Chapter 11: The Board Chair

The chairman of Haldane Freight's board lived in a stone house at the end of a cul-de-sac.

There was a koi pond in the front yard.

I rang his bell at seven the next morning with the shareholder notice in my bag.

He answered in a bathrobe, holding a mug, and his white mustache twitched when he saw me.

"Joanna," he said. "It's early."

"You were at lunch yesterday," I said. "You heard everything."

He glanced down the street.

"You'd better come in," he said.

His kitchen was warm and smelled of toast.

His wife was nowhere to be seen, and I understood that was arranged.

I put the notice on the counter.

"This says I gave my voting proxy to Cynthia Wickham," I said. "I didn't. Someone copied my signature."

He read the page.

He read it again.

"Russell sent this to the corporate secretary last month," he said slowly. "He said it was routine."

"Did you sign off on it?"

"I signed a stack of forty things that afternoon."

"My forty percent is the biggest block in the company."

"I know what it is."

"Then tell me what happens if the board meets and she votes it."

He rubbed his eyes.

"Russell has been talking about a sale," he said. "To a larger company, in the spring."

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