Chapter 16

The next morning Cliff and Sandy were having their usual morning coffee when Kelly arrived. They looked at her carefully. Cliff reached into his wallet and extracted the still-folded ten-dollar bill and gave it to Sandy. "You won it fair and square."

Kelly was bleary-eyed, but her eyes glowed. "What is that bill you two keep passing back and forth? You were doing it all last night, too."

Cliff looked at her and said, "You obviously need coffee badly. How do you drink it, Kelly?"

"Just black this morning, please."

Cliff was already on his feet and headed for the coffee pot, leaving the girls alone.

"Kelly Cameron, how does Kevin look this morning? Better than you do, I hope."

"He's worse! He couldn't ... Sandra Donnell, what are you saying?"

"Oh, nothing," she said blithely. "You asked about the ten dollars, though, and I was just answering you. It was a small wager I made with Cliff. I just said you two would spend the night together and obviously you did. That's all."

Kelly tried to glare at Sandy, but ended up grinning. "Sandra Donnell, I would like to hate you but it's very hard. Yesterday was absolutely the greatest day of my life! It started off well with you and Cliff and just got better. And the way it ended ... Wow! Professionally, financially, and personally!

"Sandy, Kevin has a real brain! And he's not frightened of me. I have spent my entire social life on the sidelines, just watching. I have always been so jealous of the airheads who go gaga over any guy who just opens his mouth. I've even tried it, but can't make it work. Sooner or later I'll say something — or show I know something — that's out of character, and I'm dead. But not last night."

Sandy got up and shook hands with the other girl. "I know just what you mean. With me it's the same result but for a different reason. I was always a tomboy, so I ended up every guy's best friend's little sister. It's a great prescription for romance! The guys pat me on the head and ask me if I want to throw a football around."

"Oh, I see!" Kelly said brightly. "That's what you and Cliff do all night! Throw a football around? Of course. Sandy, I FedEx'd your check down to Chicago last night. Now I'm going to call the office and put out the word on the broad tape about Murphy getting a trial order from Magna. I hope you don't mind me cluttering up your office, though?"

"Not in the least! You have done a tremendous amount for the company in the last twenty-four hours. Kelly, I'm not sure either of us said anything but we certainly recognize that the call from Magna came as a direct result of your broad-tape release. Thank you."

Cliff returned with the coffee, and the girls took theirs. Kelly got on the phone and called her office. She spoke to several different people, one after the other, and finally hung up. "That was funny. I sent your check to Jack Snyder, and FedEx did its thing. He was still staring at it when I called. His reaction was identical to mine: He's never seen a personal check for two million dollars. I gave them your fax number so they can send us a copy of the broad tape piece on Murphy and Magna when it runs.

"Then I talked to Bill. Trading has just opened in New York, and it's looking very interesting." She changed the subject. "Sandy, were you at Michigan in the MBA program?"

"Yes, why?"

"Because I think I remember seeing some reference to you in the alumni bulletin. I guess I must have been ahead of you by a couple of years. This is what I always dreamed of. Securities can be pretty dull sometimes, but now you can feel a real dynamic at work. You can feel the market. And Murphy is small enough, and the stock float is small enough— Wait a minute!"

She picked up the phone again and called Bill on the trading desk. "Bill, I forgot something. No one knows this, but watch the Murphy volume! Because of the family control of the company, they never paid much attention to the stock or the stock price. They never traded it. But Bill, there are only one million shares, and — this is the secret — Sandra Donnell already owns or controls about 75 percent of it.

"There are only about 250,000 shares out of the family's hands. What happens if a panicked short sells and can't deliver? If there just aren't any shares to be had? Let's face it: You guys don't normally think about the total number of shares outstanding." She listened for a few minutes and grinned. "Thanks, Bill. Keep in touch."

She hung up the phone. "Bill thinks it may have started already. He's started pushing, and the stock is at thirty-two. He thinks volume has already been as much as 100,000 shares this morning! He can't be sure, of course because it's hard to get the total shares by issue until the exchange closes. But guys, there were 60,000 shares traded yesterday. And that's the official number. "If Bill is anywhere near right, all but about 90,000 shares of tradable stock have changed hands in less than twenty-four hours! He asked me to thank you, too."

"What do we do now, Kelly?" Cliff asked.

"We wait and keep the pressure on. If I'm right, Murphy Manufacturing will be suspended from trading within a couple of days. There are five days to settlement, the day the seller has to deliver the stock he sold. If he doesn't have it, he has to get it ... at any price! Do you follow me?"

"I sure do!" Sandy said. "The next few days are absolutely critical. Let's just enjoy the coffee, shall we?"

She grinned and took the cups for refills. She came back later and dashed back out again. When she returned the second time she had papers in her hand. "I think this is what we've been waiting for," she said as she gave copies to the other two. She had made copies of the faxed Dow-Jones news wire and they all read the release.

