Steve had long since learned that probing Ann about her personal past was pretty useless. She’d talk about it if she wanted to, although usually didn’t, and then never about anything really serious. It was also very easy to wander into a frozen wasteland without even trying, so after a brief leading question or two, Steve decided to not push inquiries about Mrs. Cooper beyond that and Ann didn’t volunteer anything else.

He also made a mental note to raise the question with Uncle Homer sometime when Ann wasn’t around to hear about it.

After nearly two weeks of eating in restaurants, usually alone, it felt good to sit down to breakfast with Uncle Homer and Ann. Other than the battle with Rocky, not a great deal out of the ordinary had happened around the house, but they all found something to talk about. Steve decided not to mention getting involved with the engraving lessons mostly because he didn’t think his efforts would come to anything – but they had killed many slow hours for him in the last few days.

However, once they sat down over coffee in the living room they got down to business, and quite a bit had happened there. It proved that while Steve hadn’t talked with Phil much over the last week or so, Ann had done so a lot. She said that he’d nailed down the two contracts to get back the jobs Shawtex had stolen, and there were nibbles about a third one. He’d made arrangements for floor space in a small plant up the street from where RELI had been located, and had the formal organization of a company, Crocker Quality Manufacturing, under way. He also had several former RELI employees lined up to go to work as soon as things got started. Things had reached the point where he was going to need the money to get going, and with a deadline for production getting close enough to be uncomfortable he was starting to get anxious to have it.

“Steve, one of the questions I have,” Uncle Homer said, “is whether you still want your participation in this to continue to be relatively anonymous. I think you’d be wise to do it that way, and just remain the facilitator.”

“I think I like it the way we have it,” Steve replied. “If for no more reason than Phil would wonder where I got that kind of money in the first place. I mean, he knows I was close to broke. We have a perfectly good story and I don’t think we want to mess with it. He’s going to have enough on his plate just getting something going from nothing.”

“I tend to agree with you. I haven’t talked to him but have let Ann handle all the contacts. I’m particularly concerned that we don’t let him get involved with vengeance against Shawtex, at least at this time. He doesn’t need the diversion and we’re not sure it’s going to be possible. Ann knows more about that than I do, too.”

“I take it that you’ve been poking around that a little, Ann?”

“Yes, sir. I’m afraid I haven’t come up with much information. In the last two weeks I’ve been pumping their stock a little, through several accounts. At one point I owned about four percent of the stock, at least for a few minutes.”

“Isn’t that sort of expensive?”

“No, sir. It’s a penny stock and not worth much since the dividends are poor, but it gives us a little bit of a window into the company. From what I can see the major stockholders are all company executives, and they use the money that ought to go to dividends and pay themselves as bonuses.”

“Which is what makes it a penny stock,” Uncle Homer snorted. “My guess is that the fact the stock is public at all probably traces back to some other scam. They’ve been doing this for years. At one time they were actually a manufacturing company, but they’ve gotten rid of that part of the business and are now pretty much a holding company.”

“I take it there’s not enough stock out there to be able to consider a hostile takeover,” Steve asked.

“No, sir,” Ann replied. “Not without the collusion of one or more of the executives.”

“Which isn’t going to happen,” Uncle Homer added. “They’ve got a good thing going for them and they know it.”

“Maybe it would be worth the effort to sic Chipperdude onto them,” Steve suggested. “It might be that a look at their e-mails might give us a hint of someone who’s dissatisfied.”

“That’s a possibility, sir,” Ann said. “However, it’s still necessary to decide if it’s going to be worth the effort. At the moment, pumping the stock a little has left us several hundred dollars to the good, and that’s all. Unfortunately, Chipperdude doesn’t work for free, and even if he does find something there’s a good chance it wouldn’t be useful to us.”

“You’re suggesting we give up, then?”

“No, sir. I’m saying that I’m looking for guidance.”

“I don’t know, either,” Uncle Homer said after a moment’s thoughtfulness. “My gut feeling is that they’re a chicken waiting to be plucked, and they deserve it, but the problem is going to be catching the chicken in the first place. They think they’re safe, so they might be a little complacent.”

