Candida ventured, “How does that concern me?”

Langhorne chose his words carefully. “We’re all of us sitting on a barrel of dynamite. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the roof blow off the administration building before the end of the week. There’s a directors’ meeting on Thursday, and the board is split down the middle. Hallam’s enemies have been waiting for a pretext to move. I think you ought to pass this on to Begley. I’m not too impressed with your employer, as a matter of fact. It may be a mistake for him to go to Georgia this weekend. I want you to consider seriously having him come down with a virus that will keep him in bed until after the board meeting.”

“He’s not exactly a fool, Walter.”

“Would you mind defining your terms?” Langhorne said dryly. “It’s not his brain I’m thinking about. It’s whether he can be trusted. We have a report that you’ve been seen going into the United States Chemical offices on Route 128 outside of Boston. Not Hal Begley, you see. Candida Morse. I’m usually right about these things. He has a bad eye. What that eye tells me is that Hal Begley in the clutch will think of Hal Begley, and of nobody else. If he has to jettison someone in order to survive, too bad for that someone. Hal Begley Associates will dwindle down to Hal Begley Period.”

He spooned up some soup. “I hate the idea of the kind of throat-cutting and back-stabbing I’m in for this weekend. Blood will flow! It’s no concern of mine who wins, the Hallams or the Despards. Probably I should have turned Hallam down outright instead of asking for a few days to think about it. One reason I didn’t was that I’d like to be on the inside when the trouble starts. Perhaps I can help. I’ve become very fond of you, my dear.”

He touched her knee. “Come, Candida, you’re not eating.”

Forbes Hallam, Jr., a good-looking, dark-haired young man with the build of a quarter-miler, tapped on a door on the twelfth floor of the Hotel St. Albans in Miami Beach. Without waiting for an answer, he unlocked it with a key he carried on his key ring and went in.