Wheels (20 page)

"It can happen," Adam acknowledged. "But if you're lucky enough to have
shares in a good dealership, you might make a big mistake by pulling out
.”

"I realize that. Ifs why I need someone to
advise me, someone I can trust. Adam, I hate to ask this because I know
you're working hard already. But do you think you could spend some time with
Smokey Stephensen, find out what's going on, form your own opinion about how
things look, then tell me what I ought to do? If you remember, we talked
about this once before
.”

"I remember. And I think I explained then, it could be a problem. Auto
companies don't allow their staff to be involved with auto dealerships.
Before I could do anything, it would have to go before the Conflict of
Interest Committee
.”

"Is that a big thing? Would it embarrass you
.”

Adam hesitated. The answer was: It would embarrass him. To do what Teresa
asked would involve a close study of the Stephensen dealership, which
meant looking into its books and reviewing operating methods. Teresa, of
course, would provide Adam with authority from her point of view, but the
point of view of Adam's company-his employers-was something else again.
Before Adam could cozy up with a car dealer, for whatever purpose, he
would have to declare what he was doing, and why. Elroy Braithwaite would
need to know; so would Hub Hewitson, probably, and it was a safe bet that
neither would like the idea. Their reasoning would be simple. A senior
executive of Adam's status was in a position to do financial favors for
a dealer, hence the strict rules which all auto companies had about
outside business interests in this and other areas. A standing Conflict
of Interest Committee reviewed such matters, including personal
investments of company employees and their families, reported yearly on
a form resembling an income tax return. A few people who resented this put
investments in their wives' or children's
33 names, and kept them secret. But mostly the rules made sense, and
executives observed them.
Well, he would have to go to the committee, Adam supposed, and state his
arguments. After all, he had nothing to gain personally; he would merely
be protecting the interest of a widow and young children, which gave the
request a compassionate overtone. In fact, the more he thought about it,
the less trouble he anticipated.
"I'll see what I can work out, sis," Adam said into the telephone.
"Tomorrow I'll start things moving in the company, then it may be a week
or two before I get approval to go ahead. You do understand I can't do
anything without that
.”

"Yes, I do. And the delay doesn't matter. As long as I know you're going
to be looking out for us, that's the important thing," Teresa sounded
relieved. H
e could picture her now, the small concentrated frown she
had when dealing with something difficult had probably gone, replaced
by a warm smile, the kind which made a man feel good. Adam's sister was
a woman who liked to rely on a male and have him handle decisions,
though during the past year she had been forced to make an unaccustomed
number on her own.
Adam asked, "How much of the Stephensen Motors stock did Clyde have
.”

"It was forty-nine percent, and I still have all of it. Clyde put up
about two hundred and forty thousand dollars. That's why I've been so
concerned
.”

"Was Clyde's name on the franchise
.”

"No. Just Smokey Stephensen's
.”

He instructed, "You'd better send me all the papers, including a record
of payments you've had as dividends. Write to Stephensen, too. Tell him
he'll probably be hearing from me, and that I have your authority to go
in and look things overOkay
.”

"I'll do all that. And thank you, Adam dear; thank you very much. Please
give my love to Erica. How is she
.”

"Oh, she's fine
.”

Erica had cleared away their meal and was on the sofa in the living
room, feet curled beneath her, when Adam returned.
She motioned to an end table. "I made more coffee
.”

"Thanks
.”

He poured a cup for himself, then went to the hallway for his
briefcase. Returning, he sank into an armchair by the fire, which had
now burned low, opened his briefcase and began to take out papers.
Erica asked, "What did Teresa want
.”

In a few words Adam explained his sister's request and what he had
agreed to do.
He found Erica looking at him incredulously. 'When will you do it
.”

"Oh, I don't know. I'll find time
.”

"But when? I want to know when
.”

With a trace of irritation, Adam said, "If you decide to do something,
you can always make the time
.”

"You don't make time
.”

Erica's voice had an intensity which had been
lacking earlier. '-fou take the time from something or somebody else.
Won't it mean a lot of visits to that dealer? Questioning people.
Finding out about the business. I know how you do everything
always the
same way, thoroughly. So it will involve a lot of time. Well, won't it
.”

He conceded, "I suppose so
.”

"Will it be in office time? In the daytime, during the week
.”

"Probably not
.”

"So that leaves evenings and weekends. Car dealers are open then, aren't
they
.”

Adam said curtly, "They don't open Sundays
.”

"Well, hooray for that I"
Erica hadn't intended to be this way tonight. She had wanted to be
patient, understanding, loving, but suddenly bitterness swept over her.
She flared on, knowing she would do better to stop, but unable to, "Perhaps this dealer would open on Sunday if you asked him nicely, if you
explained that you still have a little time left to spend at home with
your wife, and you'd like to do something about it, like filling it with
work
.”

