Buying Brazil (Buying Brazil Trilogy Book 1)

by Arthur Rawl

  “We are expected downtown at eleven. I think we will be a little early. With any luck we will be back in São Paulo in time for me to have lunch with my husband. He never says anything but I know he likes me to be with him.”

  “The two of you share lunch every day?”

  “Now we try to. In the past he was very busy and I think he feels he neglected me. I have told him many times he did not neglect me. I always understood he was working to save our mother, our country, Brasil. But, now we are older he tries to make it up to me. He also tries to make it up to himself.”

  “The two of you are very fortunate to have each other.”

  “No, I am the fortunate one. He has had to carry all the burdens and I worry about him. It is one of the reasons I am happy Alana and you have chosen to marry. It has made him very happy and happiness has unfortunately been too rare in his life.”

  “Your sons married and you have grandchildren.”

  She looked down at her hands and then with troubled eyes she looked into mine. “Our sons have never been close to their father and at times they have said cruel things. Our grandchildren, yes, they bring both of us a great deal of happiness but it is not enough to make up for the unsatisfactory, fragile relationship between my husband and our sons. Maybe the greatest source of unhappiness is they are all too much alike. Alana learned how to manage her father and he learned to trust her. I have always said girls are smarter about many things than boys. Our sons never made an effort to understand their father and their wives were too weak to keep the family together. Now it is too late.”

  “How do they feel about Alana?”

  “How else would they feel? They treat her as an outsider? They have never been told my husband and I formally, but secretly, adopted her in the court many years ago and she is their sister. When my husband and I are gone they will make trouble for her. Only then will they learn how my husband has protected her and what he built for our family. She will need your help Carl. She will need it much more than she would ever believe. But enough of this talk. We must be thinking of beautiful things so you can direct the goldsmiths to create something that will bring joy to you both during the many years God will give you to share with each other.”

  “Please forgive me if I ask too many questions. Why adopt her secretly?”

  “There are never too many questions. It is how we learn. Sometimes we learn there are not as many answers as there are questions. With this question an answer is easy, it was for her protection. My husband wanted to send her abroad for education, abroad beyond his immediate reach. He did not want her to become a target of political intrigue or simple greed. Ah, we are here, no more than one or two minutes.”

  We pulled up in front of a grey building with a restaurant filling almost the entire street frontage except for a small entryway on the left side adjacent to where the van doors would open. Donã Aranni sat watching a soldier from the chase vehicle behind us walk across the sidewalk and into the entryway. A few seconds later he stepped out stood to the left and nodded his head. The two guards who had accompanied us from São Paulo and travelled here in the chase vehicle walked to the side of our van and the third stepped from beside our driver and opened the door next to Donã Aranni. While that happened two additional soldiers carrying automatic weapons stopped all foot traffic on the sidewalk. She stepped out looking back at me, “Come my son.”, and once again was immediately surrounded.

  We crossed to the entryway and were met by a buzzing sound opening the recessed door and a voice over a tinny speaker welcoming their customer without mentioning her name. At the other end of a slow elevator ride we were greeted by an older man dressed in a starched spotless white lab coat and wearing steel rimmed glasses over his grey eyes.

  Bowing low over hand, “Donã”, straightening up his eyes moving to mine, “This must be the Englishman you spoke of, good morning. I am Carl Hesse the works master.”

  “Good morning Herr Hesse. It is a pleasure to meet you, my name is Carlton Matthews.”

  With a slight nod of the head, “Thank you. Donã, we will go to my office please. Your escorts, with your permission, may wait here.”

  It took no more than a slight wave of her hand and the three guards backed away as Hesse led us down a bright corridor with glass panels on either side separating us from a series of large, immaculate well-staffed workrooms. I couldn’t help but think the cleaning crew must have worked overtime last night.

  In typical German fashion Hesse’s large simply furnished office was completely impersonal. No, pictures, no certificates, no memorabilia just a few carefully arranged tools on the desk stating the room’s purpose was work. Then in the typical Brazilian fashion, “May I offer coffee?”

  “That would be very kind of you.”

  Two young women walked into the room one carrying a tray on which there was a simple white coffee service. Starting with Donã Aranni they quickly found out how we wanted our coffee, poured, served and left the room. After a few minutes of inquiries about her trip and the health of her illustrious husband Hesse turned to me, “Donã Aranni told me during yesterday’s call that you would like an engagement ring made.”

  Before answering the thought went through my mind concerning the call to him long before I knew of her planned offer of a gift, “Yes, that is correct.”

  In English that just barely betrayed his German accent, “An engagement ring is a very personal thing. Do you have something in mind? Perhaps the style you would like to use?”

  “No, I have not thought about it. I usually consider the advice of the shop whenever I buy jewelry.”

  “If I am correct you have the stones you want to use.”

  As I said yes Donã Aranni removed the two small black jewelry bags from her handbag and placed them in front of her on the desk.

  “Ah, I see. If I may look at the stones and see if they tell how they would like to be presented.”

