‘Why didn’t you go with her?’ Megan asked.
‘Stubbornness. Stupidity. I have nothing against my mother. Usually, we get on well. She’s a strong woman, and I owe her a lot. She brought me up believing I could do something in the world. I suppose that was my problem. I had spent my entire youth planning my escape from Halifax, with her encouragement. Going back would have been an admission that I’d failed, not just myself, but also her. Although I was in a bad way, I didn’t quite want to do that yet. So I stayed, and festered.
‘Then Lenka called. She said she knew I was a good trader. She asked what had happened when I’d been fired from Bloomfield Weiss, and when I told her, she said she thought it must have been something like that. She said I was her first choice as a partner to set up a hedge fund. She wasn’t just being kind; she needed me. Of course, I did my best to refuse, to condemn myself to perpetual failure. But you know Lenka. What she wants, she gets.’ Chris stopped to correct himself. ‘I mean, what she wanted...’
‘You don’t look like a failure to me,’ said Megan.
‘No, I’m not. Not now. Provided I can keep Carpathian going.’
‘Are there problems?’
Chris took a deep breath. ‘Let’s just say that Lenka’s death brought some complications. Nothing I can’t sort out. I’d rather not think about it now.’
‘Well, good luck, with that.’ Megan stood up. ‘And now, I’d better get to bed if I’m not going to get totally drunk.’
That’s a good idea,’ said Chris, standing up as well. ‘Look, I’ve got to go to Lenka’s flat tomorrow evening and sort some stuff out for her parents. Would you like to come? You can stay here again tomorrow night if you want.’
‘I can find a hotel,’ said Megan.
‘Are you sure? You’re welcome to stay.’
She looked at him and smiled. ‘OK. That would be good. Now I must get to bed.’
4
It made no sense. Chris sipped his coffee as he stared at the Eureka Telecom papers in front of him. The first thing he had done when he had arrived at the office that morning was go through them one more time in the hope that the reason Lenka had bought the bonds would become obvious. It hadn’t. In fact, he found it difficult to believe that she had bought them at all.
But she had. Carpathian owned them. And they had no means of selling them.
The phone rang. It was Duncan.
‘You remember you gave me some junk bond recommendations the other day?’ he began.
‘Yes.’
‘Well, my client checked them out. He said they seemed to make more sense than anything anyone else had told him.’
‘Good.’
‘Do you think you could have lunch with him?’
‘Duncan! There’s a lot going on here, and only me to do it now Lenka’s gone.’
‘Come on, Chris. This guy’s my best client. He’s stuck with me since United Arab International. I know you’d give him an honest idea of what’s going on out there. I’ll pay.’
‘Oh, all right,’ Chris said. ‘Who is he, anyway?’
‘His name is Khalid. Royal Bank of Kuwait. Smart guy. Don’t underestimate him. How are you placed next week?’
Reluctantly, Chris agreed a date. He put down the phone, reflecting that Duncan couldn’t be that useless a salesman: he seemed to possess that essential ability to make people do things they didn’t really want to do.
Now what the hell was he going to do about the Eureka Telecom bonds?
He stared across at Lenka’s desk. Tina had put some fresh flowers in her vase, delphiniums or something. But they didn’t know the answer.
If only he had been there the previous week. Although they trusted each other, he and Lenka always discussed major investment decisions. She would certainly have gone over this one with him. He had given her his phone number in Courchevel before he went skiing, but she had refused to use it, saying he needed a complete break from the office. If only he could at least have listened in to her end of the phone conversation with Ian when she had bought the bonds.
At Bloomfield Weiss, that would have been possible. All phone conversations were taped to resolve any disputed trades. But they hadn’t installed any recording equipment at Carpathian. The firm was too small, and both Lenka and Chris hadn’t liked the Big Brother aspect of bugging phones. Besides, if there was a problem they could always rely on the broker’s recordings.
That was it!
Chris hit the number for Bloomfield Weiss.
Ian answered. ‘Where are the Eurekas trading this morning?’ Chris asked without preamble.
‘One tick.’ Chris waited. He knew the Bloomfield Weiss trader would have to think about this one. Eventually Ian returned. ‘He’s indicating ninety to ninety-two. But that’s only good in a million.’
‘That’s down five points!’ protested Chris.
‘What can I say? There’s a big seller out there.’
‘I can’t believe this market!’
‘I told you it was different from trading govvies,’ said Ian, with little sympathy in his voice.
Chris didn’t bother to ask where the bid for his ten million block would be. He knew the answer would be below yesterday’s price of seventy and he didn’t want to hear it. There was no point going to any other houses in the market, either. Eureka Telecom was a Bloomfield Weiss deal, and if Bloomfield Weiss were moving the price down sharply no other dealer in his right mind would want to buy the bonds. They might pretend to make a price, but if Chris tried to hit the bid it would fade immediately. No, he’d have to argue this one out.
‘Ian, why did Lenka buy this deal?’
‘It looked great last week, before the numbers came out.’
‘No, it didn’t. I’ve looked at the prospectus. It was a dog. It’s not the kind of deal she’d do. And certainly not in twenty-five million.’
‘I don’t know. It yields three per cent more than Buck Telecom.’
‘Yeah, but Buck has a network already in place. And a market cap of three billion quid. This is a totally different deal. Didn’t she say anything about why she liked it?’
Ian didn’t reply.
‘Come on, Ian. Help me here. This is a major headache for me. Lenka’s dead, it’s not as if she and I can talk about it.’ Chris had no compunction in using Lenka’s death as a means of getting what he wanted. It was her company’s survival that was at stake; he was sure she wouldn’t mind.
‘Sorry, Chris. I’ve no idea.’
Although Ian was an experienced salesman, he couldn’t keep the guilt from his voice. Chris knew him too well. And he knew he was lying.
‘I’d like to listen to the tapes,’ Chris said.
‘What?’
‘I’d like to listen to the tapes of Lenka buying the bonds.’
‘Come on, Chris. There’s no need for that.’
‘Yes, there is. There’s something funny about this and I want to find out what.’
‘But you can’t listen to the tapes unless you query the trade.’
‘Then I’m querying the trade.’
‘But it’s already settled.’
‘Ian. These are special circumstances. The person who did the trade is dead, and I have reason to believe that the deal was never done.’
‘What reason?’
‘It doesn’t make sense.’
‘What kind of reason is that? If everybody who bought a bond argued about it when the price went down, the market would grind to a halt.’
Ian was right. Chris didn’t have any evidence. But his suspicions were growing.
‘Look, Ian,’ he said, trying to take on a more conciliatory tone. ‘If there’s nothing wrong with the trade, then it won’t do you any harm if I listen to the tapes, will it?’
‘I told you, there’s no need.’