He walked up and stood right in front of me, silently. Say something! I wanted to scream at him. I needed to know what she had said.
Instead I just said, 'Hallo Rob.'
'You shit,' he said. He said it slowly and deliberately, looking me right in the eye.
'Why?' I said. 'What have I done?' I could hear my voice emerging weak and hoarse.
'You utter shit,' he said again. 'I meet the girl who I want to spend the rest of my life with. I fly six thousand miles out here to tell her so. And what do I find? My friend has got there before me.
'She told me all about you,' he continued bitterly. 'And the worst thing is you knew how I felt. You pretended you didn't like her, trying to put me off her, when all the time you had your own designs on her.' I saw tears begin to well up in Rob's eyes.
'Rob, it's not like that…' I started.
'Go fuck yourself,' Rob spat. 'I won't forget this. You won't get away with it. Neither of you. I'll kill her. And I will kill you too.' He stormed off, kicking a pile of coconuts out of his way, and sending a latex humming-bird spinning across the floor.
I gulped the rest of my beer and ordered another. What right had Rob to get so angry with me? He was crazy if he thought Cathy would have anything to do with him. She had told him what she thought of him before. And besides I hadn't done anything wrong. I hadn't intentionally chased after her. I had been completely honest when I had told Rob I didn't like her. Whatever had happened had just happened, that was all. There wasn't much I could do about it.
I had never seen Rob angry before, and he had looked very angry then. When he had threatened to kill Cathy and me, it looked as if he really meant it. I shuddered. With Rob, anger wasn't something that would be gone as soon as it had come, I thought. He had been deeply hurt, and he would not forget. I felt bad. I should have restrained myself. I should have realised Rob would not appreciate any relationship between Cathy and me.
Slowly, I began to feel sorry for him. Poor guy! The ticket to Las Vegas must have cost him a fortune. It was bad enough to be turned down after flying all that way. But Rob had been turned down before, he was used to it. It must have made it so much worse to find a friend there between him and his goal.
I thought about trying to find him to apologise. No, that wouldn't work, at least not for a while. He wouldn't believe my protestations. In fact, they would probably make his hatred of me deeper. It was probably best to avoid him, and hope that time would heal the rift between us.
But at least Cathy hadn't said yes to Rob. In fact he had said that she had told him all about me. What had she told him? She must have admitted that there was some sort of relationship between us, some sort of bond. Otherwise Rob would not have been so upset. Maybe she had decided to give up her fears of 'unprofessionalism'. Perhaps she had felt guilty about giving in to Waigel. I wanted to find out.
I went back up to my room and rang her number. She answered the phone. 'Hallo?'
'It's me,' I said. 'I wondered if you had thought more about our conversation. The invitation for dinner tonight is still open.'
'What is it about all you men at De Jong?' she answered angrily. 'You are all so persistent. No, I do not want to go out with you this evening. I just want to be left alone to get along with my life and my job. OK?'
'OK, OK,' I said. I hung up.
I had a miserable evening. Worries about Cathy gnawed away at the edges of my mind, and forced themselves further towards the fore. I could feel everything getting out of proportion; I had lost the ability to think clearly.
I ordered a steak and a bottle of Zinfandel from room service, ate the meat, drank the wine and went to bed. I lay awake for what may have been many hours or perhaps was just one. Finally, deadened by the alcohol and battered by confused thoughts and fears, my brain stopped churning and I drifted to sleep.
CHAPTER 17
The sun shone down on the grey concrete and glass buildings of Gracechurch Street as I joined the familiar throng of office workers on the way to their desks. The street was packed indeed, since it was five to nine, much later than normal for me. I had granted myself a lie-in to get over the jet lag and the fatigue of the long journey.
I had flown to Los Angeles from Las Vegas, and from there direct to London. Twelve hours in aeroplanes, and four more at Los Angeles International Airport, had been a strain. And not just physically. Cash, Cathy and Rob had all been on the same plane, although since Rob was paying for his own ticket, he was flying in the back. The whole thing was very uncomfortable. There had been an intensely unpleasant two-minute period when we were queueing to board the plane. Rob and I were just ten feet away from each other. He just stared at me, mouth clenched, eyes lit with anger. I turned away from him, but I could still feel his stare piercing my back. It hurt.
Once on the plane, Cathy was polite but cool towards me. I accepted this and was polite but cool back. Rob avoided both of us and kept himself to himself. The most distressed by all this was Cash. He tried to lavish his
But, as I made my way up Bishopsgate towards De Jong & Co., I couldn't help smiling. I was pretty pleased with the way I had got to the bottom of the Tremont Capital scam. Now it was just up to Hamilton to get the money back.
The smile was still there as I entered the trading room and nodded a welcome to everybody. The markets were busy; everyone was working the phones. I got to my desk and scowled at the two-week pile of research waiting for me. I checked the screens and the position sheets, to see how my old positions had fared and what new ones had been put on in my absence. With Hamilton, myself and Rob out, not much had changed, although Gordon and Jeff had been quite busy.
I had only been at my desk for a couple of minutes when Hamilton came over.
'Hi, Hamilton,' I said. 'How did you get on? We have a lot to talk about.'
I was taken aback by the grave expression on Hamilton's face. 'We certainly do,' he said. 'Let's go into the conference room.' Uneasily I followed him into the small room just off the trading floor.
'What's up?' I asked.
Hamilton didn't reply. 'Tell me about your trip first,' he said.
I ran through what I had discovered. Hamilton listened intently and took notes. When I had finished, he leaned back in his chair. 'Well done, Paul, that's excellent. It corroborates a lot of what I have discovered.'
There was silence. Hamilton frowned deeply. I wanted to ask him what he had discovered, but I couldn't. There was something else hovering in the air. Something momentous. Something bad.
'Paul,' Hamilton began, 'tell me about Gypsum.'
I didn't understand this. I thought we had discussed the position I had taken and why I had taken it. Besides, it looked as if the bond price had gone up even further since I had been away.
'The bonds looked good value,' I started, but Hamilton held up his hand.
'Not the bonds, the shares,' he said. 'You bought the shares of Gypsum Company of America days before it was taken over.'
Alarm bells started ringing. Why would he ask me about that? He's talking about insider trading, I thought. But I hadn't done anything wrong. I was sure I hadn't. Well, pretty sure.
'Yes, that's correct. But I didn't have any information that the company was going to be taken over. I was just lucky, that's all. And so was Debbie,' I said before I could stop myself. Exactly how lucky had she been?
'Well there are some people who think you did have inside information.'
'That's absolutely not the case,' I said.
Hamilton looked at me for a few seconds. I held the gaze of his piercing blue eyes. I was telling the truth and I wanted him to know it. Finally, he nodded. 'Well, I'm sure you are right. But it's not me you have to convince. There are two men here from the TSA who would like to ask you a few questions. Would you like me to be present?'
This was extraordinary! Ridiculous. Crazy. I didn't yet feel scared. Shocked, yes. And bewildered. But I was
