Maserov wondered who Malcolm Torrent had been talking to because, after their clandestine meeting in Flagstaff Gardens, another quite unexpected meeting was called but not with or by Malcolm Torrent. It was almost 10 pm and Maserov was with Jessica in a supermarket in St Kilda stocking up on milk, cereal, three-minute noodles and, at her insistence, sawtooth coriander, when a number he didn’t recognise startled his phone. It was Mr Radhakrishnan, the partner in Emerging Markets at Freely Savage, apologising for calling Maserov at so late an hour and asking if he might have a conversation with him on the basis of the strictest confidence.
Maserov, stunned, agreed to meeting at 10.30 am the following day, at Degraves Espresso Bar, off Flinders Lane. Jessica speculated that Radhakrishnan would have chosen that place because it was midway between the Freely Savage offices and Torrent Industry headquarters. Also, consistent with his apparent desire for secrecy, it was unlikely anyone from either office would be there since the espresso bar’s usual clientele would have long since left. And of those still there, none would have ever even aspired to, let alone undertaken, white-collar employment in the corporate sector. Additionally, Jessica could vouch for the coffee and the panini. But as to what Radhakrishnan wanted to discuss with Maserov, they were both completely unable to speculate. They had only one night to wait, during which time they managed to distract each other’s attention from the following morning’s meeting quite satisfactorily. Several times.
Radhakrishnan shook Maserov’s hand and, contrary to Maserov’s expectation, did not look at all discomfited by the location of the meeting or its apparent secrecy. He ordered a triple espresso and a mineral water and Maserov instinctively copied the order with one word, ‘double’, and a two-finger gesture that was almost a salute. He wasn’t sure why he’d done that but nobody in Degraves commented. Then Radhakrishnan got straight down to business. It was very nice to see Stephen again. This meeting never happened. Did Maserov understand this? Maserov said he did.
‘I’ve been asked to approach you on behalf of a cohort of partners at Freely Savage —’
‘Really, who?’
‘— who wish to remain nameless, at least for the time being.’
‘Certainly, no names,’ Maserov assured him.
‘Do you know how the partnership works?’ he asked Maserov.
‘Not precisely but it’s sort of like this, isn’t it? If you’re a partner you earn profits from the labour of all the people below you, you have an expense account, you can, it seems, humiliate people with impunity and you are virtually immune to any sanction for your behaviour.’
Radhakrishnan chuckled. ‘Oh Stephen, that’s very cynical and a little simplistic. That’s true only for equity partners. Salaried partners can only dream of this. Would you like to be a partner? Of course I mean an equity partner. Is this or has this become your ultimate objective?’
‘I hope you don’t think me rude, if I ask why you ask.’
‘Well, let’s just say that your work with Malcolm Torrent has earned you some admirers among the partnership.’
‘How does anyone even know about my work with Mr Torrent?’
‘You’ll forgive me, Stephen, I’m not at liberty to discuss that.’
‘I’m intrigued but okay. But far from me becoming a partner, Hamilton is going to fire me as soon as the year is up.’
‘Well,’ Radhakrishnan began to explain, ‘as I’ve indicated, a number of the partners have heard what you’ve been doing at Torrent and there is, at least among this cohort of partners —’
‘The ones who should remain nameless for the time being?’
‘Yes, among those same partners, there is an understanding that you’ve become something of a golden boy, Malcolm Torrent’s golden boy.’
‘Well, that’s very flattering, Mr Radhakrishnan.’
‘Allow me to explain a little further how the partnership works,’ the more senior man continued. ‘All partners, both equity and salaried, get voting rights, which are directly tied to the billings from all the files for which they are the responsible partner. Of course, equity partners also get additional voting rights which are tied to the equity they hold in the firm. Mr Hamilton, as you well know, is the partner directly responsible for all the Torrent Industries files. Torrent Industries is by far the firm’s biggest client in terms of billings. Frankly, this is how Mr Hamilton comes to tyrannise the other partners and, indirectly but unambiguously, the rest of the firm.’
Radhakrishnan went on to explain that if Maserov could get Malcolm Torrent to agree to make him, Maserov, the lawyer responsible for all Torrent Industries matters, then Radhakrishnan and the other members of the secretly conspiring cohort of partners would propose Maserov for partnership. Once Maserov was a partner, with his voting rights from control of the Torrent Industries files, Maserov, Radhakrishnan and the cohort of other partners would together hold a majority of the partnership vote.
‘Then Mr Hamilton’s reign of terror will be over and you will be a partner.’ He smiled and sipped on his mineral water.
‘What happens if something goes wrong?’ Maserov asked, still not believing what he was hearing.
‘Well, there are a limited number of things that can go wrong as I see it. But you said yourself that Mr Hamilton will sooner or later get rid of you so, by your own reckoning, you probably have nothing to lose. This cohort of partners that I speak of has, of course, everything to lose. This is why our meeting now has never happened and why, in the event that something does go wrong, you will be, I believe the expression is “hung out to dry”. But Stephen,’ Radhakrishnan said in a voice Maserov wanted to sink into, ‘your history suggests that you do extremely well when you have nothing to lose.’
Maserov thought for a moment and looked around the cafe to see if there was anything or anyone to suggest this was some kind of set-up. Then he asked, ‘So someone will go to Mr Torrent and propose that I become the lawyer responsible for all the Torrent Industries work?’
‘Yes. You will.’
‘Me?’
‘Yes, this way there’ll be no record of any of this should it not go our way.’
‘“Our way,” Mr Radhakrishnan?’
‘Yes, Stephen, our way. Call me on this number as and when the need arises.’ And with that, Radhakrishnan stood up and smiled, with a barely perceptible nod, leaving a fifty dollar note on the table and a business card on the saucer of Maserov’s triple espresso. The business card had Radhakrishnan’s landline and a mobile phone number that had been crossed out but on the other side there was a handwritten mobile number that differed from the printed one. There would be no record of any calls between the two ever having been made as far as anyone at the firm could tell. But by the time Maserov had realised this, Radhakrishnan could be seen turning left, out the door into Degraves Street, where he began the walk back to the hilly part of Collins Street where the specialist chocolate stores were nestled and the dentists liked to graze.