Monahan 01 Options (14 page)

Whit Williams interrupted. “What deal’s that, Larry?” he drawled.

Oakes’ turn to interrupt. “I’ll call you each individually and fill you in. I had a meeting with Jack Vincent this week. About the stock though, I don’t think this’ll have an adverse affect.”

“Who’re you kidding Chris?” Larry Everly demanded. “When a company fires its chief financial officer, it
affects
the stock price. When a company fires its chief operating officer, it
affects
the stock price. Rick is both chief financial officer and chief operating officer.” He had yelled for emphasis when he said
affects
. I moved the receiver away from my ear.

Larry continued. “If you remember correctly Chris, the analysts like it when a company has a chief financial officer. It gives them a warm and fuzzy feeling,” he said sarcastically. “The analysts are not going to feel warm and fuzzy if we fire Rick Cox.”

“Well, then,” Whit said. “We’ll just have to get him to resign.”

I was amazed that Larry Everly hadn’t even asked what had gone wrong. But I knew that he and Chris Oakes were on the phone many times during the day and Vee and I sometimes wondered who in fact was running this company. Chris had probably filled Larry in before the conference call.

Larry must have read my mind because he demanded, “What happened anyway?” I almost laughed out loud and quickly caught myself. Cutting someone off a call would be nothing compared to getting caught eavesdropping on a board of directors meeting. Oakes would definitely have grounds to fire me. I had sat in on several meetings before but in those instances I had been invited to take minutes in Didrickson’s absence. This was a
little
different.

“A few things. You know this has been building up for the past while,” Oakes said in response to Larry’s question. “The straw that broke the camel’s back was the discovery today that he fiddled with the stock option numbers and granted himself a whole bunch more.”

“He
what
?” Larry asked incredulously. “How can anyone be so stupid? Have you got proof of this?”

It was Grace’s turn to speak. “Hi Larry. Grace O’Grady here. Yes, we’ve got proof. I’ve been in the office all of today going over things and my investigation points to Rick being responsible. In fact, our computer logs prove he did it.” She sounded a little depressed as she reported this. She was certainly not flying high like Oakes and I could tell Grace was very disappointed in Rick.

“What else?” Larry demanded.

“We’ve got an accusation of fraud and a sexual harassment claim,” Oakes answered.

“Sure he didn’t murder the Pope as well?” Whit Williams asked.

“This all happened today?” Arthur Graves asked. I was impressed because I was sure Arthur would be asleep. He normally slept through most board meetings.

“No Arthur. The fraud and harassment charges have been lying around. The stock option mess came to light yesterday. One of the clerks discovered it,” Oakes said.

Jay was going to be happy to hear he got a promotion to clerk.

“As far as I was concerned,” Chris continued, “that was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

Larry interrupted. “When did you find out about the fraud?” In typical male fashion, he was ignoring the sexual harassment issue. “This stock option thing is fraud too. Our shareholders’ll kill us when they find out we didn’t act on the first complaint. A chief financial officer has to be beyond reproach,” he lectured.

“Uh, um. The other fraud issue was just brought up too,” Chris lied. He had just told Arthur the other charges had been lying around and no one reminded him of this little slip up.

“Good,” Larry said. Larry had now taken over the meeting and was in charge. “If asked, we can say both things came to light at the same time. Grace, have you looked into both charges?”

“I’m not aware of the other issue. The only thing I was asked to look at by Harold Didrickson, with Chris Oakes’ approval, was the stock options,” she said.

“Chris, you haven’t investigated the other charge?” Larry demanded. Before Chris could lie again, Larry charged on. “Grace, investigate the other fraud charge. Let me have your report by Monday afternoon.”

“People,” Larry continued. “We’ll issue a press release before market opens on Monday. Take the hit right away. Chris, get Rick into the office and have him sign a resignation. Grace, you should be present as a witness. The only way this goes out is as a resignation. Word it something like, Rick Cox wants to pursue other business interests. Get your PR people on it. Is everyone in agreement?” he asked.

