Page 49 of Calculated in Death

“Yeah. Weird. Anyway, then you’ve got this lunch deal with these other dudes, a note to ’link up for this auction thing. What are you buying?”

“You’ll find out, won’t you, once I do.”

“Hmm. More meetings, more conferences, more ’link shit. I’m getting a headache just looking at this.”

She forked up some French toast, cleared her head. “You could assign people to do half this stuff. Probably more than half.”

“And often do.”

“So you’re up before dawn doing business, and you come in here and check this out.” She gestured toward the reports scrolling on the screen. “You’re looking at what your stocks are doing—your companies, your investments, and your competitors.”

“You’ll do smarter business if you know the field, which is always in flux.”

“Okay, I sort of get that. Then you spend the rest of the day moving and shaking, wheeling and dealing, checking up on stuff in the works, putting more stuff into the works, and buying stuff.”

“In a nutshell.” He took the appointment book back, put it away.

“You do it to make money, and make stuff, but you also do it because you get off on it.”

“In a manner of speaking.”

She was a boss; she knew how it worked. Her department was small scale compared to the Universe of Roarke, but a lot of the same rules applied.

“And if I asked you about any given employee, especially one who’d have the security level to access or gather information about funds or properties or investments—whatever—if you didn’t have the information on that employee in your head, you’d be able to have it in about ten seconds.”

“Anyone in particular?”

“No. See, you’ve had a couple people who work for you screw around, but when you consider the kazillion people who work for you in one way or another, but especially on the higher rungs, your system’s gold. And part of that gold is your immersion in it, because it’s your money, your people, your companies, your rep.”

“All right.”

“You’ve been audited, right?”

“Internally and externally.”

“And if there was anything hinky, you’d know it before the auditors. You’d fix it.”

One way or another, but there was no point thinking about that.

“That makes me wonder if the brass of the companies the vic was auditing know what’s what, and if they don’t, why? More, one of those companies—at least one—has something going on they’d kill for. How high does that go?”

“It’s usually best to start at the top and work down.”

“I’m thinking the same. Another round with the partners,” she continued as she ate. “Another with the vic’s firm. Tightening the circle if I can until you dig out whatever needs to be dug out. I’m going to give a copy to one of the department’s forensic accountants, too.”

“Are you telling me that to stir my competitive juices?”

“No, I need to do it. And okay, that’s a factor, but I need to do it. And run some of this by Mira, once I talk to a few more people.”

“Your day’s starting to look like mine.”

“Don’t say that, I’ll be forced to hide under the bed until tomorrow.”

“Darling Eve, the motives and the methods may vary, but our days aren’t so very different. Now, since you’re going to interview some of the top businessmen in the city, what are you wearing?”

“Some sort of clothing.”

“That’s a start.”