The Banker's Dilemma: She promised him Paris in the spring

by Roman Klee

  He hoped his lack of knowledge in this area did not register on his face. In Nathan’s mind, there was nothing worse than when clients found out you were not as knowledgeable on a subject as they expected. When that happened the best option was to beat a hasty retreat.

  Maybe now was a good time to change the subject.

  It certainly seemed like the rest of the Wright family were as much in the dark about where Liz was hanging out as he was. Nathan figured he had hit on a safe subject. He asked about Anastasia.

  “How often do you use the boat?”

  “Not so much lately,” said Dirk.

  “Do you always keep the boat in this condition?”

  “Actually, we’re getting her ready for a new trip.”

  Nathan was immediately curious. He wanted to know where Dirk intended to go.

  And Dirk noticed his new friend’s interest.

  “You remember when we last talked about the America’s Cup?”

  Nathan had forgotten, but said that he did.

  “They’re holding one of the trials in Valencia this year.”

  “What you mean Valencia, Spain, right?”

  “Yep, we’re taking Anastasia to the Med for the summer.”

  Dirk explained the plan. They intended to watch a couple of the heats for the Louis Vuitton Cup. The first in Valencia and the final one in Venice. It was likely to be very hotly contested since the local favorite was Il Moro di Venezia. There would be week long celebrations if that yacht won, because it would give her team the right to challenge for the America’s Cup.

  “The guys are getting her ready. Since the refit she only made one Atlantic crossing. Then Liz cut off all contact and she remained here.”

  “How many of you are going?” asked Nathan, as he suspected that they were planning to make this a family affair.

  “Not everyone’s decided yet,” cut in Carla and she glanced at her watch.

  This was the point when it became a little awkward, because the Wrights wanted to speak with Jimmy in private via a video link. One of their lawyers from Concoran & Block would also be taking part on the call.

  Nathan was not offended when they asked if he could move into the library for about half an hour. There were plenty of reading materials. Carla suggested he might like to take a look at some of their early family photo albums.

  Nathan knew he couldn’t turn down this golden opportunity.

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  Jimmy’s face appeared on the forty-seven-inch screen. He looked tired and the dark patches under his eyes indicated he was feeling stressed out.

  “Hi bro, you don’t look so great,” said Mary Beth, always keen on teasing her brother whenever she could.

  “Well, thank you so much, that’s what I needed to hear.” He felt like adding: What in the hell do you think you’d look like if you just arrived home after a twelve-hour counseling session? But for now, he held himself in check.

  Whenever Jimmy Wright wanted a break from music, he put in some voluntary work at the Y on 92nd Street. He often helped out with a community project called Cocaine Anonymous. One of the guys he’d spent the best part of the day talking to, was a former Wall Street trader. The guy’s name was Jake. He used to sell drugs to his buddies on the trading floor of the firm where he worked. Jake told Jimmy how he acquired his habit at college and never managed to kick it.

  Now that taking a pre-employment urine test was standard practice on Wall Street, Jimmy expressed surprise that coke heads could still get jobs with the biggest firms. Jake just laughed and then explained to his counselor that the tests were booked well in advance—there was plenty of time for a new recruit to clean up his act. And if he couldn’t, as a fall back position, he could simply use one of those special kits, like the Whizzinator.

  It was unheard of for anyone but the dumbest employee to get a negative result—they probably forgot to skip the poppy seed bagel for breakfast.

  Jimmy could see how it was just another rule that had been imposed with the best of intentions, but which like so many others, was routinely flouted by the big boys who ran the financial universe. They let nothing get in the way of their market making activities, even if it meant hiring drug addicts.

  The bottom line was the only thing that counted, so the guys with bad habits were kept on, just so long as they made mega bucks for their firms. The management looked the other way because it too was hooked—on the money game.

  “How’s it going in New York? Have you seen Mom lately?” asked Carla.

  Jimmy didn’t really feel like recounting the details of his most recent counseling sessions. In any event, he was bound by a confidentiality agreement, and could not disclose the often harrowing details people revealed to him.

  “Actually, she came round to the Y last week. I didn’t realize she was coming over to New York so much more.”

  The two girls exchanged knowing glances and decided to move swiftly on to the reason for the video call.

  “We wanted you to listen in on how the hunt for Dad was going. Maybe you could give us the benefit of your wisdom at the end?”

