The Spire Read Online Free PDF Page A

college, his idea of high finance was sending his bloated credit card bills home to Dad.'
    'People change,' Farr responded. 'As you'd be the first to acknowledge. Joe Betts is now a partner in a respected investment advisory firm that oversees our endowment. Durbin was on Joe's committee, each of whose members was entitled to direct transfer of endowment funds beneath one million dollars.
    'The funds in question were certificates of deposit. What seems to have happened is that Durbin e-mailed Joe's firm, directing that the CDs be transferred to a bank account in the name of Caldwell College, set up by Clark himself. From which, at his direction, the money was transferred to a bank account in Geneva''
    'Then you can forget it,' Darrow said flatly. 'The Swiss are a black hole.'
    Farr nodded. 'In theory, everyone on the investment committee is suspect. But Durbin sent the e-mail, and his signature is on the papers used to open the bank account in Wayne that received the money.'
    'Are there other possibilities''
    Farr shrugged. 'The other person seemingly involved is Joe himself, who transferred the money based on Durbin's e-mail. But it's hard to see how Joe could send that e-mail to himself, or gain access to Durbin's computer. It all comes back to Clark.'
    Pausing, Darrow watched a young couple walking hand in hand, careless of anything but each other. 'Still, nine hundred thousand isn't that much. How large is our endowment''
    'Less than seventy million. The timing of Angela's death killed a capital campaign we desperately needed. And historically the school has never done well with its money'until the last few years, our investment committee might as well have put it under a mattress. We got heavily into equities just in time for the dot-com meltdown, then the near collapse of our financial system'too heavily, it turns out. By the time Joe's firm took over, we'd lost over a third of our endowment. And now this.' Farr shook his head in disgust. 'Stupidity and criminality are a lethal combination. Piety is even worse: church-related schools, I'm finding, don't have the financial safeguards they should'they were founded on notions of man's goodness. What pure-hearted Christian would suspect Clark Durbin of being a crook''
    'Or just clever enough to be a fool,' Darrow answered. 'Embezzlement's a dead-end crime: sooner or later, the thief always gets caught.' He faced Farr again. 'If it's money you need, I can make up the nine hundred thousand. More, if you like.'
    Farr smiled faintly. 'Who would have ever thought, Mark' I guess lawyering
does
pay better than coaching, your original ambition. But, with deepest thanks, the missing money is not Caldwell's problem. It's reputation.
    'As the events surrounding Angela's death suggested, reputation, once lost, is hard to regain'especially among the donors we need to survive. We were planning a hundred-million-dollar capital campaign when the board got wind of this. All that's needed for disaster to strike, I've realized, is for Caldwell to dream up a new fund-raising effort.' Farr's voice softened. 'Clark's embezzlement has become an existential threat. How do you ask people for money when they don't believe you can safeguard what you have''
    Darrow stopped, hands in his pockets, facing Farr. 'You've just redefined your problem, Lionel. It's public relations. How much does the media know''
    'Nothing, yet.
That
problem is still hanging over us.'
    'Then if you've come to me for advice, I've got some. I assume the board is hiring a forensic accountant to sort out how Durbin's supposed to have done this.'
    'As we speak.'
    'Have them draw up a new system of financial controls, to assure the alumni'and the media'that nothing like this can ever happen again.' Squinting into the afternoon sun, Darrow put on his sunglasses. 'The next thing is to engage an outside public relations firm. You'll need to write this story before somebody else does.'
    Farr folded his arms. 'The board's current hope,'