Chapter 29
Cassie closed her books and stacked them neatly as the clock chimed 4:30. She stood and stretched then padded off towards the kitchen to begin preparing supper.
She turned the corner and began to enter the kitchen but stopped short when she saw Frank sitting at the table with a glass of sherry in front of him.
Frank sensed Cassie’s presence and looked up with a very bleak expression on his face.
Cassie felt a rising sense of fear. Tentatively she said, “I didn’t hear you come in.”
Her fear must have shown in her face because Frank said, very quickly, “It isn’t anything to do with you. Or us.”
Cassie searched his face but detected nothing but sincerity. Her panic ebbed but she came quickly over to take the chair next to Frank. “Then why do you look like someone died?”
Frank gave a big sigh and took a gulp of the sherry. “Ugh.” He got up and poured the rest out in the sink then fished into the coffee station drawer for some green tea. “Sorry, I got a shock today, and I reverted to old bad habits.”
Cassie twisted in her chair to give him a sympathetic smile. “So what happened?”
“Charles and I have been arguing to the point of almost fighting the last few weeks about whether we should let James go or not.”
Cassie watched as Frank gathered his thoughts and found a cup for his tea. He turned towards her and leaned back on the counter. “I haven’t been happy with James’ attitude since I bought into Charles’ practice, although his work is more than competent. I think James thought he’d be offered a partnership when I bought in but the majority of our estate planning clients aren’t comfortable with him.” Frank shrugged. “I thought it was something we could get past as we expanded. James is a very knowledgeable corporate tax planner and many of our clients have an active company that they run or holding companies set up to handle their investments.” Frank retrieved his tea and moved to sit next to Cassie.
Cassie took Frank’s hand. “I sense a ‘but’.”
“James has been acting strangely for the last couple of weeks. This morning I overheard a snippet of conversation between him and one of our clients where he was discussing some very aggressive tax avoidance strategies that included moving several million dollars to offshore banks.”
“Aggressive meaning grey legal?”
“Very grey. Avoidance is legal, evasion is criminal, but the exact line between the two isn’t always clear because income tax law and the interpretations change so often. I think his discussion crossed over into tax evasion. Company policy when we get into the grey zone is to send a letter to our client explaining why we think it’s grey, lay out some alternatives and if the client wishes to proceed they have to give us written direction. If what they direct is clearly illegal, we’ll refuse to help them and ask them to find another accounting firm.”
“Like that guy you played golf with?”
“We haven’t dropped him yet but I think we are headed that way. Anyway, James prepared a brief for me to review and sign off with attached letters to the federal and provincial tax authorities but he didn’t receive written instructions from the client that they acknowledge that they understand they’re pushing the envelope and take full responsibility for the consequences. So I refused to sign. James got mad and stomped off to see Charles. Charles refused to sign, too, until James got written instruction from the client.”
“That doesn’t sound like reason to let him go.”
Frank frowned. “When James went out to visit a client after lunch, I pulled the rest of the file. It was for a numbered company but I thought I recognized the scrawled signature on one of the forms. After I did some digging I found out that the owner is our old friend Tony.”
“Tony Leonidas?”
“None other.”
“So now you know who’s been speaking with Tony.”
Frank nodded. “I took the file to Charles’ office but I forgot he had the afternoon off. I emailed him for an early meeting tomorrow. Then I called Joanne into my office and we reviewed what James could know. Her team is very close mouthed and hasn’t spent that much time in our offices to date but it’s possible that James has overheard some of what’s going on.”
“He can’t know that much or Henry would be seeing some obvious changes in Tony’s behaviour.”
“True enough. But I will talk to Henry and let him know what’s going on. But Tony must suspect something if he’s trying to use James to discredit me. I hope he thinks he still has time cover things up before we move in.”
“Only two more days.”
Frank closed his eyes and leaned back in the kitchen chair. “I’ll be so glad when the forensic teams are on site.”
“I will, too. Maybe you be able to get a good night’s sleep for a change.” Cassie rose and stroked his forehead affectionately. “What would you like for supper?”
Frank opened his eyes to see his wife looking at him with fond concern. “How about your special ricotta almond pasta with rosé sauce?”
Cassie smoothed Frank’s hair. “Sure. There’s vegetable soup in the slow cooker. Pasta will be fine with it if I add some shrimp or sausage. Can I use some of the sherry in the sauce?”
“You can use all of it if you want.”
“Okay, but I won’t need that much. Maybe I should use the rest to marinate some flank steak for Friday’s dinner with Henry and Anne.” She started towards the fridge then turned around. “Will you lose many clients because of James leaving?”
