29: Confusion

Leaving his Alameda Street office by lunch time, Andrew was walking on air. He’d hand-selected the financers he’d interviewed today, much as he had Justin Mitchell for the New York branch of the Trust— men he’d worked with over the years with proven track records in finance and business and the brightest up and coming—with an expectation that he might entice fifty percent of them to work for him on the west coast within the confines the Los Angeles branch of the Trust had allowed him.

He’d scheduled those appointments deliberately, with his most desirable candidates early in the day and those he’d settle for later, but he hadn’t needed the afternoon appointments at all. Which was a mercy for at least one of his interviewees. After eavesdropping with Evelyn on Mr. and Mrs. Pierson talking about his family and his private life, Andrew had planned to dangle his offer before Mr. Pierson, then yank it away after subtly mentioning the backstabbing gossip—now, he’d let the man wonder what opp