  “Wait a minute, are you on The Indefensible? I think I recognize the color of that rug.”

  The Indefensible was Jimmy’s name for Anastasia. At times, the subject of the yacht formed the basis for numerous family arguments. Jimmy never understood why his father had indulged Liz in a way he never did with the rest of his children. His sisters were always more forgiving—they didn’t see it as a sign of favoritism, instead they thought it more an act of generosity. And as far as their father was concerned, he was entitled to do with his money as he saw fit.

  One thing was certain though, playing the game of Happy Families was never easy.

  “We’re not here to go over the past Jimmy,” said Carla firmly, “let’s get on with what we need to discuss today.”

  Carla began the update, reading some notes her mother’s lawyers Concoran & Block had prepared for her.

  “Tell me anyone, what are they charging by the hour?”

  “Hey Jimmy, we only want positive contributions. Anyhow, it doesn’t say.”

  “Well that figures! Look, I think we should prepare Mom for the worst. She’s gone into total denial. When I speak to her, she keeps saying he’ll turn up, he’ll turn up! But what happens if he doesn’t?” insisted Jimmy.

  Budd’s wife was not keen on considering any of the more macabre alternatives Jimmy had put to her. And she certainly didn’t want members of the family speaking in public about what they were going through.

  “There’s no need to be all doom and gloom. You know there’s a whole bunch of people working on it. We can afford to wait some more.”

  “Let’s face it, this is not the first time Pop’s gone off on his own,” said Jimmy, dismissing what his elder sister just said.

  “What are you talking about? I don’t ever remember it happening.”

  “Yes you do … you know … he went on a trip to the Arctic, he never told anyone before he went.”

  “But that’s not the same … I knew where he was going,” said Carla.

  “I guess it’s not the same if he tells you and no one else,” replied Jimmy, who whether he wanted to admit it or not, felt Budd had always confided in his elder sister more than anyone besides Jade.

  “It’s okay for you, sitting on Liz’s toy boat and telling me I don’t know what I’m talking about.”

  “Look, I think we’re getting off topic here,” said Mary Beth trying to put a halt to the game of point scoring. “None of Dad’s medical guys said he had a problem with his memory or anything else for that matter, so I think we don’t need to go down that road.”

  “Okay, but how much time do we have before we have to consider the …”

  Up until that point, Bruce Glickman had stayed silent, trying not to look too bo
red, while confined to his small segment of the screen. Now he had a chance to say something.

  “Technically there is no fixed time frame, but the most usual grace period is one year. After that things get super heavy with interest and taxes and whatnot.”

  “So we have twelve months to locate Budd and Liz, before everything goes nuclear … have I got it right?”

  Jimmy wanted to at least get a few things straight in his own head, because from experience he knew that dealing with his sisters came with complications he was never able to foresee.

  Then with Nathan straining every sinew in his body, he finally got to hear the question he had been waiting for.

  Jimmy said, “And Liz, has anyone heard from our long lost New Age hippie sister yet?”

  There was a long pause. Carla and Mary Beth held their tongues while they thought about the best way to reply.

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  Neither Carla nor Mary Beth wanted to give their brother the ammunition for starting an argument. They had always disapproved of his natural hostility toward their stepsister. Somehow, he managed to reduce everything to dollars and cents where she was concerned.

  Perhaps this was because Budd had installed paying slot and candy bar machines outside the kids’ bedrooms when they were growing up. And when Jimmy no longer had any more pocket money for playing games (the odds always favored the House) he had to do a paper round to earn extra cash. Liz on the other hand, could always sweet talk money out of Budd.

  Jimmy also seemed particularly sore about how Liz was given a stake in the family trust, even though Budd only started making his massive fortune during his second marriage to Jade.

  To Jimmy’s way of thinking, by rights Liz was not entitled to a cent. And what’s more, Budd hadn’t even compensated any of them for their diluted stakes in the trust.

  Carla answered first, “Well you know Jimmy, I sent her cards at the address I used for ages. And all I can say is she seems to receive them, even if there is usually a big delay. But I only ever get a reply by email. Nothing’s postmarked.”

  “It’s the same with me, she does everything via email. I did get a call a while back. The reception was so good I figured she was in America.”

