The Gold Coast

70

Lemon gets a call from Donald Hereford in New York. It looks like a sunny evening in Manhattan.

Hereford gets right to the point: “Have you gotten all of the night watchmen out of the plant out there?”

“Yes, we did that right after you visited. But listen, the Ball Lightning team reports some significant breakthroughs, and I thought I should tell you about them—”

Hereford is shaking his head. “Just keep the situation in the plant stable, especially in the next few days.”

Lemon nods stiffly, frustration tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Do you know…”

Hereford frowns. “We’ve found the source of the difficulty. He’s doing it for hire.”

“And he’s been hired by?”

But that’s going too far. Hereford looks out at New York’s big harbor, says, “Let’s not talk about this anymore now. Later we might be able to discuss it more fully.”

“Okay.”

He’ll never find out anything more about this, Lemon realizes; it’s happening on a level he isn’t on, it’s above him. Part of him is galled by the realization; part of him is happy not to know, not to be involved. Leave this sort of thing to others!

Hereford is about to switch off when Lemon remembers something else. “Oh, listen, we’ve gotten a request from our legal representative in Washington, to file an appeal in the Stormbee decision.” He describes the situation in detail. “So, it sounds like another appeal and we’ll really have a good chance of success.”

Hereford frowns. “Let me get back to you on that,” he says, and the screen goes blank.