Utsyev held up a warning hand. 'I don't want to hear anything that starts with the word 'but', okay?'
Anderson nodded. 'Katherine won't sell. She and her husband know what the company's worth. They're on the board, they have access to the accounts. Besides, the bank won't allow it.'
Utsyev snorted quietly. 'We've already taken care of the nigger.'
'What?' Anderson said.
'The nigger. What was his name?'
'Nelson,' Sabatino said.
'Yeah, Nelson. We've already taken care of Nelson.'
Anderson was stunned. He looked at Sabatino, then back to Utsyev. 'You killed Nelson?'
Utsyev shrugged. 'I had it done. I can do that, Maury. As easy as breathing.'
Anderson was lost for words. He flopped back on the sofa, the handkerchief forgotten in his hand.
One of the heavyweights sighed as if blowing out a candle.
Utsyev scowled at him and the heavy straightened his back like a soldier standing at attention. 'Nelson was getting too close to us. Did you know he'd hired a private eye?'
'No, I didn't,' Anderson said. He felt as if his world was falling down around him. He needed cocaine and he needed it bad. The thought that there were several grammes sprinkled over the floor by the kitchen was driving him crazy.
'Yeah, he was digging around trying to find out who owned the company. Broke into our lawyer's office. Can you believe that?'
'No, no I can't believe that,' Anderson said. He rubbed his jaw. He could taste blood at the back of his mouth and one of his front teeth felt loose.
'Yeah, so we're gonna have to move quickly in case the bank puts someone else on our case. Once we own CRW and the bank's paid off, there'd be no point in anyone sniffing around.
You've as much to lose as we have, you know. If they find out what you've been doing…' He left the threat unfinished.
'I hear you,' Anderson said. He wondered who this man was, this man who'd assaulted him, broken into his house, killed a banker and done God only knew what else. Sabatino had always been so pleasant, so helpful, ready with investment money when CRW needed it and with free cocaine on tap. This didn't make any sense.
'Okay, so you're gonna help us take over CRW. The Freeman woman and the rest of the shareholders can walk away with the cash, and everyone's happy. That okay with you, Maury?'
Anderson shook his head. 'Katherine won't sell,' he repeated.
'Then, like I said, it's up to you to persuade her.' Utsyev flashed a wolfish grin. 'Try pillow talk.'
Anderson sat bolt upright as if he'd been plugged into the mains. 'What?'
'You heard me,' Utsyev said. 'You've been screwing CRW's major shareholder. I'd have thought that might give you some leverage with the lady. What do you think, Gilani?'
Sabatino shifted uneasily in his chair. 'I guess so.'
'Yeah. I guess so,' Utsyev said, getting to his feet. He walked over to where Anderson was sitting and loomed over him. Anderson flinched. Utsyev pushed his face up close so that Anderson could smell the man's bitter breath. 'Look, Anderson, my brother has been supplying you with enough coke to keep half the city wired. We've got photographs of you entering and leaving several motels with Mrs Freeman, and we know where you and your lovely wife live. I'd say that gives us some leverage with you, huh?' Anderson said nothing.
He dabbed the handkerchief to his mouth. Utsyev raised his hand and his lips tightened. 'Wouldn't you?'
Anderson nodded quickly. 'Yes,' he said.
Utsyev smiled and lowered his hand. 'Good. Then we understand each other.' He walked over to the fireplace and stood by it, rocking backwards and forwards on the balls of his feet. 'We'll give you a week. Do what you have to do.'
'I don't understand,' Anderson said.
Utsyev raised his eyes in exasperation. 'I suggest you persuade the Freemans by whatever means necessary that it's in their best interests to sell the company. It shouldn't be too hard bearing in mind the state it's in. Gilani tells me that you're gonna be losing money this year.'
'If it's in such a bad state, why do you want to buy it?' Anderson asked. 'I'll be able to get the books straight eventually, then you'll be in the clear.'
'That's for me to know,' Utsyev said. 'All you've got to worry about is getting control of the company. And look, there's an upside to this for you. We'll write off the coke Gilani's given you, throw in a few ounces more, and you can run the company for us until we've done with it.'
'What do you mean, done with it?'
'We only want some of the assets. We've no interest in the rest.'
'The land?'
'Like I said, that's for me to know. But if you haven't persuaded the Freemans and the other shareholders to sell, I'll take care of it. And I'll take care of you. Do we understand each other?'
Anderson nodded. He looked at the handkerchief. It was spotted with blood. 'Keep it,' Utsyev said. He nodded at the heavy with bad skin. 'Get the car, Ostrovetsky,' he said. The heavy disappeared into the hallway and a few seconds later Anderson heard the front door open and close.
Utsyev smiled, showing chipped and yellowing teeth. Anderson smiled back. He felt like a turkey being fattened up for Thanksgiving.
'I'll do my best,' he said.
Utsyev nodded like a priest taking confession. 'I hope that'll be good enough,' he said. 'Kiseleva, give our friend here a little something for his habit.'
The heavy with the red scarf walked nonchalantly over to Anderson and handed him a small polythene bag of white powder. Before he could take it, the heavy had dropped it into Anderson's lap and walked out, followed by Sabatino. Utsyev patted Anderson on the shoulder. 'You'll do just fine,' he said, like an undertaker addressing the recently bereaved.
The brothers climbed into the back of the limousine and settled back into the plush leather seats. The car pulled away smoothly from the kerb and headed for the city.
'What an asshole,' Utsyev said.
'Yeah,' Sabatino agreed.
'I'm gonna enjoy taking him on a picnic,' Utsyev grinned.
'A picnic,' Sabatino agreed.
When the brothers Utsyev had been enduring their Siberian exile, a year before their mother died of malnutrition and a broken heart, they lived on a farm, working in the frozen fields in exchange for a bed in the barn and just enough food to keep them alive.
There was a cat on the farm, a big bruiser of an animal with a fight-scarred face and eyes full of hate. The cat hated the brothers Utsyev, and they hated him in return. It would sit and watch them as they toiled in the fields and tended the scrawny pigs and cattle as they collected the eggs from the few chickens that hadn't been slaughtered for the pot. Whenever they tried to get near it, it would stalk off with a bow-legged strut, its tail held high and its nose up in contempt. At first Bzuchar had tried to make friends with the cat. He'd cornered it once in the barn and had offered it his hand, a token of friendship. The cat had responded by hissing and striking out with a clawed paw, drawing blood and ripping a strip of flesh from his hand. From then on it was war.
The cat claimed dominion over the farm and all its buildings, and he regarded it as his right to go wherever he pleased.