  He pulled a black suede pad from the top desk drawer and then reached for the two bags. First he carefully untied the larger bag and slowly without expression poured the emerald out onto the pad and arranged it to face him. He followed with the small bag.

  “Very good. Three friends who will not fight with each other. A good omen.” He brought a jeweler’s loop to his eye and carefully inspected the emerald and then briefly the diamonds, “The diamonds complement and do not compete. The ring will be warm and full of life and energy.”

  I looked down at the stones resting close to each other, “Yes, but the ring itself is the question.”

  “Of course, let me suggest one or two things. Most important is the emerald and it is a very unique stone. It is most certainly very old but there are no scratches or other markings indicating it has been set before. The clarity is almost perfect, far better than most more recently mined stones.” He looked momentarily at Donã Aranni, “The color is so rich and deep it is of museum quality and most certainly a stone of such color was mined in Columbia. As for its value, I would consider it priceless and therefore it should be protected. Mere prongs would be an insult and an unacceptable risk.”

  “What would you recommend? What would be more fitting for the stones?”

  “I would recommend something in the fashion of when the stone was mined and was considered worth a king’s ransom. Two hundred to three hundred years ago when the Spanish were mining such emeralds the style was to set them in heavy chased settings of Andean gold made mostly for men. I would suggest using that style but in a more delicate way suitable for a woman’s graceful hand. Does that sound of interest Mr. Matthews?”

  Looking first at Doña Aranni and then Hesse, “Yes it does but, if possible, I would like to see an example of the style so I can picture the ring.”

  Hesse picked up the phone, said a few quiet words and hung up. A moment later a clerk hurried in carrying a large well-worn leather bound book that he noiselessly placed on the desk in front of Hesse who immediately proceeded to leaf through it looking briefly at page
after page.

  “Ah, this is what I had in mind.” He turned the book towards us elevating it so we could see the picture, “This ring is in the National Museum in Bogota. It is believed to have been made between seventeen ninety and eighteen twenty-five in Bogota by one of the most noted gold workers. You will notice how he recessed the corundum, the emerald, very slightly and then designed a low ridge around it to protect both the delicate girdle and the table. His genius is seen in how this protection for the stone is visually lost in the design.”

  Donã Aranni studied the ring for a long two minutes, “It is so beautiful. Is it not beautiful Carl?”

  “Yes, it is very beautiful. But is seems almost massive. Too much so for a women’s hand.”

  Hesse shook his head in agreement, “Very massive but it is a man’s ring with an emerald more than two times the weight of your stone. I am sure the basic design can be maintained if not enhanced by bringing delicacy to it and adding the side stones to further reduce the mass of the metal.” He pulled a sheet of blank paper from his desk and picked up a pencil, “Give me a little time please.”

  Minutes later his hand stopped, placed his chin on his other hand and looked down at the sketch. The pencil now suspended above the paper traced a few lines, performed a few curves and then, with care, lowered to the paper adding shading here and there. “Yes, rough, but it tells the story. Here,” turning the paper toward us, “This is what I have in mind.”

  We looked down and an instant later Donã Aranni quietly clapped her hands together, “It is beautiful, just beautiful. Graceful but strong. It is our daughter. Do you like it Carl?”

  “Yes, I most certainly do. What about the metal Sr. Hesse? Should we use gold or platinum?”

  “Thank you. The metal, the design is too early for platinum. The Russian masters used platinum in the later eighteen hundreds but the rest of the world did not catch up until after nineteen hundred. This design should be in gold. What would be correct is high carat gold but it would be too heavy and too soft for everyday wear in our modern world. Eighteen carat gold would work. The color, close to Andean that is naturally a bit darker and a shade more orange and red. By close I mean it should not be brighter yellow like the gold alloys today. I suggest a slightly darker rose gold so that it does not compete with the stones.”

  “I would think yellow gold would work with the emerald if it could be toned down.”

  “As you say, if it could be toned down. We alloy our own metal here and many times we have tried different formulas to soften the brilliance of yellow gold. The results have not been satisfactory. The gold takes on a brownish hue that reminds one of mustard. When we added small amounts of other metals to the alloy to try to move away from the brown the gold became muddy. We have had better results with copper based rose gold alloys because the copper responds to darkening agents much better. By darkening the red from the copper the gold becomes more complementary to the green of the emerald. With this stone the color is more than strong enough to comfortably dominate the metal of the setting.”

  Turning to Doña Aranni, “I’m convinced; do you think Alana will like it?”

  “I think it will be a treasure that will be desired by every woman who sees it particularly my Alana.”

  “Then Donã with your permission we will start at once. I will assign my best goldsmiths and jewelers but it will take a little longer than our usual service to you. Will you allow me two days after today?”

  “Yes, thank you for applying your genius to this work. My husband and I greatly appreciate it. I am sure our new son will speak for himself adding his own gratitude for your wisdom and guidance.”

  “I most certainly do. If left to my own devices, I would have created a very ordinary ring. Donã Aranni is quite correct when she says you have created a treasure.”