There were a few murmurs of consent but Whit Williams piped up, “Now hold on a second Larry. We have to at least give the man a chance to defend himself. Accusing him of fraud is a very serious issue. We’ve got to look at the legal ramifications here. Has anyone consulted Harold?”

Chris answered. “I don’t want Harold consulted. I’ll call in outside counsel. Harold and Rick are too chummy-chummy for my liking.”

Well. The cat was out of the bag. I knew Harold had been quietly and discretely aligning himself with Rick Cox and I guess I wasn’t surprised that Chris Oakes knew it. I wondered how long Harold could hold on to
his
job. This was a fast lynching.

“And another thing,” Larry said. “Get the Human Synergies people in to do damage control. This has to come across as a resignation and we’ll have to get working on Rick’s replacement.”

“Uh, Larry,” Oakes said. “I’ve been thinking about that. I’d like to talk it over with you.”

Well. Chris Oakes was seeking someone’s permission. I was glad someone had
him
by the short and curlies.

“Call me tomorrow and we’ll discuss it,” Larry said.

“Sure Larry.” Oakes took back the meeting. “Okay everyone, if there’s nothing else I’ll let you go. I’ll be in touch about that other matter over the next couple of days. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone on Thursday for the quarterly meeting.”

Everyone started saying good-bye and I hit the release button on the switchboard console. I quickly turned it over to the nightline, grabbed my stuff off the desk, turned off the lights and hightailed it back to my office before someone could ask me to do more work. It was late and I’d had it. I was going home.

chapter nineteen

I had every intention of going home and I almost went there in an ambulance. I suffered the closest thing to a heart attack I had ever experienced when I saw Rick Cox coming out of the kitchen as I hurried down the hall. The sight of him made me stop dead in my tracks. When did he come in, I wondered frantically. He certainly didn’t get off the elevator when I was at reception. Maybe I was so intent on eavesdropping, I’d missed him. But he was one of those fitness nuts and had probably taken the stairs.

His presence frightened me so much my heart was in my throat. Not just his sudden appearance but knowing what was about to happen.

“Rick,” I croaked out. I cleared my throat and tried to act nonchalant. “When did you come in?” I asked. I still felt like I had a fur ball in my throat so I coughed again.

“I just got here. What’s this I hear about a board meeting?” he asked. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I thought quickly of a response but nothing came to mind. I’m not a good liar.

My eyes widened in mock surprise. He was dressed casually in chinos and an open-necked golf shirt and the muscles in his jaw and neck were moving. He must have been clenching his teeth.

“Cut the crap Kate. I know there’s a meeting going on. And, I heard Oakes on the phone in his office. Who’s on the call?” he demanded.

Who’d he think I was? The Amazing Kreskin? Who was I to know what was going on in this godforsaken place? I continued to stare at him, speechless. Sweat was pouring out of my armpits and down my back. At least offer me a last cigarette before the firing squad cocks their rifles, I prayed.

“Don’t know,” I mumbled. There. I said it. I lied. God was going to strike me dead. I could feel Sister Josephine pulling on my earlobe and sweet Jesus, it was painful. That was the last time I out-and-out lied. Six years old. I hadn’t forgotten. I hope the poor dear wasn’t turning over in her grave.

“Fine,” he hissed. This man was pissed and I didn’t want to be in his way. He hurried down the hall towards executive row.

Really Kathleen, you have nothing to worry about. The man’s history. I headed towards my office and vowed to myself I wouldn’t get interrupted this time. I was leaving. My phone was ringing when I got to my office and I automatically answered it.

“Kathleen Monahan,” I barked into the phone.

“Yes ma’am. Security here. There’s a Mr. Johnston here to see Mr. Oakes and I’m not getting any answer on Mr. Oakes’ phone. Do you know if Mr. Oakes is in?” the security guard asked.