“Could be,” Steve replied, “but I doubt they’re going to be as stupid as Junior down there in Pendersburg, either. As arrogant, yes, but not quite as stupid.”

“Oh, what the hell,” Uncle Homer said. “We have to get our fun somehow or life would be pretty boring. Let’s get Chipperdude on it, but no rush and on a tight leash. Don’t give him an unlimited budget, Ann. I have the feeling that either he ought to be able to crash the e-mail accounts and passwords in a couple of hours, or that it’s going to be like trying to crack the National Security Agency and not worth the trouble.”

“Maybe before we give him a lot of money, we ought to tell him to take a quick look and give us a gut feeling of how hard it’s going to be,” Steve suggested.

“Probably not a bad idea,” Uncle Homer agreed. “Ann, go ahead and get it set up. We may well find out we’re farting down a dry hole, but at least we’d know we are.”

“Very well, sir. I’ll put together a message for him tonight. If we can leave a little early for the airport tomorrow perhaps we can stop off at a library along the way to send a message to him.”

“Sure, no problem on my account,” Steve agreed. “But that gets us back to the problem of how much we tell Phil. At this point, I suggest nothing, since this may not go anywhere.”

“I’d agree with that,” Uncle Homer nodded. “There are ways he might be useful if this shows signs of coming off, but at this point I think it would be pointless to let him get his hopes up.”

“I agree, sirs,” Ann put in. “That takes care of my question on that part of the matter. However, we do have a few more details to work out about tomorrow.”

The discussion went on for a while longer, first going over some final points for the meeting with Crocker the next day, and then leading into a couple of other matters that were warming up but not coming to a boil. Steve realized he was going to have a respite from traveling for a few days, but he’d soon be on the road again.

Both Steve and Ann turned in early – well, actually a normal time for Steve, but very early for Ann since she knew she’d have to be up much of the day. He got up at a normal time for him, to find Ann already up. “I made an early dinner for Mr. Taylor and myself, sir,” she told him. “I plan on putting him to bed just before we leave, but I didn’t know if you’d like breakfast, or what.”

“Why don’t I just get something in town?” he suggested. “I’ve still got to pick up those four-by-fours for the bird feeders, too.”

“I’d appreciate that, sir. I still have a few things I must do before we leave, and that would give me the time to do them. But sir, why don’t you take the minivan to get those posts? That would save you the risk of damaging your new car.”

“You talked me into it, Ann.”

Becky had French toast and sausage on special that morning, and Steve ordered it. “You’re hard to predict,” Becky said. “When you were in here a couple of weeks ago you couldn’t stand breakfasts.”

“That was a couple of weeks ago, and I’m on days for the moment,” he explained. “I don’t know how long I’m going to be around at this point, but if I’m around very long I’ll probably be switching back to nights. Fortunately I’m getting used to it.”

That set Steve to thinking, as always seemed to happen when he stopped at Becky’s. He really had only been working with Uncle Homer and Ann for a fairly brief time, but it had certainly changed his perceptions. In only a few short weeks he’d become used to a new and more interesting life. It was much better than doing quality control, and better yet than sitting around the apartment doing little, other than watching daytime TV.

In fact, now that he thought about it, he realized that he no longer thought of his apartment down south in Dillon as home at all. He might stay there for a few days if he went to help Phil with setting up production control and quality control for the new company, but there was no guarantee that it was going to come off. Craig could probably handle most of it without his input, after all. Without much further thought, Steve decided that if Craig thought he wanted some help he’d be willing to provide it, but he was going to be very reluctant about letting himself be imposed on Craig by Phil,. It might be just as well, for Steve could see he was going to have other things to do, anyway.

He didn’t think he was quite ready to move out of the apartment yet, but that time probably wouldn’t be far in the future. Right now it was a waste of money, a place to store stuff he wasn’t using. It wasn’t as if he had any real interests there any more, not since RELI had left him. He didn’t have a girlfriend or anyone keeping him there – Teri wasn’t an issue and hadn’t been for months, maybe ever, and there just hadn’t been any other prospects in recent years, not that he would have wanted to get serious about Teri anyway.