"Listen," Adam said, "this won't be work, and I wouldn't do it if I had
the choice. It's simply for Teresa
.”

"How about something simply for Erica? Or would that be too much?
Wait
-why not use your vacation time as well, then you could . .
.”

"You're being silly," Adam said. He had taken the papers from his
briefcase and spread them around him in a semicircle. Like a witch's
circle on the grass, Erica thought, to be penetrated only by the
anointed, the bewitched. Even voices entering the magic circle became
distorted, misunderstood, with words and meanings twisted . . .
Adam was right. She was being silly. And now whimsical.
She went behind him, still conscious of the semi
-
circle, skirting its
perimeter the way children playing games avoided lines in paving stones.
Erica put her hands lightly on Adam's shoulders, her f ace against his.
He reached up, touching one of her hands.
"I couldn't turn sis down
.”

Adam's voice was conciliatory. "How could
I? If things had been the other way around, Clyde would have done as
much, or more, for you
.”

Abruptly, unexpectedly, she realized, their moods had switched. She
thought: There is a way
into a witch's circle. Perhaps the trick was not to expect to find it, then
suddenly you did.
"I know," Erica said. "And I'm grateful it isn't the other way around
.”

She had a sense of reprieve from her own stupidity only seconds earlier,
an awareness of having stumbled without warning into a moment of intimacy
and tenderness. She went on softly, "It's just that sometimes I want
things between you and me to be the way they were in the beginning. I
really do see so little of you
.”

She scratched lightly, with her
fingernails, around his ears, something she used to do but hadn't for a
long time. "I still love you
.”

And was tempted to add, but didn't: Please,
oh please, make love to me tonight
"I haven't changed either," Adam said. "No reason to. And I know what you
mean about the time we have. Maybe after the Orion's launched there'll be
more of it
.”

But the last remark lacked conviction. As both of them
already knew, after Orion would be Farstar, which would probably prove
more demanding still. Involuntarily, Adam's eyes strayed back to the
papers spread out before him.
Erica told herself: Don't rush! Don't push too hard! She said, "While
you're doing that, I think I'll go for a walk. I feel like it
.”

"Do you want me to come with you
.”

She shook her head. "You'd better finish
.”

If he left the work now, she
knew he would either return to it late tonight or get up ridiculously
early in the morning.
Adam looked relieved. Outside the house, Erica pulled tightly around her the suede jacket she
had slipped on, and stepped out briskly. She had a scarf wound around her
hair. The air was chilly, though the wind which had buffeted the Motor
City through the
day had dropped. Erica liked to walk at night. She used to in the Bahamas,
and still did here, though friends and neighbors sometimes cautioned that
she shouldn't because crime in Detroit had risen alarmingly in recent
years, and now even suburban Birmingham and Bloomfield Hillsonce
considered almost crime-free-had muggings and armed robberies.
But Erica preferred to take her chances and her walks,
Though the night was dark, with stars and moon obscured by clouds,
enough light came from the houses of Quarton Lake for Erica. to see her
way clearly. As she passed the houses, sometimes observing figures
inside, she wondered about those other families in their own
environments, their hangups, misunderstandings, conflicts, problems.
Obviously, all had some, and the difference between most was only in
degree. More to the point, she wondered: How fared the marriages inside
those other walls, compared with Adam's and her own?
A majority of the neighbors were automotive people among whom the
shedding of spouses nowadays seemed routine. American tax laws eased the
way, and many a highly paid executive had discovered he could have his
freedom by paying large alimony which cost him almost nothing. The
alimony came off the top of his salary, so that he merely paid it to his
ex-wife instead of to the government as income tax. A few people in the
industry had even done it twice.
But it was always the foundered marriages which made the news. Plenty
of the other kind existed-lasting love stories which had weathered well.
Erica thought of names she had learned since coming to Detroit:
Riccardos, Gerstenbergs, Knudsens, lacoccas, Roches, Brambletts, others.
There had been outstanding second marriages,
too: the Henry Fords, Ed Coles, Roy Chapins, Bill Mitchells, Pete and
Connie Estes, the John DeLoreans. As always, it depended on the individuals.
Erica walked for half an hour. On her way back, a soft rain began to
fall. She held her face toward the rain until it was wet and streaming,
yet somehow comforting.
She went in without disturbing Adam who was still in the living room,
immersed in papers. Upstairs, Erica dried her f ace, combed out her
hair, then undressed and put on the nightgown she had bought earlier
today. Surveying herself critically, she was aware that the sheer beige
nylon did even more for her than she had expected in the store. She
used the orange lipstick, then applied Norell generously.
From the living-room doorway she asked Adam, "Will you be long
.”