“How much leeway have I got?”
“Give him anything he wants,” said Armstrong. “Even offer to buy him a new gallery. But whatever you do, don’t let Townsend get anywhere near him, because if we can convince Summers to back us, that will open the door to his mother.”
“Right,” said Critchley, pulling on a sock. “I’d better get moving.”
“Just make sure you’re outside the gallery before it opens,” said Armstrong. He paused. “And if Townsend’s lawyer gets there before you, run him over.”
Critchley would have laughed, but he wasn?
??t entirely sure that his client was joking.
* * *
Tom was waiting outside the customs hall when his client came through the swing doors.
“The news isn’t good, Keith,” were his first words after they had shaken hands.
“What do you mean?” said Townsend as they headed toward the exit. “Armstrong couldn’t have got to New York ahead of me, because I know he was still at his desk at the Citizen when I flew out of Heathrow.”
“He may still be at his desk right now, for all I know,” said Tom, “but Russell Critchley, his New York attorney, had an appointment with Summers earlier this morning.”
Townsend stopped in the middle of the road, ignoring the screeching of brakes and the immediate cacophony of taxi horns.
“Did they sign a deal?”
“I have no idea,” said Tom. “All I can tell you is that when I got into my office, Summers’s secretary had left a message on my machine saying that your appointment had been canceled.”
“Damn. Then our first stop has to be the gallery,” said Townsend, finally stepping onto the sidewalk. “They can’t have signed a contract yet. Damn. Damn,” he repeated. “I should have let you see him in the first place.”
* * *
“He’s agreed to pledge you his 5 percent share in the Star if you’ll put up the money for a new gallery,” said Critchley.
“And what’s that going to cost me?” asked Armstrong, putting down his fork.
“He hasn’t found the right building yet, but he thinks around three million.”
“How much?”
“You would of course own the lease on the building…”
“Of course.”
“… and as the gallery is registered as a non-profit-making charity, there are some tax advantages.”
There was a long silence on the other end of the line before Armstrong said, “So how did you leave it?”
“When he reminded me for the third time that he had an appointment with Townsend later this morning, I said yes, subject to contract.”
“Did you sign anything?”
“No. I explained that you were on your way over from London, and I didn’t have the authority to do so.”
“Good. Then we still have a little time to…”
“I doubt it,” said Russell. “Summers knows only too well that he’s got you by the balls.”
“It’s when people think they’ve got me by the balls,” said Armstrong, “that I most enjoy screwing them.”