“No,” I murmured, watching a pigeon peck at a cigarette butt on the pavement outside. “Men like Martin only read the executive summary. They never check the ownership structure.”
“He’s screaming for you to come back up,” Nina whispered, glancing nervously at the stairwell door. “He’s pacing a hole through the imported Persian rug. The board of directors is emergency-calling into speakerphone right now from Zurich. They want to know why Tennant Logistics Corp is facing an immediate default on its primary asset-backed credit facility.”
“Ah,” I said. “The credit facility.”
“Clara, what credit facility?”
“The one Martin restructured last Tuesday to fund his new consulting software contract,” I explained, my voice as calm as a glass of spring water. “He didn’t read the legacy covenants. Article Nine, Section Four of the Arthur Tennant Memorial Trust stipulates that any debt-to-equity ratio exceeding 2.1 must be co-signed by the primary voting shareholder holding the Class-B founder’s shares. Otherwise, the entire revolving credit line triggers an acceleration clause, making the full two hundred and fifty million dollars payable within forty-eight hours.”
