incentive?”
“Commission on the deal.”
“How many acres are we talking about and where exactly are they?”
“Five or so.” I told him Western Peds’s address.
“Okay, so that’s ten, fifteen million-let’s even say twenty because of
contiguous lots. Which is liberal, because that big of a chunk would
be hard to unload, so you might have to subdivide into smaller
parcels.
That could take time-there’d be zoning hassles, hearings, permits,
environmental shenanigans. The biggest cut Chuck could take for
himself without attracting a commotion would be twenty-five
percent-ten’s more likely. Meaning two to five mil in his pocket. .
.
No, I can’t see Chuck messing around for that kind of money.”
“What if there’s more to it?” I said. “What if he not only plans to
close down one hospital but is also figuring to open up a new one on
his son’s land?”
All of a sudden he’s in the hospital business? I doubt it, Alex.
øNo offense, but health care’s a turkey too. Hospitals have been going
øbelly-up almost as fast as savings and loans.”
“I know, but maybe Jones figures he can do a good job anyway, øbucking
the trend. You just said he doesn’t pay attention to what everyone
else is doing.”
ø Anything’s possible, Alex, but once again you’d have to prove it to
me. Where’d you come up with all this theorizing, anyway?”
ø I told him about Plumb’s comments in the paper.
Ah, the other name on your list. Him, I’d never heard of him, so I
looked him up in every directory I’ve got. What emerges is your basic
corporate drone: M.B.A doctorate, a series of management ø ø. jobs,
climbing the ladder. His first job was at a national accounting firm
named Smothers and Crimp. Then he moved into the head office of another
place.”
“Where?”
“Hold on I wrote it down somewhere. . . Here we go.
Plumb, George Haversford. Born, 34; married Mary Ann Champun, 58; two
kids, blah blah blah. . . out of grad school in co with a D.B.A.;
Smothers and Crimp, 5960 through 63, left as a partner.. Controller, Hardfast Steel in Pittsburgh, 63 till 66; Controller and
chief operating officer, Readilite Manufacturing, Reading, Pennsylvania
, 66 through 68; a step up to CEO at an outfit called Baxter
Consulting, stayed there till 73; 73 through 74 at Advent Management
Specialists; went out on his own with the Plumb Group, 74 till 77; then
back into the corporate world in 78 at a place called Vantage Health
Planning, CEO till 85-”
“The guy hops around a lot.”
“Not really, Alex. Moving around every couple of years in order to up your ante is your basic corporate drone pattern. It’s one of
the main reasons I dropped out of it early. Hell on the family lots of
booze-hound wives who smile a lot and kids who turn delinquency Into an
art form. . . . Where was I? Vantage Health till 85; then It looks as
if he began specializing in medical stuff. Arthur-McClennan Diagnostics for three years, NeoDyne Biologicals for another three,
then MGS Healthcare Consultants–the Pittsburgh place you asked me to
look up.”
“What’d you find out about it?”
“Small-to-medium hospital outfit specializing in acute-care facilities
in small-to-medium cities in the northern states. Established in 82 by
a group of doctors, went public in 89, OTC issue, poor stock
performance, got reprivatized the next year-bought out by a syndicate
and shut down.”
“Why would a syndicate buy it, then shut it down?”
“Could be any number of reasons. Maybe they discovered buying it was a
mistake and tried to cut their losses fast. Or they wanted the
company’s resources, rather than the company itself”
“What kinds of
resources?”
“Hardware, investments, the pension fund. The other group you asked
about-BlO-DAT-was originally a subsidiary of MGS.
The data analysis arm. Before the buy-out it got sold to another ø ø
concern-Northern Holdings, in Missoula, Montana-and was ø ø ~ø
maintained.”
“Is it a public company?”
“Private.”
“What about the other companies Plumb worked for? Are you familiar
with any of them?”
“Not a one.”
Are any of them public?”
“One second and I’ll tell you. . . . Got the old PC cooking. Let me
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