A moment later Cliff cheered. "I think this is going to do it! I just wonder ... Kelly, do you know George Simpson of Ajax Industries?" he asked.

"Sure do," she replied, making a face. "Why?"

Cliff explained his former relationship with Stephanie and the circumstances surrounding the loss of the Magna business: Ajax breaking its policy and cutting price to meet Murphy with the private understanding they would meet any Murphy price.

"Kelly, let's say you're George Simpson. You see on the broad tape that Magna is receiving test quantities from Murphy. What do you do, if anything?"

"I just might go berserk! I just might call Magna and tell them they can't buy from Murphy." Kelly replied looking very thoughtful. "Excuse me again. Do I have to leave quarters with the treasurer for all of these phone calls? I'm really sorry. I should be using my credit card."

"You do and I'll kill you!" Sandy said quickly. "You're making money for us in big bunches."

Kelly looked in her notebook and dialed a number in Chicago. The phone was answered moments later. "Hi, Bill. It's Kelly Cameron from Snyder Securities. I just saw a piece on the broad tape that Murphy Manufacturing is shipping test quantities of valves and rings to Magna. I thought you folks at Ajax had all that business, or at least all of yours plus what used to be Murphy's. Do you have a comment?"

She listened for a few moments and then spoke again. "Thanks, Bill, but I'm not in my office. I just called in, and they told me. Can I call you back in ... say, an hour? Thanks a lot. I'll do that." She hung up the phone.

"I think I just waved the red cape in front of the bull. Bill is in financial public relations at Ajax. George Simpson can't react to what he doesn't know. He'll know in a matter of minutes. Do you mind if I take a walk so you people can get some work done?"

Sandy grinned at her friend and said with a wink, "Kevin's office is down the hall on the right. I hear his couch is very comfortable."

"Sandra Donnell, you are terrible!" Kelly said. But she went down the hall looking at offices on the right.

Forty minutes later Cliff's phone rang. It was Jack Crowther calling from Magna. "Hi, Jack, how are you? I've got the answers for you, I think. My people tell me if you want normal trial quantities we can ship in five days. Is that good enough?"

"That's great, Cliff." He gave Cliff the plant location to which the test quantities were to be shipped. "There's something else, though. I guess I stuck my neck out to my top management a few minutes ago. I'm taking your personal assurance on the Kaga quality thing."

"I'm glad you reminded me, Jack. What's your fax number? I received the permission from Japan I expected and will be happy to fax you a copy of the managing director's letter to me. You can have it in seconds." Cliff jotted down the number, and Sandy went to the fax machine. "It's on its way. Now what's this business about sticking your neck out?"

"Cliff, this is all in confidence, okay? I'll tell you what you can use later. Apparently George Simpson at Ajax just went berserk. I gather there was a broad-tape announcement that you had been asked to submit test quantities of rings and valves."

"I hope that wasn't premature?" Cliff asked.

"According to our general counsel, you had to make the announcement. Obviously, it doesn't amount to much at our end, but it certainly does at yours. No, he says what you did was not only correct, it was legally required. That's not the problem."

Crowther paused for a moment to collect his thoughts and then continued, "Cliff, in some ways we're a strange company. People think we're slow moving, and I guess it's generally a fair comment. However, we don't like to be pushed around. Simpson went right to our Chairman. He told him if we bought ten cents worth of product from Murphy, Ajax would cut us off across the board. It's fair to say our Chairman was not pleased. I gather he told Simpson some unpleasant places he could go and said we buy from the most qualified supplier. Period!

"Just a minute, Cliff. I just got the Kaga letter, and I want to read it." There was silence on the phone for a few minutes. Then Cliff heard Jack yell "That's it!" and tell his secretary to make a copy of the fax and hand-carry it to the Chairman immediately.

"Thanks, Cliff. My neck's off the block. That letter says exactly what you told me and a lot more. I just asked my secretary to take it to the Chairman personally. Here's the deal: I told him you were now a fully-qualified supplier of top-quality components ... based on the letter I hadn't seen until just this minute. He instructed me to set up a phase-in schedule for Murphy parts, scaling up to a volume that would be your old volume plus all of Ajax's. As a purchasing officer, I feel like a fool, but can you do it for approximately your old price? Let's say the old price, plus 5 percent?"

"That's a fair price, Jack. Yes, we can handle the work. I'll get you the timing as soon as possible. Obviously, the key consideration is availability of machine tools from Micronics. Now, Jack, what announcement can I make? Your counsel nailed it: It may not be material to you, but it sure as hell is to us. What you're talking about will triple Murphy's gross sales. Hell, we'll be over a billion in sales! Now what am I authorized to say?"

