Page 59 of The List


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“So what are we supposed to do?” Hughes said. “Pay the son of a bitch by the hour to make our lives a living hell?”

“We could kill him.”

Lee and Hughes both turned toward him.

“What did you say, Chris?” Lee said.

“We could kill him.”

“You mean as in dead?” Hughes asked.

“That’s exactly what I mean.”

Lee was intrigued. “You’ve obviously given this some thought. What do you propose?”

“Reed and the electricians are easy to work with. York and the machinists even easier. Shuman and the papermakers will not cooperate. We’ve tried force, threats, bribery, favoritism, courtesy, even ass licking. He doesn’t want to work with us. What he wants is controversy. He sees that as a way to heighten his image. You’re right, Hamilton, we can’t fire him, that’d make things worse. We’d be up to our butts in grievances and lawsuits.”

“We’re about to be anyway,” Lee said.

“If no one’s around to be a plaintiff, who’s going to sue us? If there’s no one left to file the grievance, who’s going to fight us? Who’s going to ride as the Lone Ranger for the environmentalists? Who’s going to funnel documents and other crap to the press? Nobody but Shuman. If he’s dead, that won’t be a problem.”

“Ever heard of a martyr?” Lee asked.

“He won’t be one. It seems Shuman likes to gamble. Bets on almost anything. Plays the numbers. Ball games. Goes to the dog tracks down in Florida. He doesn’t lose a lot, but what he does is steal our electrical instruments, tools, and scrap copper, then pawn the stuff to cover the losses.”

“How did you learn that?” Hughes asked.

“A good PI can find out a lot, if given enough time and money.”

“So we can kill and discredit him at the same time,” Lee said.

“Exactly. He tries to fence stolen stuff and gets shot. The criminal element can be tough to deal with. Happens all the time. For appearances we plant more stolen items in his house to make the thefts clearer.”

“Damn, Chris, you’re serious,” Hughes said.

“I’ve never been more serious.”

Lee wanted to know, “Who’s going to do it?”

“I have some friends who can put me in touch with the right person.”

“And the cost?”

“Ten thousand dollars.”

“What about getting caught?” Hughes said.

“It won’t happen.”

“I say do it.” Lee seemed sure.

Hughes was in shock. “You two are nuts. We’re talking about killing a man.”

He looked at Hughes. “That man is jeopardizing everything. Like you said, we have millions at stake.” He gestured toward the newspaper. “We don’t need this kind of press. You want to be the lead story on60 Minutes? How many lenders you think will do business with us after that? And without money you can kiss this whole thing goodbye. Shuman’s a troublemaker and he’s not going away. We’ve given him every opportunity. Tried everything possible. It’s just too bad for him he’s a thief. I say we take care of the problem. Afterward, his credibility will go to zero and I can assure you he won’t make it to sainthood. In sixty days he’ll be forgotten, then we can get on with building this company.”

“I agree,” Lee said again. “We’re just starting to turn a profit. Our production is expanding by the day. The way things are going, in a few years all three of us will be rich. The last thing we need is bad publicity and a cold shoulder from prospective lenders. If one irritating, redneck union president is all that stands in the way, then we should eliminate the problem.”

They stared at Hughes.