Buying Brazil (Buying Brazil Trilogy Book 1)

by Arthur Rawl

  “It wasn’t important. Please Carl, you’ll have to forgive me but my driver is waiting. I really have to go. I have an appointment on Ave Paulista in less than a half hour and you know how the traffic is. Thank you Robin, I hope to see you, the both of you very soon.”

  Wearing her all-knowing smile, Robin picked up Alana’s bag, “I’ll walk you out. We can leave Carl here to clean the egg off his face.”

  That was a damned surprise. Watching them walk out I couldn’t help worrying about what else Alana didn’t think was important. We never talked about her work, my work, anything important. Yes, we were lovers, truly lovers but nothing more even though we made the commitment to be more to each other. Shelly and I had never talked about us before we were married, who we were, what we wanted. Then there was the marriage which probably never should have happened in the first place and ended badly.

  I heard the front door close and Robin walking back across the reception area. “Well Carl she’s a hell of a lot of woman. Where did you find her?”

  “Find her, well as a matter of fact she found me. The Senator sent her to get me.”

  “Ah, love at first sight and with her looks I can certainly understand how it happened, at least on your side. Really …”

  “Don’t be so smart. I was damned suspicious about her when we met and more so when she abandoned me into the Senator’s clutches a half hour later.”

  “Poor Carl, taken in by a pretty face and a great body just like any other man. You must really be disappointed in yourself.”

  “No Robin we …” I didn’t finish, Robin could be right? Was Alana just keeping me in line for whatever the Senator had planned? We planned to get married but she insisted we keep it a secret. And then there was Brazil and her refusal to leave, was it just another ploy, another reason why the marriage would never happen?

  “Maybe, maybe not Robin, but it doesn’t matter as long as we do our jobs and keep our heads down. We’ll be out of here in a few weeks with full pockets and she’ll be just a memory from another old deal.”

  “Sure whatever you say but the look on your face a few minutes ago told a whole different story. For both our skins I hope the real story is closer to what you just said. It will lower the risk for both of us and make me feel a hell of a lot better.”

  “You worry too much. Let’s split up these papers and go through them. I want to be sure there’s nothing sleeping in them that’s going to become a problem. I’ll call Juan Batista at BrasTel and see if we can host an introduction session for Herr von Lieghter here tomorrow afternoon. Would you call Security and find out what we have to do to get guests into the building without any problems.”

  Robin walked out and I wondered whether I was that easy for a woman to read or was it simply she knew me better. I’ve run big money, high risk deals for years and usually come out on top. It wouldn’t have happened that way if I was as transparent as she said. Alana caught me off guard and Robin spotted it. Still, as Robin said, there is the real possibility I was being played for the fool by a pretty face and that was troubling. If she was right our futures after the deal, if any, could be anything but what I expected.

  Then there was the story Aranni told me. Did my father really save his life or was it a fiction stitched together from facts readily available to Brazil’s Military Attaché in London. Aranni certainly had a lot of practice manipulating people and keeping them off balance. If my stepfather was alive he would know who to call at the Ministry of Defense about Aranni’s story and he could tell me whether von Lieghter was genuine.

  I’ll call Gunter in Vienna about von Lieghter and make it sound like part of the routine deal background checking for those uninvited listeners on our telephone line. Naturally the timing of the call would be out of phase with what’s normal for accepting an assignment but everyone would believe I was relying on the Senator and the call was no more than a formality. Tomorrow morning I’ll start sorting through whatever’s going on.

  “Yes Carl he and his family are old clients of the Bank. His family is old line Viennese with a military history going back to the eighteenth century. His forbearers include at least two or three Generals and at least one Marshal. His father was a Count and he inherited the title but you know here in Vienna we don’t use titles any more except in very limited circles.”

  “Do you have anything in your files about what he did during the World War II?”

  “You should know von Lieghter wired the Bank late last week and gave the Bank permission to supply you with whatever information you require. When I got your e-mail this morning I already asked my assistant to get his pre-computer era family files from the archives and did a quick review. Without even looking I can assure you he was in the Army. As to our banking relationship, beyond what might be considered traditional banking transactions and like the service offered by most of your English banks many of our more important clients had all their personal bills sent directly to us for payment so the file is very thick.

  One thing of interest is that we opened a correspondent credit letter with a private bank in Berlin for von Lieghter. There was a somewhat constant amount of monthly drawing against the letter for almost two years, nineteen thirty-eight and thirty-nine. Remember the Anschluss was in March nineteen thirty-eight and afterward Austria became a German satellite state. If you asked me to guess, as I assume you would, it looks as if he was stationed there and living either on a German military base or more likely at our embassy. The monthly drawings against the letter seem too little to include the rent of a fashionable home in a big city like Berlin.”

  “Why do you think the embassy is more likely?

  “In those days the men from von Lieghter’s class did not soil their hands with real soldiering. It wasn’t until Germany started losing the war that they had to pick up weapons beyond their dress swords.”

