“The science may fail eventually, but with Gloria Croft taking a position, investors are going to be alarmed when they find out. Then it becomes as much about Gloria as about the science. She’s a barometer. So from that perspective, they’re right, Jerry, it’s a PR problem first.”

“And if the science succeeds?” Jerry said.

“Then we have a bigger problem,” said Edmund.

Jerry put down his soup spoon and took a large drag on his $30-a-glass Barolo.

“You guys didn’t see this coming?”

“Obviously not,” Edmund said. “It’s a once-in-a-century breakthrough if it happens. You can’t do projections for being hit by an asteroid.”

No one was eating now. The waiter, coming by for a second time, asked if anyone was still working on their soup and no one was. Yes, the soup was fine, but everyone was preoccupied. The uneaten soup disappeared.

At Jerry’s insistence, Russell walked him through what they knew of the research. He made a point of saying that there was no guarantee it would succeed; the odds had to be that it wouldn’t because in the vast majority of research projects there was always some major unanticipated obstacle that would arise to thwart the hoped-for result.

“So what are the chances it will succeed?” Trotter questioned.

Edmund said there was no way to know. He then had Russell talk about the effects such an eventuality would have on LifeDeals’ cash flow. As Edmund and Russell had agreed before meeting with Trotter, Russell erred on the conservative side.

“What’s our position vis-à-vis the public offering?” Jerry directed his question at Max, his partner. He didn’t care that he might offend his lunch hosts.

“The lockup period expires May thirty-first,” Max said.

When an investor takes part in an initial public offering, they can’t sell their shares for a certain amount of time, in this case 180 days. Trotter Holdings was halfway through the mandated blackout period, meaning that Jerry Trotter and his fund were stuck with his shares for another three months.

“Shit. What are the chances of Gloria Croft keeping her mouth shut for three months?”

“Listen, Jerry, life insurance is still a twenty-six-trillion-dollar business,” Edmund said. “There’s plenty of money to be made. These diabetes policies are basically a drop in the bucket. It’s not a question of dumping LifeDeals shares, it’s a problem that needs a solution. That’s why we came to you, you’re the man who deals with problems, everyone knows that.” Edmund was being purposefully flattering and Trotter wasn’t unhappy about it. It’s true, he was a guy who could solve a problem, but this was a big problem and a new problem.