14 October

“I’ve been waiting to hear from you.”

“Yeah, well, they just walked out the door. Another day in the suite. It’s driving me nuts.”

“How did it go?”

“Slow. They’re taking their fucking time.”

“I was afraid of that.”

“Yeah. But so far so good. We’ve given them everything they’ve asked for.”

“What about personnel?”

“They still want me to clean house. I’m about to oblige them.”

“That’s not what I had in mind.”

“Oh? Yeah, well, we’re still arguing who they get to talk to. It’s sensitive. They understand I can’t let them get down to the cleaning women. I’m trying to keep it to people who know nothing, or know too much, if you catch my drift. On the other hand—”

“Logically they’re going to want to talk to him, aren’t they?”

“Who?”

“You know whom I’m talking about.”

“Yeah, right. Well, look, as far as that’s concerned, we’ve got three choices. One, we leave him alone, hope they never find him. Too risky, I say. Two, we try burying him in a corner. It’s a little late for that, though. Three, we let him go.”

“What have you decided?”

“I say: Let him go. It’s the cleanest, the least risk.”

“Are you sure?”

“Remember, he won’t be the only one who gets canned. It’s gonna be lean-and-mean time around here.”

“He’ll be bitter.”

“So? Everybody’s bitter about something.”

“And vindictive.”

“You mean he could talk? Sure, he could talk, but who’ll listen? He doesn’t know enough. Shit, who’s going to waste their time with a bunch of wild-sounding allegations?”

“They might.”

“He knows nothing about them.”

“Not now. But we live in a very small world.”

“Well, anything’s possible, but on a scale of one to ten, I’d say that’s pretty remote.”

“Your job is to minimize the risks. What does their attorney think?”

“Their attorney? For Christ’s sake, what makes you think I talked to him about it?”

“Because you talk to him about everything.”

“Jesus. Either you’re pretty fucking clairvoyant or—”

“What does he think?”

“Well, I didn’t go into all the details, naturally. He said someone like that, who could be obstructive, I should get him off the premises. Said I should string him out till it’s over, do a little tap dance with him.”

“Can you do that?”

“Shit, I can tap dance with the best of them.”

“Good.”

“I take it that means I’m outvoted?”

“No. As far as I’m concerned, it’s your decision. You’re the chairman.”

“Okay. I’ll deal with it then.”

“When? I want to know exactly.”

“I’ll do it this week. Wednesday. That’s when I’m doing the others.”

“That’s fine.”

“He may come crying to you.”

“I expect him to.”