Moving out begged a couple of problems: somehow, it didn’t seem quite right to move in with Uncle Homer and Ann just yet. After all, he had no idea of how long Uncle Homer was going to last but he would have been willing to bet on “not all that long.” In fact, much of the job seemed to be trying to close out and wrap up some of Uncle Homer’s affairs, so there was an end in sight on that.

It was clear that he would be a fool to not ride the wave as long as it held out. He’d already made some pretty good money from the Hardin deal and from what he’d been paid for his work on the Baldwynn and Columbus deals. There was going to be at least some income from Macomber-Calligan since it was set up as a separate company with Ann and him as the stockholders. More seemed likely to come if he were to hang on, even for a while, and that didn’t even include the immense store of knowledge he was picking up from Uncle Homer – he was getting practical experience there he seemed unlikely to get in any other way.

So it still seemed strange, if convenient, to be living at Uncle Homer’s house and putting up with the weird hours. Maybe it might be worth the trouble of getting an apartment in Wychbold, but maybe not. There was no place that could go but into the category of “wait and see.”

Then there was Ann, and he didn’t know what to think about her. Her coolness and reticence could be very irritating at times, but every now and then he got flashes of a human being under her chilly exterior. In a way, he was coming to like her, and he especially liked her dependability and responsibility – if she said she’d do something, it would get done, and done efficiently. That was refreshing, especially after having dealt with Teri, who had no ideas what the word “loyalty” meant.

But, as always, Ann was a mystery; while a few things about her had been revealed, intentionally or inadvertently, he was aware that he really knew very little about her or what made her tick. Perhaps it was her pure inapproachability that fascinated him, the mystery itself, somewhat like being unable to put down a good novel for wanting to find out what happened on the next page. Somehow he didn’t think he was going to make it to the final chapter, but the next several pages held the potential of being interesting.

Steve finished his breakfast, picked up the lumber, and returned to the house. It had been decided the night before that he would dress and act on the casual side, something like Phil was familiar with, while Ann would be the businesslike one – once again, Steve was the facilitator and Ann was the representative of the unnamed investors.

So Steve pulled on a polo shirt and a sport jacket with no tie, but when he went downstairs he found Ann dressed to look severely businesslike, much like she looked when he first met her, but more so, if anything. She’d put on a little makeup, partly to take away some of the pallor of her skin, but also to act as something of a sunscreen. “Ann, you look like you mean it,” he said.

“That was how I intended to look, sir,” she said, her manner as icy as her appearance. “I wish to appear to Mr. Crocker that I am not to be trifled with.”

“Then I guess we might as well do it. You’ve got the look down very well.”

Not surprisingly they didn’t talk much on the way to the airport. While Ann was almost normally cool and businesslike, this time she was working at it and wasn’t even as friendly as the time she had come looking for him. It was clear that she didn’t want to slip out of her role, not that Steve thought it would be very likely anyway. At one point she was willing to admit that she liked his new car, but that was about as far as it went; discussions of the weather and the passing scenery fell about as flat as ever.

Steve went into the motel with her so he would know where to find the small conference room they’d arranged for. He called Phil to discover he had just gotten off the plane, so Steve got back in the LaCrosse and headed for the passenger pickup at the airport. Phil was waiting at the curb when Steve drove up. “What’s this, new wheels?” Phil asked.

“Yeah, the Caliber was getting a little old for all the road miles I’ve been putting on it recently, and I got a good deal on this. So Ms. Rutledge says you’re ready to get on with things.”

“It can’t come soon enough. I’ve been kiting money around the last few days to keep things moving. I’ve got a plane back in a few hours, and then the real fun starts. But with any kind of luck we ought to be in at least low-level production in a couple of weeks. I want to get a head start in case we run into any glitches.”