I sighed. “Yes, he’s here. Please send Mr. Johnston up and I’ll meet him at the elevator. Thanks.” I dropped the handset back into its place on the phone from my standing height, hoping it would break. I couldn’t answer a dead phone, now could I? The handset bounced once and settled on my desk. Fuck it, I thought. I should have brought my jammies. I knew I was going to be here all night.

Cleveland Johnston was waiting by the back door when I opened it and I smiled up at him. Cleve and I went back a long way and as tired and fed up as I felt, I was glad to see him. He leaned over and pecked my cheek.

“Katie, how are you?” he asked. I stood back to let him pass and the door swung shut behind us. Cleveland was the only person besides my brother who was allowed to call me Katie.

“Not so great. You’re here to see Chris?” I asked. He nodded. “Want a coffee or something before?”

“Naw. I was at dinner when Chris tracked me down. I had just finished a coffee and brandy. My sister and her husband are in town and we were having a great time.”

I was impressed that Chris had actually tracked someone down on his own.

“Well, Cleve, you know the way to his office. I was just leaving and I’m outta here as soon as I get my purse.”

“Katie, can you stick around? I might need your assistance drafting some documents and if things turn out the way I think, it could be a long night.”

“For you Cleve, anything.” I couldn’t say no to Cleve. Harold would want me to help out.

“What’re we working on?” I asked him.

“I’ll let you know.” We had reached Chris Oakes’ office and I knocked on the door. I opened it a crack and peeked in not knowing what or who I’d find. I wondered if Rick Cox had barged in on Oakes yet demanding an explanation. Chris was sitting by himself at the table.

“Chris, Cleveland Johnston’s here,” I announced. I opened the door wider and Cleve winked at me as he passed.

I once had an enormous crush on Cleveland Johnston and was thinking yummy thoughts about him as I headed back to my office. There were voices coming from Rick Cox’s office and I slowed down to listen. I couldn’t make out the conversation but I think he was alone and talking to someone on his speaker phone. I hurried on because I didn’t want to be caught eavesdropping. Didn’t think of that while you listened in to a whole board meeting, did you Kathleen?

I slumped in my chair and put my feet up on the desk and thought about Cleve. We had first met about ten years ago when I was working as a legal secretary at Scapelli, Marks & Wilson, one of the largest law firms in the city. He was a junior partner and we had worked long nights together on some pretty hairy deals. Initial public offerings, cross-border transactions, junk bonds, you name it. It was the high flyin’ nineties. Limos, expense accounts, posh hotels, fancy dinners. He was the brain and I was the brawn. Most of my work was strictly clerical and secretarial but we were a great team.

We were both single at the time but never had the energy to make anything of it. I had the energy now but he was married. I burned out before he did and moved on. He’s still with Scapelli’s but now he’s the senior partner in charge of the securities department. Scapelli’s were hired as TechniGroup’s outside counsel when the company had first gone public and Cleve had worked on the file at that time. I was sure it wasn’t a securities matter that had brought him here tonight to see Oakes. Chris was most likely having Cleve draw up the termination documentation to fire Rick. Cleve would want to make sure everything was nice and neat so when we had to disclose the termination package in our annual information form, the annual filing we made each year with the Ontario Securities Commission, we’d all be speaking out of the same side of our mouths.

I must have dozed off because the next thing I knew Jay was shaking my shoulder. The man was making a habit of waking me up lately.

I touched my hand to the side of mouth to make sure I wasn’t drooling. My face was dry, thank God.

“Jay,” I said. I tried to push my chair back and get my legs off my desk. This must be very attractive, I thought. I was having obvious difficulty so Jay helped by pulling on the chair. I put my feet on the floor and looked up at him. He looked like he’d seen a ghost.

“What are you doing here?” I demanded. I looked at my watch and saw that it was eleven p.m. I’d been asleep for over an hour and a half. My father always said a good soldier could sleep anywhere and I was proving his theory.

And where the hell was Cleve? If he’d left me here without saying so much as a good-bye, the man was in trouble. I focused on Jay. He definitely wasn’t looking well.