‘Go ahead.’
‘It’s about Alex Lubron.’
Abby raised her eyebrows. ‘Alex Lubron? Now that’s a subject that I thought you had all the answers to, not me.’
Chris ignored the dig. He knew he would have to be careful. ‘Actually, I wanted to talk to you about what happened a little before he died.’
‘I’ll see if I can remember.’
‘I understand he tested positive for drugs?’
Abby nodded. ‘I do remember that. We were supposed to have a crackdown on drug abuse in the firm. You might recall that a couple of salesmen had been caught supplying clients. Well, the idea was to fire one or two employees quite publicly to show that the firm was coming down hard on the issue. But they didn’t want to fire real employees that were making real money. So they had the idea that they would pick on a couple of trainees. No one would miss them, right?’
Chris smiled.
‘As you can imagine, Calhoun loved this idea. So he set up a fake medical exam, which would be taken without warning right after the final examination. The Frankfurt and London offices objected that their trainees were going to be sacrificed as well, so Calhoun was forced to restrict things to the American hires.
‘So, they took the samples, and much to their surprise only one trainee tested positive.’
‘Alex?’
‘That’s right. Alex. And what’s more, he had some kind of mentor in mortgage trading who raised hell. Calhoun spent a lot of time with Alex; I’m not sure what the deal was, exactly. Anyway, after Alex died it was all forgotten. Bloomfield Weiss wanted a quick and easy sacking of someone who’d never be heard of again. Once Alex had drowned, he became entirely the wrong person to be found with drugs.’
‘Did the police know?’ Chris asked.
‘I’m not sure what the police knew,’ Abby said. ‘They seemed suspicious about Alex’s death for a week or so, and then they dropped the whole thing. But I’m sure you remember that.’
‘I do,’ said Chris. ‘I definitely do.’
‘Now, whether Bloomfield Weiss put some kind of pressure on them, I don’t know.’
‘Can Bloomfield Weiss do that?’
Abby looked around her. ‘What do you think we do here? We’re one of the top three firms on the Street for raising municipal finance. We know a lot of public officials.’
‘Hmm.’
Abby leaned forward. ‘So tell me,’ she said, a twinkle in her eye. ‘What did happen on that boat?’
Chris sighed. ‘Alex got drunk. The boat was going fast. The sea was choppy. He fell in. Ian, Eric and Duncan jumped in to try to find him. They couldn’t. We were lucky to find them, quite honestly. Alex drowned.’ Chris’s voice was flat as he recited this. All of it was true, even if it wasn’t the whole truth.
‘I’m sorry,’ said Abby, her curiosity punctured by Chris’s tone. ‘Sometimes you forget that disasters involve real people.’
‘Yeah,’ said Chris. ‘You do.’
‘There were rumours afterwards. That it hadn’t been an accident.’
‘I’m sure.’
‘It was a big deal in HR. You see, they’d been trying a new approach to recruitment for a couple of years. Do you remember doing some psychometric tests when you joined?’
‘Vaguely.’
‘Well, one of the things they were looking for was extreme competitiveness, aggression, even ruthlessness. The theory was that investment bankers need to be predators, kings of the jungle, some crap like that.’
‘Sounds just like George Calhoun,’ Chris said.
‘Exactly. In fact, I think the whole thing might have been his idea. Well, a lot of the people produced by this process were your average nasty red-blooded investment banker. But one or two of them were borderline psychotic’
‘And Bloomfield Weiss recruited them anyway?’
‘You got it. With open arms. One of the psychologists who did the tests kicked up a fuss about it. In the end we stopped them.’
‘Do you know who these “borderline psychotics” were?’
‘I found out who one of them was later. A guy called Steve Matzley was convicted for rape a few months after he left Bloomfield Weiss. I don’t think he was on your programme. But he was recruited about that time. The rumour is that the psychologist’s report flagged him as being a dangerous person.’
‘And they took him anyway?’
‘You got it. He was a great government bond trader. It was pure luck he wasn’t working here when he committed the rape.’
‘Jesus. So was the rumour that one of us on the boat had a similar profile?’
‘That was the rumour. After Steve Matzley, it made some kind of sense. But it was pure speculation. The files were strictly locked up and confidential. Besides, you just told me it was an accident, didn’t you?’
Chris didn’t respond to her question. ‘Did you know the name of the psychologist who complained about the tests?’
‘No. Sorry. But you should ask George Calhoun about all this. He’d be able to tell you more.’
‘Is he still in Human Resources?’
They fired him about a year ago.’
‘Oh, what a shame. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.’
‘Especially after all he did for us,’ said Abby, grinning.
‘Do you know how I can get hold of him?’
‘I don’t know if he got another job,’ said Abby. ‘And in case you’re wondering, I don’t have his home number.’
‘Never mind. I’ll track him down. Thanks for your help.’
‘No problem,’ said Abby, picking up her phone.
10
Chris took the elevator up a couple of floors. The doors opened on a large, hushed reception area, guarded by a beautifully groomed young woman, who asked Chris to take a seat, offered him a cup of tea, and promised that Mr Astle would be with him shortly.
Of course he wasn’t, but Chris didn’t mind waiting. He watched people come and go through a heavy smoked-glass door, waving their passes at a blinking green eye on a black panel each time. He thought about the police investigation into Alex’s death.
It had been tense. The first set of questions was quick and easy. They had all agreed to describe what actually happened, including Duncan’s argument with Alex, but to miss out the fight. Only Lenka and Duncan were to admit to actually seeing Alex go overboard, the rest of them were up on the bridge looking the other way. But a couple of days after the initial questioning, they were all interviewed again, by a pair of detectives who were much more probing. They seemed to think there was something wrong about the story, but they didn’t know quite what. One of them had asked Chris if there had been a fight, and Chris had said that if there had been, he hadn’t seen it. Afterwards, everyone’s nerves were on edge, but they all felt they had succeeded in keeping to their stories. Duncan wobbled and said he was going to tell the truth, but Eric and Chris persuaded him that since they had lied this far, they may as well see it through. Eventually, Duncan had agreed.
Ian, Duncan and Chris had been asked to stay in New York for an extra week, so that they would be available for further questioning. It also gave them a chance to attend Alex’s funeral. They spent a lot of time together, with Lenka and Eric. Both Lenka and Duncan were distraught, blaming themselves for what had happened. Ian was moody, talking little, and brooding often. Lenka got herself hopelessly drunk twice in that week. She and Duncan were careful not to talk to each other, and it was always awkward when they were in the same room.
Eric, and to a lesser extent Chris himself, had been a calming force on all of them, although Alex was a closer friend of Eric’s than any of the others. Then, after a week, the police had closed the case, and with a great feeling of relief the three Brits flew home.