Frank pondered that for a moment then said, “No one I’d miss. I’d actually be happy to let James take most of his regular clients with him and suggest that he contact a couple more that I wouldn’t mind dropping. We’re starting to pick up business again now that Charles has a successor that people seem to like,” Frank said that with a self-deprecating smile. “James isn’t a good fit for most of the new clients.” Frank snorted. “Dale referred a couple of people to me last week. They got burned by listening to an aggressive tax planner like James and are looking for someone more conservative. At least Dale’s version of high risk investment doesn’t include playing games with the tax authorities.”
“No, it doesn’t. But he does arrange some very speculative ventures, especially movie and music financing.” Cassie smiled as she filled a large pot with water. “I put some of my money into a consortium he’s formed to help bring Sarah Polley’s latest project to the screen.” She smiled then shrugged as she put a container of homemade tomato basil sauce in the microwave to thaw. “But I put most of the rest into blue chip stocks or mid-growth mutual funds. I’m still young enough to recover from some losses but I’m not comfortable putting all of my money into high risk gambles. Dale was amused that I would be that conservative, but he did let me know which of the funds are better managed. But I like the idea of helping to make a movie.”
Frank smiled to hear Cassie discussing investment philosophy. “Why that project? Dale must have at least a dozen to choose from.”
“I was talking with Gordon Pinsent when Sarah came over to ask him for help with the script. Mr. Pinsent was getting excited about the concept as they discussed it and was lobbying her for an old man’s part if he could figure out how to write himself in. I figured if he thought it was worth a shot then I’d like to back it. And Sarah’s aiming for a PG rating, so I won’t be embarrassed if someone at church reads my name in the credits.”
“What did Dale arrange?”
“The seed money for the project. I could own between a quarter and a half percent of the film depending on the final production costs. And if it doesn’t come to anything right away, I’ll own a share of the rights to the script.”
“Well, I hope it hits. I’ve invested in some of the more mainstream of those movie projects myself. I’d have to look up the performance numbers but I’ve gotten decent returns. Dale understands movie financing and production well enough to know who is capable of making a movie and who the scammers are. But if Sarah and Gordon are both
excited about it, it should make it to screen.”
“Can you look over the contract for me?” Cassie had transferred the sauce to a pot and was adding cream.
“I’d be happy to do that. But Dale has a good in-house lawyer who reviews everything and you’re family. So it should be fairly well set up.”
Cassie stirred in the sherry and shrimp then turned and asked, “In-house lawyer? I thought he worked from home.”
“I thought you knew. Supriya is one of the sharper corporate lawyers in Toronto. She and Dale met about six years ago while he was putting together a venture capital fund. Her client wanted to transfer all of the liability to Dale if things went south. They must have argued for several weeks before the investor finally admitted defeat. So after everything was signed, he decided that he’d rather have Supriya on his side and asked her out. Her parents were ecstatic that their spinster daughter finally found a man, even if he’s not Hindu. Not that twenty-six is old by Canadian standards. But now that she’s thirty-two they’re really putting on the pressure for grand-kids I’m glad Mother has finally warmed up to her.”
Cassie put the soup at their places then added the pasta to the boiling water before adding some chorizo slices to the sauce and turning it down. “Seven minutes before the pasta is ready. Feel free to start if you’re hungry.”
Frank rose and drew Cassie away from the stove for a kiss. “Thank you so very much, my love, for taking such good care of me.”
Cassie gazed on his face and saw the full range of his love in the mix of tenderness and desire she saw there. She almost admitted her love for him but there was still that stubborn doubt and the panic attacks, so instead of saying anything she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder.
———
“James, I like to see you in my office, please.” Frank had a serious expression as he made the statement. James rose to follow him.
Frank stood behind his desk. “Close the door, please, James.”
James closed the door and stood with his arms crossed. “I’m fired, aren’t I?”
Frank shrugged. “Not exactly. But you won’t be working for Charles and me after lunch.”
James swore. “I knew it. Just because I’m okay with taking a few risks…”
“Sit down, James.”
Warily they both sat down. “Do you know why we get our clients to instruct us in writing when they ask us to push the envelope for them?”
“Because you want to scare them off.”
Frank shook his head. “No, James. It’s because we want to protect ourselves from law suits and from losing our professional designations. Legally, Charles and I are liable for any errors or omissions that you make.”
“You’re just unwilling to take risks. You both leave a lot of billable hours on the table.”
“That’s fine with us. And it’s especially fine with me because people assume I have deep enough pockets that they won’t hesitate to sue me.” Frank assessed the man in front of him. “Did you know that Tony Leonidas was trying to use you to launder the proceeds of crime for him? Or that he wanted to specifically discredit me by getting my signature on those filings?”
James looked shocked. “Proceeds of crime?”
