Russell Andrews - Hades

"Quite a conversation you were having."

Matuszek shrugged. "I don't let it bother me anymore. I talk to guys like that three, four times a day now."

"Doesn't bother you messing around with people's lives like that?"

Matuszek shook his head. "First of all, I don't mess around with anything, certainly not people's lives. I don't have anything to do with people's lives."

"Firing someone doesn't count as anything?"

"People find their own level. They fail or succeed on their own. I might be the one who has to point out their failure or success, but I'm not responsible for their fate. I take businesses and make them stronger. That's all I do."

"Stronger meaning more profitable," Justin said.

"There's no other definition, is there?"

"Sounds like you don't just invest in companies. Sounds like you have quite a bit of control over them."

"If we invest heavily enough, we do. And that's the way it should be. You put up the money, you get to demand results. And if you don't get them…"

"You do what you have to do," Justin said, "to make sure you do get them."

"Bingo," Carl Matuszek said. "Want to come work here?"

"I'm afraid," Reggie interrupted, "we're already working. Can we talk about Evan Harmon, please."

"A tragedy," Matuszek said. He put as much emotion into the word "tragedy" as he would if he were discussing a problem he might have with a suit that didn't fit properly.

"Did you work with Mr. Harmon?" Reggie asked.

"Of course. He was my mentor as well as my boss."

"So you learned from him?" Justin said.

"Almost everything I know," Matuszek answered.

"And did you work closely with him? On a daily basis?"

"Oh yeah. As close as it's possible to work with someone. Hey," Matuszek said, and Justin was pretty sure he saw an actual wink, "you mind if I see your ID or some badges or whatever you people carry? I mean, I know you're who you say you are, but even so…"

Reggie took her FBI ID out and held it out. Justin held up a badge he'd bought in the East End Harbor five-and-dime. It said FBI on it in big letters. Matuszek found them both equally convincing. As Justin put his badge away, he could see Reggie staring at him incredulously.

"So you'd know a decent amount about Mr. Harmon's dealings for the company," Reggie asked Matuszek once she was able to recover from the sight of Justin's toy badge.

"Pretty much," Matuszek said.

Reggie shoved a piece of paper across the desk. "So, for instance, if I asked you to identify these companies, you could?"

Matuszek scanned the list in front of him. "Sure," he said. "I don't know every single one, but we do business with most of these guys."

"Meaning what?"

"We handle their money. Do corporate investments. Some of them we invest in."

"Can you tell me what they do?"

"Every company on the list?"

"If you can."

"I don't think I can do every one but…" Matuszek ran his finger down the list. "Penzine is an energy company, does that new shit with corn… Balbear makes ball bearings. Not very glam but incredibly solid business… CafRite manages school cafeterias…"

"That's the company you just sold Phil's company to."

"Phil?"

"The guy you were just talking to. The guy you fired?"

"Oh, right, right. Yes, we just sold it to CafRite."

"That's allowed? Selling one client's company to another client?"

"It's not just allowed, it's what we do. We invest for our clients. We buy and we sell. Doesn't really matter who we buy from or who we sell to, as long as it's profitable and there's no exchange of inside information."

"All right," Justin said. "Keep going down the list."

And he did. One company designed and built ice-skating rinks around the country; one company was a trucking and shipping line; one manufactured lightbulbs. One company made substrates-and when Justin asked what a substrate was, half expecting Matuszek to come up with some kind of idiotic punch line-he was told it was the key to auto exhaust systems; it's what allowed those systems to meet environmental standards around most of the world. A big business, Matuszek said. A big business. And a good example of the way they worked. They didn't just invest in substrates. The next company on the list was an auto parts company that made the exhaust systems that used substrates.

"One hand washing the other," Justin said.

"Washing has nothing to do with it," Matuszek said. "It's one hand taking money from one pocket and putting even more money in the other pocket. That's what we do."

Other than the link between the two businesses that dealt in auto parts, there was no rhyme or reason to the others being on the same list except that they all were involved in a transaction handled by Ascension. Matuszek explained that they weren't developing a core business. Nothing had to relate to anything else. Their core business, he said, was money.

There were several companies on the list that Carl Matuszek didn't know. And there were two he knew but had nothing to do with.

"And why don't you deal with those two?" Reggie asked.

"They deal in commodities. Not my area. If you want more info on them, you have to talk to Hudson Fenwick."

"That's my favorite Dickens novel," Justin said.

"What?" Matuszek said blankly.

"Nothing. Where do we find Hudson Fenwick?"

Matuszek didn't answer, just reached toward his phone, pushed a few buttons, and said, "Hud? You wanna come in here for a minute?"

And a few moments later, Hudson Fenwick walked through the door. Fenwick was more or less a thinner, less-athletic version of Carl Matuszek. Same short haircut; same button-down long-sleeved shirt; same slacks; and same striped tie, except his was red and black instead of blue and white. Fenwick also seemed nervous and fidgety. He immediately got more nervous and more fidgety when Matuszek told him the visitors were from the FBI. Justin went to pull out his badge, but Reggie managed to grab his hand before he could dig it out of his pocket.

"What-um-what can I do for you?" Fenwick asked.

"They're looking for some information on Menking, Inc. and-what's the other one?" He looked down at Reggie's list. "Right. Cates and Herr."

"What-what-what do you want to know?"

"What they do, for one thing."

"Menking-um-deals in precious metals. Trades. Buys, sells. Mostly platinum."

"Platinum?" Reggie said. She leaned forward, then realized it probably gave the impression she was a little too interested.

"Yes," Hudson said. "Something wrong with that?"

"No, of course not," she said. "Where are they located?"

"They've got offices all over the world. London, Belgium… I think their home office is in Canada."

"What about the other one?" she asked. "Cates and Herr."

"Um… mining, actually. Platinum again."

"Uh-huh," Justin said. "Where does one mine platinum?"

"They're in"-he coughed two or three times, then cleared his throat from all the coughing-"South Africa."

Before Hudson Fenwick could do any more hemming, hawing, or coughing, Forrest Bannister walked into Carl Matuszek's office. Justin couldn't help noticing that with five people in the office, the room looked a lot less crowded than his own living room with just two people in it.

"Chief Westwood," Bannister said. "I apologize for being late. Things are a little… out of the ordinary, as I'm sure you understand."

Justin said that he understood completely and he introduced Reggie. He was surprised at the difference in Bannister's demeanor from the night that he had found Evan Harmon's body and called in the murder. He was far more calm and collected now, which wasn't really surprising. But he was also much more commanding and assertive. He no longer seemed like the kind of guy who'd immediately come running a hundred miles when Evan Harmon called.