“Sounds wise,” Steve told him. “Like I told you, I’ll come down and help if you need it, but I’d really rather not since I have a full plate right now. Craig ought to be able to get you going.”

“He has been a hell of a big help, but you’ve been a bigger help putting me together with these Macomber-Calligan people. This Ms. Rutledge has been a big help, too.”

“She usually is.”

“She’s pretty businesslike, isn’t she? I mean, all business. If she has a personality, I haven’t heard any sign of it.”

“I don’t know her very well, but I can tell you she’s even worse in person. She does not mess around, Phil.”

“Some kind of woman’s libber? You often see that in women in business.”

“If so, I haven’t seen any sign on it. You said it, all business. By the way, she will be wearing sunglasses when she meets you. She was complaining that she had to have her pupils dilated this morning. That didn’t help her get into a good mood.”

“Boy, you’re just full of good news this morning, aren’t you?”

It didn’t take long to conclude the actual business. There were no handshakes; Ms. Rutledge gave Phil a short but icy lecture about how they had put a lot of faith in him and in Steve, and the people she represented would be most disappointed if Phil were to fail them. The lecture lowered the temperature in the room by a good ten degrees. The paperwork signing went quickly; a local notary public had been brought in to witness the signing. Phil wound up leaving the room with a check for half a million dollars in his pocket, and it wasn’t the only reason he was relieved.

“Holy shit,” he said as he and Steve began the short drive to the passenger departure lane at the airport. “I would really hate to be the captain of the Titanic and run into her. Where did you manage to meet up with her, anyway?”

“She’s the representative for the Macomber-Calligan people,” Steve explained. “There wasn’t any real meeting involved. I do have to say that she knows exactly what she’s talking about and she doesn’t fool around.”

“How did you meet up with them?”

“Through an elderly uncle who happens to know some people,” Steve explained – it was the truth, after all but with a touch of slant to it. “Let’s just say those people want to stay a little on the anonymous side. I’m pretty sure Ms. Rutledge must know who they are, but I think you could see why I didn’t want to ask.”

“Uh, yeah. I see what you mean. It’s just too bad some of her friends couldn’t make some arrangements to deal with the Shawtex people.”

“Phil, I’m not even going to speculate on that. Like I told you before, I’m just the one who’s greasing the skids on this one, and now that the deal is done I’m going to try to stay clear of it. But I’m putting a lot of faith in you to do the right thing. For at least a short time you’re going to be in a good place to hurt Shawtex by taking contracts away from them. Concentrate on that, at least for now. People like that often end up shooting themselves in the foot, and we’ll just have to hope that happens.”

“Well, I hope you’re right on that.”

Steve dropped Phil off at the airport, and went back to the motel to pick up Ann, who had let her hair down after Steve and Phil left. “With due respect, Ms. Rutledge, I think he got the message that you don’t fool around,” he said as soon as they were settled in the car.

“That was the message we hoped to leave him with, sir,” she smiled. “I realize that we don’t have much in collateral in the deal, so we needed to have a larger than normal degree of respect.”

“You mean fear, rather than respect, don’t you?”

“Yes, sir, that’s exactly what I meant. In any case, I think the meeting went well. We shall have to continue to monitor the situation, but I think it will prove to be profitable.”

“Ann, you don’t have to put on that icy-business-bitch persona often, do you? I agree, it’s very effective, but knowing you the way I do, it seems more than a little creepy.”

“Oh, I can be creepier than that if I need to be, sir,” she smiled. “If I really wanted to freak him out I could have not worn my sunglasses.”

“I don’t know about that. I would have thought that it was a little bright in that room.”

“I believe I told you that I have contact lenses for such occasions,” she laughed. “I have a set that is bright red. I mean, highly reflective red, much redder than my normal eyes. I’ve only had to wear them for business a couple of times, and then dressed in black.”

Steve thought about it for a moment, and decided he couldn’t tell if she was pulling his leg, or what. “Ann the Vampire, huh?” he said. “Yeah, that could freak out most people, even those who don’t believe in vampires.”

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