"You can say you have received a letter of intent from Magna Motors to purchase parts at a volume equal to triple your former level. You'll have the letter in less than five minutes on your fax. The order is guaranteed for twenty-four months from the date of achieving full-scale production. In other words, Cliff, the time it takes you to scale up to our production requirements doesn't count against the contract term. Murphy is price-protected with prices scaled to the Department of Commerce Producer Price Index. Is that fair?"

"That's more than fair, Jack. It's a deal, and you're going to be amazed at the quality you get. Our people tell me you have never seen product as good as we'll be shipping. Thanks for the confidence. I'll be back to you as soon as we know about the production scaling."

He looked up at Sandy. "Did you get the drift of the call? We're back in with Magna at a scale triple our old volume at a five-percent price increase, with price protection, and a twenty-four month supply contract! It's absolutely unheard of. It's just never done!"

Kelly had returned to the office to call Ajax back. Cliff briefed her on his call from Crowther at Magna. "Do you know what you have done, young lady? In less than 24 hours — on your initiatives — we've gone from no place to Magna's top supplier. And Kelly, in confidence I'll tell you our costs have come down to such an extent, we will absolutely mint money on this contract!"

Sandy had left the office. When she returned, she again had papers in her hand. They were copies of the Magna letter that had just been received.

Kelly read it and then read it again. "This is unreal! Letters like this are just not sent in the automotive industry. Orders are forward rolling with some leads, but they are almost never long term. Well, it's back to the telephone."

Again she called her office in Chicago.

While she did, Cliff and Sandy talked. Finally, Sandy grinned and nodded. She tapped Kelly on the shoulder and asked to speak to Jack Snyder before she hung up. Kelly nodded and continued to dictate an announcement of the Magna contract. She asked for Jack Snyder and passed the phone to Sandy.

"Jack, this is Sandy Donnell again. Kelly tells me you got my check this morning. Jack, I have a request to make. Kelly doesn't know anything about this. You have two million dollars of my money. I don't know if you're aware of the fact she put in $250,000 of her own. I know a broker is always supposed to execute a client's order ahead of his own. I want to change that: On the Murphy purchases, I'm going fifty-fifty with Kelly until she runs out of money. Of course, anything beyond that is obviously mine. I want that to be effective with the first orders yesterday. If you need something in writing, just fax me up what you want me to say, and I'll sign it.

"Jack, I can't tell you how important Kelly has become to me. She's certainly worth a lot more than the commission she'll get on my trades. Understand? Incidentally, she's handling my entire portfolio which is in process of being transferred to you. Okay? Thanks so much." She hung up and laughed at Kelly whose jaw had dropped.

"Sandy, that's too much. I mean ... things just don't happen like this. You're in a rough, tough, dirty-fingernails kind of business. You're not supposed to behave this way!"

"Kelly," Cliff interjected, "let me tell you something about Sandy. The company means everything to her. Money doesn't. I really think she sweats Monopoly money in the board game more than her own. We've been living together for months now. I can tell you she lives on her pay as a secretary, for God's sake. Believe it or not, I never thought of her dividend income until you mentioned it yesterday. I suspect the only time she does, either, is at tax time. Strange, perhaps, but very true.

"Of course the real reason she did it is when Murphy stock goes in the tank, you two go together. Sandy's a cautious investor. She likes her broker to be in it with her." He grinned with the last words.

Kelly just shook her head and picked up the phone and called Ajax. "Bill, it's Kelly again. Any reaction? By the way there is something that just came to our office from Murphy. They announced a two-year supply contract from Magna Motors. Apparently it's all of their old volume plus all of yours." She listened for a few moments. "I'm sure it will be on the broad tape."

She continued listening and then said, "I understand, Bill. Look, I'm not going to use what you just said. Why don't you go back to Simpson ... No, wait a minute. I like you, and I don't want you to get fired. Give me your fax number and I'll have the office fax you a copy of the broad-tape announcement when it comes over. I'll call you late this afternoon. Thanks."

She leaned back in Cliff's chair, then sat bolt upright. "My God, I'm dumb!"

Sandy and Cliff looked at her in bewilderment as she grabbed her attaché case and took out her financial calculator along with a pad of paper. She started going over her numbers, checked them again, and picked up the phone. "Kathy, it's Kelly. Get out a flash to all our customers and put it on the broad tape if Dow-Jones will take it.

"I am predicting earnings for Murphy Manufacturing of at least $30 per share pretax for next year, rising to $100 pretax the year following. The basis is estimated sales well above $1 billion within two years, coupled with substantially improved operating margins. I think 10 percent pretax on sales is possible. And for God's sake, bury anything at all negative on Murphy I ever wrote. I'm a raging bull! Okay? Thanks."

She hung up the phone and grinned. "My God, what a jackass! It hadn't even occurred to me, and that's what they pay me for! You people are about to mint money! The present stock price is ridiculously low against your earnings prospects. Sandra Donnell, your damned stock will be trading around five-hundred in a year or so! My God, that's a value to you of over three-hundred million dollars!"