Read Online Long Way Down by Michael Sears - Free Book Online

flash.
    “Look at the screen and try not to blink,” she said, pointing to a small monitor set in the wall.
    A flash went off so quickly I could not have blinked if I’d tried.
    “A retinal scan?” I asked.
    She nodded. “You now have limited access. This way.”
    I followed her up a narrow stairway, our footsteps clanging and echoing on the rust-stained metal treads. The second floor was a mostly open space surrounded by glass-walled offices. A long conference table, littered with old newspapers and used paper coffeecups, ran down the center of the room. The carpet was worn and the walls had not been painted in much too long. It wasn’t the kind of environment to inspire fiscal confidence.
    Philip Haley’s office was as utilitarian as the rest of the floor, with a long metal lab table for a desk and a minimum of chairs. It was a workspace, not a room for high-level meetings, or investor schmooze sessions.
    “Phil will be with you in just a minute. He’s getting changed,” my guide said in a whisper, as though we were standing in a chapel. “Can I get you anything? Water? Coffee?”
    She didn’t want to get me anything, I could tell. But then, I didn’t really want anything, either. “Thanks, I’m fine.”
    Philip Haley walked into the room. The secretary looked like she wanted to genuflect. Haley was a remarkably handsome man in a very masculine way and he gave off the kind of charismatic glow that you see in some actors or politicians. He had large blue eyes, like that kid in
A Christmas Story
, and at some point he had spent a lot of money on dentistry.
    “You’re Virgil’s man,” he said, extending a well-manicured hand. We shook. His grip was strong, but he didn’t push it. He wasn’t trying to prove a thing. “Thank you, Kirsten. Let them know downstairs we’ll have a visitor in . . .” He checked his watch—a no-nonsense Tag Heuer. “. . . fifteen minutes.” He turned back to me. “I’m late. I know. Forgive me. I will explain later, if there’s time.”
    There was nothing of South Carolina low country in his voice. He must have worked hard at that at some point in his life.
    “Actually, I had just arrived.”
    “Good. Good.”
    “Pretty Spartan surroundings,” I said once we had settled into two straight-backed chairs that practically screamed,
Don’t get comfortable!
    “I spend money on security and research. Everything else is awaste. If I have the product, and can keep the Chinese from stealing it, it will sell and we’ll make money.”
    He wasn’t bragging. He was supremely confident, but without a hint of arrogance. I thought of mentioning the upkeep on the riding stables, but accepted that his wife’s lifestyle and his business standards might be viewed as entirely apart.
    I thought he might respond to the most direct approach. He did not like to waste time any more than money. Neither did I.
    “Virgil was afraid they might have charged you by now.”
    “I will testify early next week. If it becomes necessary. I expect all of this to go away.”
    “You think they’ll let you walk?”
    He scowled. “I’m being set up.”
    “You’re saying that you did not trade shares of your own firm based on nonpublic information using a secret offshore banking account.”
    “Exactly.”
    “And you expect me to take that on faith.”
    “Take it any way you want. It’s the truth. My lawyer arranged a lie detector test and I passed. I am innocent.”
    All it takes to pass a lie detector test is a total disregard for the truth or the consequences of one’s actions. Sociopaths passed them all the time and innocent people failed almost as often.
    “Then let me hear you say it,” I said. “Say the words.”
    He scowled again. “I had Kirsten look into your history. Why does Virgil have your confidence?”
    “I fix things. I find things. If you violated securities laws, broke trust with your investors, and pocketed a few bucks in the process, there’s only so much I can do