Harnett himself was a fireplug of a man, short and powerfully built, who spoke with a gravelly voice. Janson had heard that Harnett prided himself on making regular tours of the company’s active projects, during which he would talk with the foremen as if he had been one himself. Certainly he had the swagger of somebody who had started out working on construction sites and rose to the corner office by the sweat of his brow. But that was not exactly how it happened. Janson knew that Harnett held an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern and that his expertise lay in financial engineering rather than in construction engineering. He had put together the Harnett Corporation by acquiring its subsidiaries at a time when they were strapped for cash and seriously underpriced. Because construction was a deeply cyclical business, Harnett had recognized, well-timed equity swaps made it possible to build a cash-rich corporation at bargain-basement prices.

Finally, Harnett hung up the phone and silently regarded Janson for a few moments. “Stevie tells me you’ve got a real high-class reputation,” he said in a bored tone. “Maybe I know some of your other clients. Who have you worked with?”

Janson gave him a quizzical look. Was he being interviewed? “Most of the clients that I accept,” he said, pausing after the word, “come recommended to me by other clients.” It seemed crass to spell it out: Janson was not the one to supply references or recommendations; it was the prospective clients who had to come recommended. “My clients can, in some circumstances, discuss my work with others. My own policy has always been across-the-board nondisclosure.”

“You’re like a wooden Indian, aren’t you?” Harnett sounded annoyed.

“I’m sorry?”