  “I am most grateful to both of you. Now if you forgive me I must start moving the picture into reality. If you would be kind enough Donã please have your security here in the late afternoon the day after tomorrow. I could not trust this emerald to anyone else.”

  “My husband will arrange for the transfer to São Paulo. When I have the details I will have you called with the time of arrival and identities of the people involved. Now we will leave you to your work. Thank you and good morning.”

  “Thank you Donã. Your people are waiting for you in the lobby. Have a safe return home.”

  Once on board the plane I went to the only unanswered question from the visit. What would the ring cost me? So I asked.

  “It will have no cost. Helping you made me very happy.”

  “Doña, that isn’t right. I should pay something so it can be at least in part a gift from me. I wouldn’t feel right giving it to Alana if …”

  She held up her hand, “My son the stones are a gift from me to you welcoming you into our family. How you use them is your choice. The ring itself will be very little money but I understand your feelings. I will have a copy of the bill included with the ring. My people will bring the ring to you directly from Rio. It would not be right for me to see it before Alana and if I had the box for only a few minutes I could not resist looking inside. You may arrange payment directly to Herr Hesse however I know he would prefer Dollars deposited in his New York account. I understand you will be going to New York shortly and he would greatly appreciate the service.”

  Thirty-five minutes later our plane landed in São Paulo and taxied to the front of a private hanger where two armored military vehicles, six heavily armed soldiers and José Carlos in my small Volkswagen were waiting. I walked with Donã Aranni to the lead military vehicle and thanked her for her gift and her help. She looked up at me smiling, “No my son, thank you. I have not had so much fun in many years and, I will be home for lunch.”

  She was helped into the back seat and the door was closed after her. One of her guards had already taken the seat next to her, the second who had helped her in ran around to the other side sliding in next to the driver and the third who had positioned himself at the front of the first vehicle next to one of the soldiers ran to the chase car jumping in next the driver. As he closed his door flashing red lights were turned on and both vehicles accelerated toward a gate that opened as they approached allowing them to speed with sirens blaring through the gateway into traffic.

  It took José and I longer to get back to the office in the midday traffic than it took me to get from the jeweler in downtown Rio back to São Paulo. When I walked in Robin yelled she was in the conference room and would be with me in a minute.

  “Hi, sleep late this morning”, as she leaned against the doorway.

  “I’m fine thank you, yourself?”

  “Don’t start. We were going over the results of the post-closing review. Rossi’s guys did a good job and produced very good documentation of their work.”

  “Is there anything important?”

  “No, a few hundred thousand in gives and takes that about cancel each other.”

  “Somehow I’m not surprised. The whole transaction had a lid on it so everyone behaved.”

  “… a lid?”

  “Let’s just say it was too high profile for the usual foolishness.”

  “What about the real estate deals?”

  “We will write them up and get our client his money back. Everything will be done within the suggested timeframe and we will bill for the agreed additional fee. In short, this deal is just about done.

  “If I was a religious person Carl I would be thanking God as I’m running to the airport. I’ll believe it when the plane is wheels up, then maybe. Oh, by the way, the Lazer money is in our accounts. I’ll let it sit for twenty-four hours and the move mine. Anything you want me to do with yours?”

  “Do you have the estate’s household bank account.”

  “Unless you’ve been hiding something from me a have all of yours.”

  “Good, when you move yours move about a quarter of mine to the household account and let Mary know it’s coming. I will d
ecide what to do with the rest in the next few days.”

  “I’m taking the two guys to lunch and then sending them on their way. Do you want me to bring something back for you?”

  “Maybe some salad with a little protein on top. Broiled chicken or sliced beef would work.”

  “I should be back in a little over an hour. When I’m back I’ll start putting together our report on the post-closing review. I’ve a previous one in mind that should be a prime candidate for cutting and pasting.”

  “Fine, when you are back call our client and ask him if he can be here tomorrow morning to review our draft report and take a look at the work papers if he wants to. If he is happy we can finalize the report, hand him our bill and deliver copies of the report to the seller and his attorney. I have a feeling we will be able to officially shut down this engagement by the end of next week.”

  “As soon as von Lieghter signs off I’ll start looking at the airplane schedules. You want New York also?”

  “I think so but give me a couple of days. Before you leave please call Alana and see if she can come up for a few minutes.”

  Ten minutes later Alana and Aranni’s sister came through the door dressed in a conservative blue dress that made her look like a school girl, “Good afternoon, did you enjoy your trip? Before you ask, I found out about it from the house staff. They have been with the family for a long time but they still love to gossip as much as other Brazilians. You can be sure there is no question, they understand their gossiping is restricted to within the house.”

  “Good morning my dear. It’s so very good to see you … and yes, I enjoyed my airplane ride.”

  “Donã Aranni was pleased with herself last night and again this morning so it must have been a very good trip. She is like a little girl who is happiest when she gets her way with something. The bigger the something, the happier she is.”