“So what do we do?”

“We have to talk to her, find out what she knows,” Edmund said. “Try to talk some sense into her. When she understands what the upside is, perhaps we can help her out.”

Edmund was talking about offering Gloria an inside track to invest in the company and share in the enormous windfall they were confident was coming.

“Maybe that’s what she wants,” Russell said. “She’s sending up a smoke signal.”

“She could call us on the telephone and ask,” Edmund said. He thought for a second. “Let’s call her right now.”

“Now? It’s after nine o’clock at night.”

“Call her anyway. She’s always working. I’m not sure I’ll be able to get to sleep tonight unless we talk to her. Do you have her cell?”

“Yes, but why me?”

“You did business with her. And she’s not going to take my call. Pure and simple.”

Years back, Gloria had worked for Edmund as a humble analyst two jobs before she went out on her own. Edmund’s desk was a boys’ club and women had to be very thick-skinned to work there. This much Russell knew. There was more he didn’t know, but the bottom line was that it hadn’t ended well. Russell happened to have been present the last time Edmund had seen Gloria, when she walked out of a bar full of about-to-be-former traders where she’d gone to commiserate with one of her friends who had been fired. She was walking out because Edmund, who was very drunk, was yelling at her.

“You’re the reason these people are out of work,” Edmund had shouted. Many people would contend that it was the products Edmund sold that ruined the firms and caused people to be fired rather than the shortsellers who saw an opportunity. But from Edmund’s perspective, his own participation was purely short-term expedient. Gloria’s role was more causative.

Russell scrolled through his BlackBerry for Gloria Croft’s number. He dialed, and Gloria picked up after a couple of rings.

“Gloria, it’s Russell Lefevre.”

“Russell, how are you?” Gloria’s voice was level and deliberate. She didn’t act surprised in the slightest to hear Russell’s voice despite the hour.

“Good, thank you. I trust you are too. Where are you? I hope you’re not still in the office at this hour.” Russell could hear background sounds that suggested she was.

“Just watching Asia open. I’ve been expecting your call. Is Edmund there with you? You can put me on speaker if you like.”

“Hang on a second, Gloria.”

As Edmund rolled his eyes, Russell fiddled with the buttons on his phone, then propped it up against the bottle of Talisker.

“Okay, Gloria,” Russell said.

“Hello, Edmund. How are you?”

“Okay, Gloria,” Edmund said, trying to sound carefree. He looked imploringly at Russell. This was his call, couldn’t he just get on with it?

“Gloria, we’d like to get together with you,” Russell interjected. “We have some things we’d like to discuss.”

“What types of things, Russell?” Her voice was carefree, as if she were enjoying herself.