it was easy to forget that he was being blackmailed into this.
52
Susan joined us for dinner at the new Davio's in Park Square.
'Did you see that man follow us back from Kinergy?' Adele said.
V innie nodded.
'Did you see Hawk?'
V innie shook his head.
'How do you know he's there?' Adele said.
Susan smiled.
'He's there,' Vinnie said.
