“Yes.”
“I won’t go over fifty thousand for that Consolidated outfit. I think there’s a good prospect of oil in that underwriting proposition put up by Fargo. I’ll go to seventy-five thousand on it, but I want my money to be the last in and the first out, with as big a slice of velvet as you can get. Understand?”
“You mean to tell them—”
“No. Listen. They’re making the same mistake every new business makes — underestimating the amount of capital which is going to be required. Put in twenty thousand on their terms. Stipulate that the stockholders have to raise an additional twenty thousand. Then sit tight. When the shoe begins to pinch, they’ll ask for small amounts, two thousand to five thousand dollars. Sit absolutely tight. Wait until they’re desperate, then make them our proposition.”
“Control?” Endicott asked.
“Control of the common and first preferred covering my investment. I want control after I’ve withdrawn all the money I’ve put in.”
Endicott pursed his lips. “I don’t think it can be done.”
“It can if you go at it the way I’ve outlined. They’re asking for, thirty-five thousand dollars. Ask if they won’t be able to raise twenty thousand dollars among themselves if I put in twenty thousand dollars. They’ll do it — and they think that will be ample capital.”
“I understand,” Endicott said.
“Don’t talk about this case,” Whitewell instructed him. “If any newspaper reporters get in touch with you, laugh at them. I’m here on business. Point out very casually that I stopped off here several hours before the murder was committed. In other words, this is a business trip. My business here was important enough to cause me to take a plane and stop over for several days. Philip is here assisting me and learning certain details about the business. Understand?”