Scam

Greenberg?”
    He put up his hands. “No, no. It’s not my company. It’s the company I work for.”
    “What do you do for them?”
    “I’m a vice-president.”
    “What does that entail?”
    “I beg your pardon?”
    “What does your company do?”
    “Oh. Just what it sounds like. Make investments. Buy and sell.”
    “On the stock market?”
    “No. Not stocks. Properties. Businesses. Real estate. One of our strengths is we’re rather diversified. Say we invest in a hotel. We might turn right around and sell it. We might renovate it and then sell it. We might rent it out. We might run it as a business. Or we might develop it as part of a chain. You see?”
    Not at all. Business investments and real estate go right over my head. But it was probably not the time to say so.
    “And you’re the vice-president?” I said.
    “Well, I’m a vice-president. Actually, there’s two others.”
    “Oh?”
    “Yeah. Marty Rothstein and Kevin Dunbar.”
    “You have three vice-presidents?”
    “That’s right.”
    “Who’s the president?”
    “There is no president.”
    “Oh? So who runs the company?”
    “The board of directors.”
    “And who is that?”
    Cranston Pritchert nodded. “Exactly. That’s just it.” He ticked them off on his fingers. “There’s me. Kevin. Marty. And the treasurer, Jack Jenkins. That’s four. The fifth member was the chairman of the board. Philip Greenberg. He died last month.”
    “Oh?”
    “Yes,” Pritchert said. “And that’s the whole problem. There’s a proxy fight going on for control of the company. There’s a stockholders meeting coming up. To vote in a new chairman of the board.”
    “Who are the stockholders?”
    “The main ones are me, Kevin, and Marty.”
    “Didn’t Philip Greenberg own stock?”
    “Yes, of course. It went to his granddaughter, Amy. Nearest living relative. But she has no interest in the company. She’s in her twenties. Playgirl. Could care less about business.”
    “But she has the stock?”
    “Yes.”
    “A controlling interest?”
    He frowned. “Not really controlling. Whoever she voted with would be in a powerful position. Still, it would take more proxies. If everyone ganged up against them—”
    I put up my hands. “Fine,” I said. “So you’re a stockholder?”
    “Yes.”
    “As well as these other guys?”
    “Kevin and Marty. That’s right.”
    “And you all want to be chairman of the board?”
    He frowned. “That’s putting it a little bluntly. This company is my future. I would like to control my future. I—”
    I put up my hands again. Looked at my watch. “Please. I have to be in the Bronx by ten o’clock. The fact is, there’s a proxy fight going on, there’s a stockholders meeting, and they’re gonna vote in a chairman of the board?”
    “That’s right.”
    “What has this got to do with you being set up?”
    “That’s just it. I’m not sure.”
    Before we went around again, I said, “Fine. Tell me about the incident that makes you think you’re being set up.”
    He took a breath. “It was last week. Thursday night. After work. I went out for a drink.”
    “With who?”
    “Just by myself.”
    “You usually drink alone?”
    “You make it sound like a bad habit.”
    “I’m sorry. I’m just trying to get the information. Do you normally go out with people from work?”
    “No.”
    “Then you, Marty, and Kevin aren’t close.”
    “Well, not socially.”
    “Fine,” I said. “I’m sorry I interrupted. Anyway, you went out for a drink?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Where?”
    “At a bar.”
    “I figured that. Where’s the bar?”
    “On Third Avenue.”
    “Third Avenue and where?”
    “65th Street.”
    “Where’s work?”
    “66th and Lex.”
    “Uh-huh. So you went out to this bar and what happened?”
    “Well, there was a girl there.”
    “Oh?”
    “Yeah. Young. Attractive. Anyway, we got to talking. And I wound up buying her a drink.”
    “I see.”
    He frowned impatiently. “No, it wasn’t like that.”
    “Like what?”
    “Like what you’re thinking. It was just very pleasant. We sat there talking and I wound up buying her a drink.”
    “What were you talking about?”
    “Nothing in particular. Just talking.”
    “So?”
    “So, anyway we had a couple of drinks and that’s it.”
    “What do you mean, that’s it?”
    “That’s all I remember.”
    “Oh?”
    “Next thing I know, I’m sitting on the front steps of a brownstone and a guy’s prodding me with his foot