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Jay knocked and let himself in, closing the door behind him. “Cartwright’s coming in at ten.”
“I thought I left word that we weren’t having a meeting yet?”
“He called yesterday afternoon to set it up, said he heard you were going to be back in town this morning.”
Fucking Adam must’ve told him.
Jay leaned against the chair, not bothering to sit. “Who do you want to invite?”
I had an easy answer. “You, me, and Larry should do it.”
He cocked his head. “What about Jennifer? She seemed pretty canny at reading Talbot and Zarniger.”
“Fine. Her too.” I didn’t need another person asking me why I was avoiding Jennifer.
After he left, I kept my office door closed. I wasn’t dealing with Cindy’s suggestion before this meeting. Instead, I spent the time reviewing what we’d previously gotten from Cartwright.
* * *
Carson Cartwright stoodas I entered the conference room and made a point of checking his watch. “Glad you could make time to see us on such short notice.”
I was my usual intentional five minutes late. “Always a pleasure to meet our shareholders.”
It was true in general, but not this time.
The corner of his mouth ticked up. “Adam sends his regards.”
Obviously not everybody in the FBI was as tight-lipped as they liked to pretend, but at least we hadn’t come to blows again in DC.
Cartwright was shorter than I’d guessed and considerably older looking than the pictures I’d seen. I’d had run-ins with his sons, but never met the father in person. Vanity had him using at least a ten-year-old photo on his website.
I shook hands with him, followed by the two people he’d brought with him, Lester and Swartzman.
I took a seat directly across from Cartwright, with Jay and Jennifer on one side of me and Larry and Syd on the other. “What can we do for you this morning?”
Cartwright sat up in his seat. “I’m here as a courtesy.”
That was a crock. He was here to threaten us.
“Today we’re filing a revised form 13.” He let the implication hang in the air. They were increasing their holding of our stock.
I had his business card on the table in front of me and slowly turned it around, waiting for him to continue.
“We’ve increased our position to twenty-four percent of the outstanding shares.”
The words almost knocked the air out of me. I twisted his business card around one more time, doing my best to appear unfazed. “I’m glad to hear you have such confidence in our future.”
Lester held back a laugh, and Swartzman smirked.
Cartwright’s expression, though, didn’t shift one iota. “Also, we’re amending the form to state that we intend to become active in advocating for better management of the company.”
I twisted his card around one more time. “We’re always open to suggestions.”
Cartwright’s eyes narrowed. “I’d like Lester, Swartzman, and myself to be invited to join the board.”
He’d made his first move on the chessboard.
I sat back and looked to my right. “Syd, do we have any openings on the board currently?”