  “Could he have been the Austrian Military Attaché?”

  “I have no way of telling from our records. I can say it wouldn’t surprise me because young men from families like his were often given part military, part-diplomatic assignments that kept them far from the fighting.”

  “What about after the war? Can you tell me anything about him, what he did?”

  “He was one of the too few educated men who came home at the end of the war. The officer ranks of our army had been decimated by German misuse of Austrian Divisions. The new Government put all who were still able to work rebuilding the country. Most did a great deal of good for the country and some others went beyond and also did good things for themselves and their families. von Lieghter was one of the latter group. Within eight or ten years he, with the help of the Americans and the English led the rebuilding of much of the Country’s pre-war industrial base and more than all of his family’s pre-war wealth and position. He retired maybe five or six years ago and today his eldest son is a well-respected investor who controls a great deal of political power from behind the scene. The son is not a man to disappoint or displease.”

  “Is there anything about post-war investments in Brazil and income coming in from there?”

  “Yes, it seemed unusual because of his age at the time. There was a large amount of money transferred to Brazil eight years ago. The amount was so large the transfer had to be approved by the Central Bank. The application to the CB characterized the money transfer as being for investment purposes. Since then there is what appears to be an annual dividend coming in from Brazil. The amount varies from year to year but it has remained in a range that would be appropriate for a dividend from a stable investment.”

  “Where did it go once the wire landed in Brazil?”

  “After clearing Brazil’s Central Bank the money went to Banco Bradesco in São Paulo, then to a regional Bank in Santa Catarina State where the address of the account holder was in a small town named Blumenau. The account holder was a Brazilian Corporation. Its name was something like ‘Development of the Land No. 3’. Translation from Portuguese into German and now English �
�� that is the best I can do.”

  “Last question, are you still paying the family bills and if you are, are there unusual medical bills?”

  “Yes we still pay his personal bills. To answer the second part, my mother tells me his wife has some slowly progressing form of cancer. She has been sick for several years and may have to struggle for several more.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that Gunter. von Lieghter told me his wife hadn’t been well but gave no details other than he would not like to spend too much time in São Paulo.”

  “My mother says von Lieghter and his wife are very close. They had a very difficult time when the Russians occupied Vienna before the end of the war. First she was arrested and then he when he came home from Germany. Both thought the other dead. They were in separate prisons for many months before each found out the other was alive. It happened when the Russian began to empty the prisons. Just before the Neutrality Status for Austria was agreed among the Allies his wife’s father, an old man, was shot and left to die in the street for refusing to work on the Russian Victory monument. My mother says von Lieghter’s wife was never the same.”

  “Thank you for your help Gunter. As you can guess we are working to close the deal as soon as possible. My guess, it should be no more than three weeks unless local politics gets in the way.”

  “That is very quick my friend. I would have thought much longer, perhaps six or eight weeks.”

  “That might be right if it were a new deal but, we’re now running nothing more than a refreshed model of the old one. BrasTel has had its investment bankers on board for weeks preparing to evaluate an offer and then issue a fairness opinion. Once the opinion is issued to the Board it’s no more than one or two meetings and it should vote the deal up or down.”

  “You are confident the fairness opinion will support the price you plan to have your client offer?”

  Turning my desk chair to look out into the garden, “We’re not quite ready to make an offer although the range one will eventually fall in is now very narrow. We launched a trial balloon several weeks ago before the world changed and did not get any significant negative feedback. Also our new client is more tuned into local considerations than the last group I represented so I’m fairly confident. As usual for appearances there is going to be a few rounds of give and take at the end but I think there is enough room to move the price around a little while keeping both sides and the noisy newspapers happy.”

  “I hope so. You know that side of deal making business better than I do so I’ll just have to plan for a closing within a month. I’ll get our legal department focused so we don’t slow you down. If I can be of any further help don’t hesitate to call. Now if you don’t mind I will go to lunch and tell vastly inflated stories to my competitors in the hope of worrying them for the rest of the afternoon. Take good care my friend.”

  “Thanks again, we’ll talk soon. Goodbye.”

  Outside the sun was just getting high enough to drive shadows from the recesses of the garden. Remnants of last night’s rain sparkling on deep green leaves moving gently in the morning breeze looked like jewels. Later the air would become still and heavy unable to provide any relief from the afternoon’s heat. But for now the garden was an inviting haven for those fortunate few who had both access and time to simply enjoy the morning.

  Gunter’s information lined up very well with what I had previously gathered about von Lieghter. But the key salesman’s hook, his connection to my stepfather could still be nothing more than careful scripting. I needed to corroborate that last detail to be sure von Lieghter was as represented.

  “Robin, could you come here for a minute please.”

  “What’s up, I’m still trying to cope with the morning’s first cup of coffee.”

  “If I remember correctly you archived all my London contact information on a disk or something. My copy is probably back in New York. Do you have one here?”