“That’s what Joanne and her crew have been working on and will be working on for the next couple of years. Tony’s been working a false invoicing scheme for at least four years. I uncovered it when I was working under Tony at the Halifax subsidiary. Joanne’s team should be sequestering all of the records in Tony’s office as we speak. Regardless of anything else, we can’t have Tony as a client while we are also responsible for investigating him.”
“I didn’t know.”
“And you didn’t care.” Frank sighed. “It doesn’t matter in any case. We can’t afford to have you working here.” Frank held up a hand to forestall James’ objections.
“First, you are too willing to cut corners. Second, you’re too focused on your commissions and income and not on the client’s needs. Third, you aren’t a good fit for our estate planning clients. Fourth, and last, you appear to recommend only a couple of financial planners, neither of whom have sterling reputations. I really hope you aren’t getting commissions from them and I don’t want to know. More to the point you don’t want me to know.”
James started to speak but Frank said, “I’m not finished. Charles and I are going to give you a list of clients, most of whom you handle at the moment.” Frank slid over an agreement. “This agreement states that in exchange for four weeks’ pay in lieu of notice, payout of your unused vacation and earned bonuses to date, and the right to transfer any of the clients on the attached list and their files to your new firm, if you can convince them to follow you, you will remain silent about all of our other business for a period of two years.”
James’ eyes narrowed. “I’ll need more cash than that.”
Frank sighed. “What did Tony offer you?”
James crossed his arms. “That’s between him and me.”
Frank shrugged. “Have it your way.” Frank stayed silent as James grew more uncomfortable.
“Two percent of what I could move offshore.” James had a furtive expression.
Frank took a guess, “And five percent if you could get me to sign off on the filings?”
James looked startled. Frank continued. “I hope you didn’t actually sign off on them yourself.”
The blood drained from James’ face. “No, but it’s hard to turn down six figure money like that.”
Frank twisted the knife. “Good thing you didn’t go through with it. You won’t have to face an ethics inquiry or accessory charges from the police. I’d recommend cooperating with the RCMP when they talk to you.”
James licked his lips nervously. He pointed at the agreement. “Can I see the client list?”
Frank waved at the paper. “Go ahead. We’ll be dropping all of them after we’ve wrapped up their current taxation year in any case. You’ll have first crack at them and you’d have the inside track because you have a good history with them.”
Frank waited in strained silence while James read through the three page agreement and the attached client list. “You want me to take the Mainwaring account with me?”
“Yes. Dick is retiring and transferring the company to Dean. Dean wanted me to do something very dodgy with the rollover and I wouldn’t back it because the sequence of transactions made no business sense. CRA would pick it up right away. Dick sided with me but I don’t expect we’ll keep Dean’s business after the transfer goes through next month. You know Dean better than either Charles or I do. I hope you can keep him out of trouble.”
James asked, “Can I have a day or two to review this? I’d like to contact a couple of the bigger clients and maybe have a lawyer look at it.”
Frank nodded. “Sure. But I’d like you to pack up today regardless. Remember you signed that non-disclosure agreement.”
James frowned. “You won’t bad mouth me to anyone? What will you tell people about why I left?”
“That you weren’t happy with not being made partner when the firm expanded. So we decided that the fairest solution was to let you take some clients with you to your new firm. If you can convince the bigger clients on that list to follow you, you won’t have a problem landing a partnership with someone or getting the credit you need to hang out your own shingle.”
James nodded. “That works.” Then he smiled. “At least I won’t have to deal with those fussy old women anymore.”
“No, but you might want to take a public practice refresher course. You’ll find that it feels different when it’s your name and designation on the line when you sign off on something.”
James stood with the draft agreement in his hands. “When do you need this back?”
“Whenever you’re ready to talk seriously about it. Sooner would be better. After all you won’t be banking any more billable hours here.”
“I’ll talk it over with my w
ife and my lawyer. Would Monday be okay?”
“Monday is fine but we can meet earlier if you’re ready.” Frank stood. “By the way, James, I learned some very useful things from you about privately held companies. Your clients will be getting some very good advice.”
James seemed taken aback by Frank’s compliment. “But you and Charles still won’t take very many risks.”
“No. But that fits with our preferred clients and their wishes. I’m sure that you’ll find clients with similar philosophies to yours, James. Just remember that it is always the client who should be taking the risk and it’s your job to make certain they understand why it’s risky. You can’t afford to have your name listed in the notices at the back of the CA magazine or have your errors and omissions insurance premiums skyrocket.”
James glowered for a moment then sighed. “I’ll go finish up the last notes to file then pack.”
“I’ll have Eleanor pick up your Blackberry and keys. I’ll be over with a cheque before you go.”
“Do that.” James opened the door and strode away.
Frank sat down, relieved that the meeting had gone so well then called Eleanor to attend him before adding a couple more items to his ‘to do’ list. Then he picked up the phone to call Trevor.