He had already ordered her a double vodka martini, knowing her drink, and he began asking her questions about her trip as he led her to the table.
She felt relaxed in his company. He had a soothing manner and a lot of charm: one of his major assets when dealing with the very rich. She skirted around her journey, not mentioning she had stayed at the Adlon hotel in Basle. She told him about the new car.
“And what news of Herman?”
She lifted her shoulders.
“The same… always busy.”
He looked at her thoughtfully, his bright blue eyes a little probing.
“No regrets, Helga?”
“Don’t let’s go into that.” She finished her drink. She was not going to remember that it had been Archer who had arranged the marriage. She had put enough business his way to reward him. She was certainly not lifting the curtain on those exciting moments in his office when he used to lock the door and they had had those “quickies’ on the settee. “Let’s eat… I’m starving.”
The dinner of finely cut smoked beef with pickled cucumbers followed by a pheasant was impeccable.
While waiting for the dessert trolley, she said, “I didn’t know you had other clients in Lugano, Jack.”
“A couple of old fossils.” He grinned. “I have to see them about every eighteen months. I thought it would be a good idea - save you the trip too - if I came over and did our business and theirs at the same time. Feel like working after dinner?”
She nodded. She had nothing else to do but to worry and brood so she welcomed having him for the rest of the evening.
“I have all the papers in my suite,” he went on. “Let’s go up after coffee… okay?”
She hesitated. Was it wise to go to his room? Would eyebrows be raised? He saw her hesitation and immediately read her thoughts.
They have a small boardroom here. Let’s use that,” he said. The table will make it easier to spread the papers on.”
She smiled at him, nodding. That was another thing she liked about Archer.
He was highly perceptive, tactful and always had a solution.
After the dessert, he said, “Meet me in the lobby in five minutes. We can have our coffee in the boardroom.”
Half an hour later, the table strewn with papers, the coffee pot empty, Archer paused to light a cigar.
That about wraps it up, Helga,” he said. “Not a very good six months, but these Euro-dollar bonds are sliding. Nothing to worry about. They’ll come back. At least, they pay a hefty interest. The equities are down… but the Dow Jones has been shot to hell. Still, it could be worse. Would you like me to explain about the losses to Herman or will you do it?”
“I’ll do it. He can’t expect to win all the time. I’d like to look at the prices to compare them with last month’s figures. How much are we down, Jack?”
He regarded the glowing end of his cigar and lifted his heavy shoulders.
“A damn sight less than most investors.”
She regarded him.
“I’m not in the least interested in other investors, Jack. How much are we down?”
“Oh… around ten per cent. It’ll pick up on the next half year.”
“Ten per cent!” She sat upright. “But that’s about a two million dollar loss!”
“Yes… about that, but there’s twenty million in the kitty.” He smiled. “My two old fossils are in the hole for a thousand.” He shook his head. “In comparison, they are worse off than Herman… a lot worse off.”
“Let me see the stock list.”
He shrugged, opened his briefcase and took out a file.
“Sure you want to run through all this? Could take couple of hours.” He glanced at his watch. “You must be tired.”
“I’m all right’ She took the file from him and put it on the table.
“To save time, you might initial each page as you go. I’ve initialled my copy already.” He handed her a gold Parker pen and then began to gather up the papers strewn on the table.
Helga lit a cigarette, picked up the pen and began to go through the list of holdings. She had an excellent memory but there was such a mass of holdings she couldn’t remember the exact price of each stock or bond as it had stood six months ago, but she remembered a number of them.
Admittedly the prices of the bonds were down, but only by two or three points. She had been expecting something much more dramatic. She turned the pages, her eyes darting down the neatly typed columns of prices.
Archer sat in an easy chair, watching her, his cigar burning evenly.
“There’s a page missing, Jack,” she said finally.
“No… you have it all there.”
She looked up sharply.
There’s a page missing. There are at least four Eurobonds not listed: Mobile, Transalpine, National Financial, Chevron. There are equities missing too. Calcomp. Hobart.” She paused to look at the list, then went on, “CBS.”
He smiled.
“Whata wonderful memory you have. It’s really remarkable. Yes, they are missing. You slipped up on one: General Motors.”
She put down the stock list.
“Then let me have the missing page… what is this: a memory test?”
“Do you think Herman would miss them from the list?”
She frowned, staring at him.
“Why, no. You know he never looks at all this. You check it… I check it… and that’s it.” She looked more closely at him. “What is all this about, Jack?”
“Have you initialled the sheets?”
“No, and I’m not going to until I get the missing page.”
He stared at his cigar for a long moment, frowning slightly, then he looked up, staring at her, his pale blue eyes hard.
“You’re not getting that, darling.”
She leaned back in her chair.
“Why not?”
“Because they don’t exist any more.”
She felt suddenly cold and a little sick. She had been in the jungle of finance long enough to sense what he was trying to tell her.
“All right, Jack… explain.”
“One of those things, I’m afraid,” he said and lifted his shoulders. “That Australian nickel thing… I went into it heavily… the bubble burst… and that’s it.” “You went into it heavily… what do you mean?” He made an impatient movement which he checked immediately.
“Oh, come on, Helga! There was a great chance… a chance of a lifetime! I got in on the ground floor at $10… imagine! I held on too long… it happens. I could have got out at $120, but I just couldn’t resist hanging on. I swore I’d get out at $150 and I would have done. Then they found there was no nickel and… that was that.”
“But where did the money come from?”
“Where do you think? I sold these missing bonds and stocks. Now look, Helga, Herman needn’t know about this. You know he never checks anything. He’s far too busy. You initial all this stuff and he accepts it. I’m asking you to help me out of a hole. After all he’s worth around sixty million… he’ll never miss two, will he?”
“You sold bonds and stocks?” Helga sat forward and stared at him. “But you couldn’t have! We have joint signatures on the account! What are you talking about?”
Again he regarded the burning end of his cigar, then he looked at her, then away.
“I always did say, Helga, you had rather an unformed signature.”