  “I’ve got one of everything here and master is back in the States. What do you need?”

  “Anything you’ve got on my father’s secretary, the one that was with him for years. Mary something or other, I want to call her.”

  “You should read your mail, particularly what comes from the family solicitor. In his will your father provided Mary ‘Sullivan’ would have employment and income for life. She was to have two principal responsibilities. First, close down his office and move his files to his, or should I say your country estate. Second, she was to move into the estate’s guest cottage and take on the responsibilities of estate manager until you returned to the property. Then if she chose she could continue as manager or retire on a pension equal to seventy-five percent of her last salary and live on the estate for one pound a year for the rest of her life.”

  “Damn you’re good. Now that you remind me I did read that in the summary of my stepfather’s bequests his solicitor sent to me. She was also to organize a family archive for all his and my mother’s personal papers and memorabilia. Do you have a phone number for the estate?”

  “Yes ‘we’ do. Look on your laptop in your Outlook contacts. It’s under your stepfather’s name. Any other obvious things you want me to find?”

  “Thank you. Is everything arranged for this afternoon?”

  “All under control, the building has a list of names for security, it will have coffee service for ten brought up when the guests start arriving and Jóse Carlos and I have ordered a whole bunch of goodies from the French bakery downstairs that will be delivered on a platter at twelve-thirty.”

  “Sounds like you’re planning a very sweet lunch for yourself.”

  “You can bet on that. Anything else you need?”

  “Yes, try and find Mary Sullivan for me. I’d like to talk to her.”

  “I’ll call the estate number. It should still be the same. The place is officially owned by your family trust so your father’s death wouldn’t have any effect on all the service accounts for the place.”

  “Did you finish your share of yesterday’s pile?”

  “… certainly did. Well thought out stuff but as boring as reading the Manhattan telephone directory. Nothing to get worried about except maybe the fact that every company mentioned is owned by another one. It makes me wonder whether companies run themselves down here without the help of any people.”

  “The things I looked at were the same. They reflect a lot of care and thought and a great deal of effort to keep the real players invisible. It could be just tax planning but I doubt it. It’s more likely to keep certain people’s names out of the political arena with a little liability management mixed in for its confusion effect.”

  “That what I like about the deal business, nothing is really what it looks like on the surface.”

  Robin stepped out of the doorway and I returned to the garden and the imagined secrets whispered there between generations of politicians, conspirators, and criminals. If only they could whisper them back to me I might be able to see through the risk filled fog in which BrasTel was shrouded. They showed me the communications monitoring facility and told me it was the treasure they were protecting. It sounded good then but today …?

  “Hey Carl, guess who I found on the first try, Mary Sullivan. She’s on line two.”

  “Thank you, “Mary good morning. How are you?”

  “Very good and very lonely, it’s beautiful here but it’s not London. I miss the hustle and bustle and of course, I miss your stepfather. He was always good to us who worked for him no matter how difficult business was. My condolences on your loss Carlton … Sir Carlton, he was a great man and he loved you very much.”

  “Thank you, I miss him also. As long as he was alive I knew there was always someone I could turn to for advice. I was more fortunate than most, I had two fathers who loved me.”

  “Your Miss Robin said the two of you are on an assignment in Brazil. That must be exciting. Oh I know you travelled a lot in your work but Brazil seems special from all I’ve read.”

  �
�It is a special place. Nothing is quite the same as other places in a very comfortable kind of way. I’m sure you would like it if you came to visit.”

  “Oh goodness, I’m too old for such things. I’ve never been on an airplane and I think I would be frightened to death to fly over so much water.”

  “Well you think about it Mary. The people here are friendly, the food is good and there are things to see. Are you settled in the cottage?”

  “Your father always called it a cottage but for me it’s a big house. I sold my flat in London and moved all my things here. In the morning the sun fills the breakfast room and at night the quiet is a blessing. No horns or people yelling, none of the things that steal the rightful quiet in London. It is really delightful. I’m so grateful to him for letting me spend my old age here surrounded by flowers and trees. I’m also grateful for the work he provided so I’m kept a bit busy.”

  “He said many times that you organized his life for him and made it possible for him to do the impossible. The work you did was very important to us all.”

  “Are you going to come home and make the big house feel lived in again. The house being empty is a sad thing for the staff and me. It’s a reminder of what we all have lost. He loved spending time in the country. Just you being here would bring the estate back to life.”

  “In a month or two after I have finished up some business here and in New York, I plan to move back to England. I’ll open the house and eventually will set up offices in London.”

  “Oh that will be wonderful. My goodness can I tell some of the staff? I’m sure you can image how they worry about their positions here.”

  “It’s what I plan and I see no reason to keep it secret. At the beginning I may be in residence full time but eventually I will open the house in London and spend the work week there.”

  “I expected you would. Now, you didn’t ring me all the way across the Atlantic Ocean just to say hello to your stepfather’s old assistant. What is it?