Polar Quest

52

Checking the online financial news, Charles Lafitte found UGene’s stock still trading at around ten dollars per share — an all-time low for the promising biotech company. After the stock’s initial collapse, the market settled down and traders took a wait-and-see stance on the company. The future of UGene rested on the outcome of Eames’s upcoming trial.

The drop in share price had transformed UGene from an expensive acquisition into a bargain, and Lafitte’s rumored interest in the company was one of the factors that kept the price from falling further. The other was the intellectual property developed by Eames and Sutton. For his part, Lafitte had done nothing to substantiate the rumors of an impending takeover and, through Vielogic public relations, released a statement dismissing such speculation as gossip. Still, the market took note that he hadn’t sold any of his shares either.

The time isn’t ripe yet, Lafitte thought as he read another analyst’s view on a possible takeover, but soon it will be.

Lafitte brought up the charts for UGene since its initial public offering. He’d bought early, and his 5 percent stake had helped double the share price on the opening day. From a pure investment standpoint, UGene had performed well for him right up to the crash, which erased all of his paper gains and some of his principal.

Switching from share price to trading volume, Lafitte saw the initial spike when UGene first appeared on the public market. The volume then leveled out until February, when it spiked again. Lafitte zeroed in on the volume surge that described the frenzied sale of UGene shares and discovered that the increase in volume started in the days just before the murders. Checking the share price for that week, he noted it was down a bit. Taken on its own, the small drop in the stock price was well within normal market fluctuations, but combined with the increased daily volume, it told Lafitte that someone was selling.

‘What are you furrowing your brow over, Charles?’ Martineau asked as she entered his office.

‘A coincidence, I think, but a very puzzling one.’

Martineau sat on the edge of the inlaid desk, kicked off one of her shoes, and placed her foot in Lafitte’s lap seductively. ‘Oh, what is it?’

‘UGene. A lot of shares changed hands in the days before the murders,’ Lafitte said as he massaged her foot. ‘People were selling.’

‘Is that unusual?’

‘I’m not sure. It is either a fluke, or someone who knew what was going to happen took advantage of the situation. Ah, but that’s impossible, isn’t it, my love?’

Martineau felt Lafitte’s hands move up her calf and tighten around the shapely muscle. ‘Of course. How could anyone have known about the murders before they happened?’

‘My point exactly.’