“Such as you’ve only ever worked for PrimaMed. You started your career in sales, until your first big promotion into major accounts twenty years ago,” Tom said. “You were asked to lead a profitable business unit after only two years as a top performer. You held your current position as vice president of sales longer than any of your predecessors. You were a corporate superstar. Life had been good. Until PrimaMed’s rock steady stock tanked. Three consecutive quarters of missed Wall Street estimates. Tough luck. I’m guessing you didn’t receive a bonus like last year’s.”
“How… how did you?”
“What happened with your promotion?” Tom asked. “I obviously don’t know everything.”
“Four months ago I was called into a closed door meeting with the CEO,” Mann said. “I found out the FDA was close to approving our new drug application for diabetes. Internal projections predicted hundreds of millions in new revenue.”
“Interesting. Keep going,” Tom said.
“We came up with a public relations plan to announce my appointment to president and COO on the same day we announced the FDA’s approval. That way Wall Street wouldn’t think Paul was leaving because of the company’s health.”
“Sounds like a good plan. What happened?”
“The night before the press release was scheduled to drop, I got a call from our CFO, Sue Rossnick. She was in a panic. Said that message boards all over the Web were lighting up. Word was spreading that something big was going down. Somebody leaked news about the NDA. Our stock was moving in after-hours trading.”
“Was that a problem?”
“Not really,” Mann said. “It was close enough to the drop. But one of the guys contributing to the chatter online ran an influential message board. A lot of the after-hours traders follow it. He posted something about me. He wrote that he had a reliable source in the FBI who told him that I was going to be arrested for distribution of child pornography.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“I guess you were arrested,” Tom said.
“You’d guess right.”
“And what did they find on your computers?”
“A lot of child pornography.”
“Including the stuff I allegedly sold to you?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“Who knew about the NDA?” asked Tom.
“A handful of people in the company,” Mann said. “The CEO, of course. Paul. Folks at the FDA. Some of our clinical trial vendors. It was endgame. Like I said, we had all the press releases ready to go. Word was getting around.”
“Why would somebody want to make it look like you were a child pornographer?”
“I don’t know,” Mann said, sitting straighter on the bed, perhaps trying to convey to Tom that he still had some dignity remaining. “Listen, you’ve got to believe me. I’m in this like you are. I haven’t done anything wrong. I’m being framed. Just like you.”
“How far would you be willing to go to clear your name?” Tom asked.
“As far as I had to go.”
Tom nodded. “Okay, here’s what’s going to happen,” Tom said. “We’ve got to find who’s the real supplier of these pictures I had. You’re apparently a client of this supplier. You’re going to work backward until you find the real distributor.”
“But I told you I didn’t download any child pornography. I’m innocent. Just like you.”
“I don’t know if that’s true,” Tom said. “As far as I’m concerned, you do know how to find the dealers. If you don’t, you’re going to learn so I don’t have to.”
“That doesn’t seem fair to make me take all the risk,” Mann said.
“Life isn’t fair, James. But I am giving you a chance. I supply the names of the girls. You find the distributor. If you succeed, we both win. I’d say it’s a pretty fair trade.”
“What if I refuse?”
“You’ll probably end up a convicted child pornographer, and I’ll probably clear my name.”
Mann thought, then nodded.
Chapter 35
As Tom pulled into the parking lot of the Plenty Market, he noticed one peculiar thing. The parking lot was empty. The supermarket store lights were off as well. Tom checked his watch. It was quarter past nine at night, and according to the sign taped to the inside window, the market had closed over an hour ago.
Where was Boyd? Tom wanted to know.
Tom heard a loud whistle. The supermarket’s back door opened, expelling a thin shaft of yellow light that illuminated a narrow column of dark asphalt. A silhouetted figure emerged from the doorway. It was Roland. He held open the back door and motioned for Tom to come inside.
Tom didn’t realize there was additional parking by the loading zone, and now observed two cars taking up four available spaces. One of the cars, the Mercedes, he knew belonged to Roland. Tom entered a dimly lit stockroom, noticing Roland had on a neatly pressed dark suit. The stockroom was a cavernous, dry space with stacks of corrugated boxes sitting atop wooden pallets. A small office fronted by a large plate-glass window stood to Tom’s right. Tom saw a heavyset man seated at a desk inside that office.
The other car had to be his.
For a moment Tom thought it could have been Lange’s.
“Shopping after hours?” Tom asked Roland.
Roland didn’t respond. Instead, his eyes did the talking, and they didn’t appear pleased. Roland closed the door. Tom thought he heard it lock.
Roland walked past Tom and went to the back of the stockroom. Tom took a quick look behind him as he followed. The guy in the office stayed put.
Roland stopped, then turned to face Tom. He kept his arms at his sides.
“Where’s Lange?” Tom asked. “Is he here?”
“I didn’t find Lange,” Roland said. “I lied.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because I needed to get you down here, and I knew if I told you I’d found Lange, you’d come. I don’t like to leave things to chance.”
“What are we doing here, Roland?” asked Tom. “I’m not a big fan of being lied to.”
“We need to talk.”
“About?”
“Adriana. Why’d she post your bail?”
“I don’t know,” Tom said. “I’m guessing she felt sorry for me. She hasn’t returned any of my calls. Why don’t we call her now and get this straightened out?”
“I told her not to call you back,” Roland said. “She already gave me her story.”
“And?”
“And she said she felt sorry for you.”
“Well, there you have it.”
“I don’t believe her.”
“Oh.”
“This is really tough for me,” Roland said. “I consider you a friend. One of my best. So I’m going to keep this
