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“Get outta here, you drunk!” Stan stalked toward me, pointing. “Get outta here!”
“TJ, where’s your car?” John asked, wild-eyed, but just then Stan shoved him aside, grabbed me by my shirt, and threw me against Mike’s car.
“You junkie!”
“Whoa!” I put my hands up, fending him off. John and Mike pulled Stan off me, and my father stood behind them. People stopped, horrified at the scene, and one tall man in a well-tailored suit jogged over.
“Stan?”the man said, incredulous behind designer glasses. “What’s going on?”
“I’m throwing out the trash,” Stan answered, hastily smoothing down his tie, suddenly on his best behavior.
“See you later, TJ. I’m in the book.” Mike met my eye meaningfully, then headed toward the funeral home.
“Okay, Mike.” Shaky, I started to walk back to my car as my brother greeted the tall man.
“Good to see you again, Asit,” John was saying. “Dad, meet Asit Shah, in-house counsel at Vuarnex. Of course you know, they’re Runstan’s acquirer.”
•••
“TJ, what wasthatall about earlier?” Mike sat across the table from me. We were in his small kitchen, under an amber fixture that cast a warm glow. His dark tie was loosened, and his shoulders looked bony in his thin shirt.
“Do you really want to know?”
“Good point.” Mike lifted an eyebrow. “No. You don’t have to tell me more. I don’t want to get in the middle. So we never met tonight and we never had the conversation we’re about to have. You follow me?”
“Yes.”
“But I’ll tellyousomething: That fight in front of Asit wasnotgood.”
“Because he’s from Vuarnex?”
“Yes. He’s running the acquisition for them. We call him the Shah.We’re on strict instructions to kiss his ass, and we do. We pucker upgood.”
“So he’s who my brother found to make the deal with Runstan?”
“Yes. We never see any of the principals, just him. He comes into the office from time to time to meet with Stan and your brother. Sometimes Neil. That tussle in the parking lot could cause repercussions.”
“How so?”
“How can I put this?” Mike paused. “Vuarnex is big league. Runstan is bush league. We’re not even a fish getting swallowed by a whale. We’re more like a fish getting swallowed by thesea.”
“Okay.”
“I was surprised to see the Shah at the wake. He’s a busy man. He knew Neil, but notthatwell. Now some people might think his coming was classy, like a gesture of respect.”
“Right, that’s what I thought.”
“On the other hand, he’s a cool customer and he plays it close to the vest. He has to be having doubts, now that we’re coming down to the short strokes. Neil dies by suicide during the acquisition? The Shah might have a question or two about the way the company’s run, about its stability, overall health,corporate culture.” Mike snorted. “You know Stan never met anything with culture his whole damn life.”
I smiled.
“So the Shah comes to the wake, he’s got his doubts, and what does he see? Stan attacks his lawyer’sbrother? With his other lawyer, yourfather, in the mix? You know the Shah’s gonna start asking questions about the Devlins and a lot else. He’s gonna want to know what’s up.”
I realized I’d given my father and brother some credit for getting Stan off me, but now I saw it in a different light. They weren’t worried about me, they were worried about the acquisition.
“So who knows what the Shah thinks?” Mike shrugged. “WhetherNeil died by suicide or was murdered, neither makes Runstan look good. Now Stan looksnuts. This isnothow they play at Vuarnex.”
It rang true. “Mike, what do you do at Runstan again?”
