'That's okay,' my father said. 'Jacie picked me up. At least she wasn't out playing tennis.'
He sounded distant and preoccupied; he was undoubtedly thinking about the cocaine. I quickly filled him in on my conversation with Detective Washington.
'I want an attorney to go with you,' he said when I had finished. 'Our corporate attorney is going to be present when Elma's house is searched this afternoon, but he should be free tomorrow…'
'Dad, I'm not a suspect. I'm just a witness. An attorney isn't necessary. In fact, there's nothing for an attorney to do in this situation.'
He wasn't convinced. We argued about it.
Finally, he said, 'All right, no attorney. But I want Arrow to go with you.'
'Arrow? Why?'
'To protect the company's interests. I think Ned was set up.'
'I'll protect the company's interests.'
'You're not an employee; she is.'
I had to concede him that point. Arrow was an acceptable compromise. My father already had his attorney protecting Elma's rights and I felt that she was a lot more vulnerable than I was. We left it that John would make our reservations. He switched me back to John and I managed to convey my requests to him and keep him to a minimum of provocative chitchat. I assumed he didn't talk to my father the way he talked to me.
I worked on my baseball card business until noon. Then I took the cards I was shipping and drove to the post office. From there I went to the main library of the Palos Verdes Library District and looked up information on James Buchanan. Between the online databases and the back issues of magazines, there was a wealth of material.
I realized I had heard about James Buchanan before, but until a couple of years ago I wouldn't have considered him part of my universe. That was when I had started taking investing seriously.
I found out that he was 47 years old and had started his investing career right out of college. He and a partner had managed to gain control of a faltering printing business and turned it around. The partner's name was Ned Mackay. With the cash flow generated they had acquired other companies. Eventually, Buchanan had bought Ned out, renamed his company Tartan Enterprises and continued to invest very successfully in corporations large and small.
Buchanan had been married and had two children, but his wife had divorced him 12 years ago. Irreconcilable differences. Of course, that was the only cause for divorce in California.
Chapter 10 SAN FRANCISCO
It was still dark when I drove the Toyota to the airport Friday morning. I picked up Arrow at her condominium in Redondo Beach. I parked on the street and wondered how she had been able to raise the down payment to buy into a new development. It was undoubtedly a good investment, especially since the tax laws greatly favored homeowners over renters.
It was too bad Esther couldn't buy a house or a condo. Unfortunately, I knew she lived from month to month and had almost no money saved at all.
Arrow came along the sidewalk of the complex, wearing a tailored pantsuit some shade of dark green and carrying a new-looking overnight bag. I got out of the car and opened the trunk. We said hello, stashed the bag and I opened the passenger-side door for her.
As I drove north toward the airport I could feel Arrow glancing at me out of the corner of her eye. I realized I hadn't spoken much so I said, 'Thank you for calling me about the cocaine. It helped to level the playing field between me and Detective Washington. And I was relieved to get your second message.' Arrow had left another message while I was at the library saying that the search by the police had not turned up anything.
'Elma was magnificent,' Arrow said. 'When I met her I wondered whether she would be able to cope with Ned's death, but the way she acted yesterday dispelled my doubts. She handled the police as if she was born to rule. She did more than the attorney to keep them from completely ransacking the house. But they did check it thoroughly.'
'And they came up empty.'
'Completely. They had a sniffer dog and everything.'
'Of course, they could take the position that if Ned had anything hidden Elma might have been able to get rid of it.'
'From my own point of view, I know that Elma has been struggling just to keep herself going, and dealing with the overwhelming reality of Ned's death, and hasn't had time to do anything else. In addition, that point of view assumes that if Ned were into drugs that Elma was part of it.'
'Yeah, you're right.'
'Karl?'
'Yes, ma'am.'
'You didn't want me to go on this trip, did you?'
'I know I've been a little quiet, but you have to understand that I missed my run this morning for the second time this week. That run is for me what coffee is to some people.'
'No…it's more than that.' Arrow seemed to be searching for words for the first time since I'd met her. 'When I talked to John, for example, he told me that you wanted me to fly back this afternoon after your meeting with the police and not to stay overnight.'
'I want to try to talk to James Buchanan again, but I don't know how successful I'll be. It might just be a waste of your time.'
'You didn't bother to tell Richard that, did you? I don't think he wants you messing around in company business.'
'Only if an employee is getting murdered.'
'I'm sorry…that came out wrong. But still, we…you shouldn't be negotiating without his knowledge.'
'No negotiating. This is strictly fact-finding.'
'My charter from Richard is to be involved with anything you do that affects Dionysus. And if Buchanan is really trying to take over Dionysus, that certainly qualifies.'
'Yes,' I admitted. I hadn't previously seen a role for Arrow in the Buchanan situation, but there might be one. 'But if we do get to see him we can't introduce you as an employee of Dionysus.'
'All right, then, I'll just be a girl. Do you think I can pass for a girl?'
'Are you fishing for a compliment?'
'Yes.'
'Don't you get enough adoration from John?'
We both laughed, which broke the tension that had been in the air.
Arrow continued, 'If I'm going to play the part of a girl, I want to do it right. What do the women wear at Buchanan's?'
'Dresses.'
'Party dresses?'
'Yes, I would say so.'
'Okay, that's probably all I'm going to get out of you since you're a man. Incidentally, if you were really gay, you would be a lot more descriptive. But I brought a little number with me that might work.'
Why was I not surprised? We were on Sepulveda Boulevard, heading into the tunnel that goes under one of the Los Angeles airport runways, so I closed the car windows to keep the noise level down. I had walked through that tunnel several times and had learned two things: the decibel level is extreme and always walk on the side of the tunnel in which traffic is moving in the same direction as you are because the cars generate a strong wind stream that moves with them. However, the tunnel was now closed to pedestrians.
I maneuvered into the airport exit lane and my attention was taken up with getting into the airport and finding a spot in the overnight lot. We took a parking shuttle to the United terminal and after passing through security, checked in at the gate.
Once we were on the plane we were able to resume our conversation. I spent some of the flight telling Arrow
