Unnatural Acts

29

Herbie finished up his meeting with the franchise group and asked to see a copy of their presentation before his new client did. Cookie buzzed him.

“Allison on line one,” she said. Allison was Stone’s Woodman amp; Weld associate who worked out of his house. He had been seeing her for the better part of a year.

“Hey, there,” Herbie said.

“Hey. Where are we having dinner tonight?”

“The Park Avenue Cafe all right?”

“That’s fine. I can’t be there before eight,” she said.

“Eight is good. You want me to pick you up?”

“No, I’ll meet you.” She said goodbye and hung up.

That was unusual, Herbie thought. Allison liked being called for. Cookie buzzed again. “Mike Freeman on one.”

“Good morning, Mike.”

“Good morning, Herb. I’m going downtown to take a look at the work my people are doing on the High Cotton Ideas building. Would you like to come along?”

“Yeah, sure. I’ve got time for that. I haven’t seen it since the work began.”

“I’ll pick you up in front of your building in fifteen minutes, then.”

“I’ll be there.”

Bobby Bentley knocked on the door. He had been at the franchise meeting and had asked some good questions Herbie hadn’t thought of.

“Come in, Bobby, and take a seat.”

Bobby sat down. “I had dinner with Dad last night, and he asked me to give you his best regards.”

“That was good of him.”

“He said he wasn’t far from having some business for you.”

“For us, Bobby. The firm wouldn’t be getting this business if it weren’t for you, and Bill Eggers will hear about that, believe me.”

Bobby looked relieved, but now he looked worried again. “Dad ran a background check on you,” he said.

“Oh? I’m sure he found the report very interesting.”

“He didn’t know you killed that guy in Little Italy a few years ago.”

“It was in the papers-it’s no secret. Does he know that the initial charges were dropped?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Next time you speak with him, tell him to ask me about it. I’ll be happy to tell him the whole story.”

“I think that’s a good idea, Herb. Dad is a very conservative guy, a real straight arrow, and the idea that you have an arrest record is alarming to him.”

“That’s why I want him to talk to me about it personally. I’ll answer all his questions.”

“Good, I’ll pass that on to him.” Bobby went back to his cubicle.

Herbie was standing at the curb when Mike Freeman’s car pulled up. He got in, and they headed downtown to High Cotton Ideas.

“How’s the new business thing going?” Mike asked.

“Wonderful! Thank you so much for sending me Joshua Hook!”

“Josh is a hard-ass but a good guy. He told me you advised him to ease off the boot camp atmosphere, and I agreed. He’s even having the accommodations done up a bit to make them more hotel-like, and nobody will be bunking with anybody else.”

“My guess is, he was a Marine before he joined the Agency.”

“Close-he was a Navy SEAL.”

“He asked me how far I could run without passing out. I told him I don’t run.”

“Are you going up there next week?”

“I’m already booked in,” Herbie said.

They arrived at the High Cotton Ideas building, and Herbie was struck by the transformation the stucco had made to the exterior. The lobby entrance to the new penthouse was under construction, and there was a crane in the street, lifting pallets of construction material to the roof.

James Rutledge came over and joined them. “The elevator to the roof will be operating in another ten days or so, then we can run materials up there and get rid of the crane.”

“Sounds good,” Herbie said.

They walked through the open door of the garage and the difference from before was striking.

“We’re installing a new steel garage door that will be veneered in mahogany but will be very secure. We can thank Mike’s people for that suggestion.”

“I’m glad they’ve been of help to you,” Mike said.

“The security systems are in, and, miracle of miracles, they actually work!”

“That’s what we aim for,” Mike replied.

They rode up in the elevator to the floor where Mark Hayes and his people were temporarily working.

“This is pretty much what the lower floors will look like,” James said. “Open plan, unless there’s a need to divide the areas. Now come on up one floor and see what the executive offices are going to look like.” They got back onto the freight elevator and rode up, then exited into a coolly decorated reception room with the High Cotton Ideas logo painted large on one wall.

“We’re creating an elevator stop from the private lobby to the executive floor,” James said, as they walked through the main doors. The floor was plush, compared to the lower floors, but decorated in bright colors, almost like a series of children’s rooms. The office furniture was handsome but spare, of light wood, with small conference tables and sofas in the larger offices. At the rear of the floor was a more open area of low-walled cubicles. “This is programmer country,” James said. “They’ll be in here next week, as soon as the computer wiring installation is complete and tested.”

“Is there anything to see on the roof?” Herbie asked.

“Right now, it’s just a roof,” James said, “and it’s dangerous for us to be up there. Give me a month, and we’ll have something for you to look at.”

Mark Hayes entered the area and took them to his corner office, near the new elevator shaft. Men were carrying pieces of furniture through a set of double doors into the big room.

“The conference table will go there,” Mark said, pointing, “and each seat will have a workstation so that all the people in a meeting can view the same screen.”

As they left the room, Mark stopped them. “Herb, Mike, I’m very impressed with everything you’ve done to help us get this thing up and running, and I want to invite both of you to join the High Cotton Ideas board of directors. Marshall Brennan is joining, and he’ll be our financial guru.”

“I’d be delighted,” Herbie said.

“So would I, Mark,” Mike said.

Mark rode down to the street with them. “The next time you see this place, it’s going to look like an important place of work.” He shook their hands and went back upstairs.

Herbie and Mike thanked James for the tour and rode uptown together.