Night Over Water - Ken Follett [104]
“Nat Ridgeway is here with him.”
“That snake!”
Mac had never liked Nat, and had hated him when he started dating Nancy. Even though Mac was happily married, he was jealous of anyone who showed a romantic interest in Nancy.
“I pity General Textiles, having Danny do their law work,” Mac added.
“I guess they’ll give him the low-grade stuff. Mac, is it legal for them to offer him this incentive?”
“Probably not, but the violation would be hard to prove.”
“Then I’m in trouble.”
“I guess so. I’m sorry, Nancy.”
“Thanks, old friend. You warned me not to let Peter be the boss.”
“I sure did.”
That was enough crying over spilled milk, Nancy decided. She adopted a brisker tone. “Listen, if we were relying on Danny, we’d be worried, right?”
“You bet we would—”
“Worried that he’d change sides, worried that the opposition would make him a better offer. So what do we think his price is?”
“Hmm.” There was silence on the line for a few moments, then Mac said: “Nothing springs to mind.”
Nancy was thinking about Danny trying to bribe a judge. “Do you remember that time Pa got Danny out of a hole? It was the Jersey Rubber case.”
“I sure do. No details on the phone, okay?”
“Yes. Can we use that case somehow?”
“I don’t see how.”
“To threaten him?”
“With exposure, you mean?”
“Yes.”
“Do we have proof?”
“Not unless there’s something in Pa’s old papers.”
“You have all those papers, Nancy.”
There were several cartons of Pa’s personal records in the cellar of Nancy’s house in Boston. “I’ve never looked through them.”
“And there’s no time for that now.”
“But we could pretend,” she said thoughtfully.
“I’m not following you.”
“I’m just thinking aloud. Bear with me for a minute. We could pretend to Danny that there is something, or might be something, in Pa’s old papers—something that would bring that whole business out into the open.”
“I don’t see how that—”
“No, listen to me, Mac. This is an idea,” Nancy said, her voice rising with excitement as she began to see possibilities. “Suppose the Bar Association, or whoever it is, decided to open an inquiry into the Jersey Rubber case.”
“Why would they do that?”
“Someone could tell them it was fishy.”
“All right, what then?”
Nancy began to feel she might have the makings of a workable plan. “Suppose they heard that there was crucial evidence among Pa’s stuff?”
“They would ask you if they could examine the papers.”
“Would it be up to me whether I let them?”
“In a simple bar inquiry, yes. If there was a criminal inquiry, you could be subpoenaed, and then of course you’d have no choice.”
A scheme was forming in Nancy’s mind faster than she could explain it aloud. She hardly dared to hope that it might work. “Listen, I want you to call Danny,” she said urgently. “Ask him the following question—”
“Let me pick up a pencil. Okay, go ahead.”
“Ask him this. If there were a bar inquiry into the Jersey Rubber case, would he want me to hand over Pa’s papers?”
Mac was puzzled. “You think he’ll say no.”
“I think he’ll panic, Mac! He’ll be scared to death. He doesn’t know what’s there—notes, diaries, letters, could be anything.”
“I’m beginning to see how this might work,” Mac said, and Nancy could hear hope creeping into his voice. “Danny would think you have something he wants—”
“He’ll ask me to protect him, as Pa did. He’ll ask me to refuse the bar permission to look at the papers. And I’ll agree—on the condition he votes with me against the merger with General Textiles.”
“Wait a minute. Don’t open the champagne yet. Danny may be venal but he’s not stupid. Won’t he suspect that we’ve cooked this whole thing up to pressure him?”
“Of course he will,” Nancy said. “But he won’t be sure. And he won’t have long to think about it.”
“Yeah. And right now it’s our only chance.”
“Want to give it a try?”
“Okay.”
Nancy was feeling much better: full of hope and the will to win. “Call me at our next stop.”
“Where’s that?”
“Botwood, Newfoundland. We should be there in seventeen hours.”
“Do they have phones there?”
“They must, if there’s an airport. You should book the call in advance.