Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry(48)
“I couldn’t agree more on both counts.”
Sherman thought hard, trying to find the right words to introduce the subject. “Fred, do you remember the name Lauren Pomerantz?”
“I do.”
“Do you remember her coming to your office and talking about something that happened between her and Matthews?”
“I do.”
“Did she do anything besides talk to you?”
“I’m not sure what you mean by that.”
“Did she show you any evidence to back up what she said Matthews did?”
“Nothing that I can recall. Why do you ask?”
“This Pomerantz situation could be a huge problem for both of us.”
“What do you mean by ‘both of us’?”
“You and I each were made aware of a bad situation, and we failed to act.”
“That’s not how I see it, Dick. As soon as I heard about it, I sent an email to the CEO of the corporation. If there’s any failure here, it’s yours.”
“It’s not that simple—”
“Yes, it is that simple. The REL Employee Handbook clearly states that on becoming aware of an accusation of this nature, the employee should immediately bring it to the attention of the employee’s supervisor. That’s exactly what I did. You’re my boss. I sent the email to you.”
“You never followed up.”
“I don’t have to defend myself in front of you, but right after sending that email I left for a four-week trip to Asia to meet with potential new affiliates. I had faith in you to handle the situation. Was that faith misplaced?”
“No, it wasn’t. The situation has been handled, but in a somewhat unconventional manner.”
For the next twenty minutes Sherman recounted his first meeting with Carter and the agreement to go along with Carter’s plan to contain the situation. When he spoke about the audiotape of Matthews’s assault on Pomerantz, Sherman watched for a flicker of recognition on Junior’s face. There was none.
Junior asked few questions, his face impassive. Since his meeting with Carter, none of this was new to him. He reacted sharply, however, when Sherman brought up Stephenson’s death.
“Has it occurred to you, Dick, that that’s one hell of a coincidence? A woman who’s threatening to go public with her story conveniently commits suicide? Paying victims to keep quiet is bad enough, but at least we’re in good company. Plenty of other major corporations have done the same. But if this Stephenson didn’t commit—” He paused and then resumed. “How well do you know this Carter fellow?”
“He’s about forty. A lawyer. Worked for us in Human Resources.”
Junior got up and walked to the window. For the first time, he sounded truly agitated. “I’m not interested in his résumé. I’m asking, do you really know him?”
“I know he was in the military,” Sherman answered, trying to sound confident.
“That’s hardly reassuring. So was Hitler. Do you mean to say you wired this guy millions of dollars of REL’s money and you don’t know the first thing about him?”
“The company does thorough vetting before they hire anybody,” Sherman said weakly. Junior paced around the office without responding.
“Dick, if Matthews’s abuse and how it was handled, or not handled, comes to light, we’re in a ‘real’ mess.” Both men recognized the unintended pun but did not comment. “But if your guy Carter has gone rogue, do you understand you could be looking at accessory to murder?”
“Leave Carter to me,” Sherman said, his confidence returning. “I’ve already hired an agency to dig into his background and to keep an eye on our deal maker.” Sherman knew he had done no such thing, but he didn’t want to give Junior any credit for inspiring the idea.
“And—” Sherman caught himself as he was about to say Junior, “And Fred, don’t be so cocksure that sending one email to me will be your get-out-of-jail-free card. A little free advice. If the you-know-what hits the fan, you’re going to look more than a little foolish defending yourself by citing the REL Handbook.”
“What are you looking for, Sherman?”
“I started and I’m going to finish a plan to put this behind us.” Sherman stood up. “If anybody comes to you asking questions about wires to Carter & Associates, your answer is that you approved them. Got that, Junior?”
The two men glared at each other before Sherman turned and headed for the door.
52
Michael Carter got up and walked around his office. The Wall Street Journal he had just read was open on his desk. Another article about REL News was above the fold, adding to the buzz surrounding the IPO and the predicting offering price of the shares.
Carter was not happy about his progress with Cathy Ryan. More importantly, neither were Sherman and Junior.
He sat back down and glanced at his computer screen. The email was addressed to Sherman. The blind copy would go to Junior.
Had another phone conversation with Cathy Ryan. Pressed hard but she declined to set meet date. Said she’s not ready to talk about what happened. Said she was leaving for vacation and wouldn’t be back for six days.
First thought was she’s lying. One of my sources has access to credit card records. She has a round trip reservation to Aruba departing on October 3rd and returning on the 9th. Booked at the Americana Hotel. A plus that she’s being honest.