  “I’m really surprised,” said Jimmy. “Surely she would have crawled out of the woodwork by now. She’s heard about Pop’s disappearance and everything. She’s not so dumb she can’t work through the benefits to her if they never find him.”

  “I think we all know she’s not dumb Jimmy. But hey, she’s always done stuff her own way. I don’t think you should be so quick to judge.”

  “I’m not judging anyone … I’m just saying … I mean what’s she been doing all these years?”

  “If I didn’t know you better, I’d say you had locked her away somewhere!” added Mary Beth.

  “Very funny,” and Jimmy did not sound very amused at all.

  Glickman could sense that they had the beginnings of an argument developing, which would help no one. He thought a few soothing words were in order.

  “Hey guys, time out! Let’s not lose focus here.”

  Glickman’s intervention appeared to calm everyone down. Then he decided to reveal what his firm had been doing.

  “I asked for credit card reports from our investigators, and they discovered records of her using one, but then we can’t yet find a reliable witness who can identify her as being in any of these places. Her cash withdrawals reveal the same picture.”

  There was of course another explanation—something bad had happened to Liz since Carla’s last phone call and no one had yet discovered it. Her credit and ATM cards were being used by someone who had stolen her identity.

  Dirk did not believe that was the reason they were having so tough a time tracing his wife’s sister. She may have adopted an alternative lifestyle, but he suspected she was getting specialist help; the kind that enabled her to carefully cover her tracks and keep a low profile.

  “So what’s your take on this?” asked Carla.

  “I think she could be using a different name. She may have taken on another identity,” said Dirk.

  As soon as Mary Beth heard the explanation, she laughed. “Come on Dirk! Let me guess, she’s now calling herself Dorothy and she’s made it her life’s purpose to discover where the Wizard lives. What do you think this is? Some kind of camp Hollywood game … huh?”

  Dirk did not like his sister-in-law’s mocking tone. In truth he had never really taken to her. His heart sank when he saw her standing next to his wife on the dock. Conveniently Carla had not told him she was coming along. But now she was here, he could not reasonably object.

  “I’m not saying she has, I’m just pointing out something … it would answer a bunch of questions.”

  “Well I guess so, but it looks more like a stab in the dark. I figure she liked using the Wright name when it suited her, it opened many doors.”

  “I agree with Carla. You know Dirk, if I remember, you didn’t actually meet her, right?”

  Dirk had never given the fact much thought, but it was true, he had never met Liz face to face. His marriage to Carla was only five years old and Liz was already off doing her thing.

  She sent a video message to wish the happy couple all the best for the future, but she had not appeared in person. Her video was a series of photo shots taken on some exotic island, with Liz doing the voice over.

  Then a strange thought struck him—if he ever met Liz on the street on in a bar, he would not recognize her. Previously, not knowing what she looked like didn’t matter, but it did now.

  “So let’s get this straight you think she’s adopted a new identity because according to your investigators, they’ve been drawing nothing but blanks. You reach this conclusion, even though you never met Liz and you don’t know her personal history. Sure all this makes perfect sense,” said Mary Beth in a triumphant tone of voice.

  Carla thought she’d better come to the assistance of her husband, who was at least trying to solve a problem no one else had come close to cracking.

  “It’s strange sometimes the weirdest things turn out to be true, but with Liz … well she was never someone who would go to the trouble of concealing the truth. If she did anything wrong she was always the first to own up. She could never tell a lie.”

  When Nathan met up with Cunningham, he had a lot to tell his boss. But before he could say anything, the Trust’s senior partner said, “Yesterday we had to block several money transfers from Liz’s account in Zürich.” And gradually warming to his central idea continued, “See Nathan, it’s becoming clearer by the minute, she’s trying to raise money to pay a ransom demand.”

  It certainly looked like that from the outside.

  “This business about Liz, it’s clearly a front, a kind of scam to get people like us running in circles.”

  Nathan didn’t see things in exactly the same way. At first, he was grateful for a different perspective on the problem.

  “You claim they aren’t in contact with anyone. The FBI wiretaps confirm this as accurate. How do you think they got around that? They knew the FBI would be listening in. So they communicate with the kidnappers via a person no one can trace, not even us—it’s perfect.”

  Cunningham’s explanation appeared to fit the current scenario well enough.

  “We thought she may still be in Thailand, but since your visit, and a tip off from Faulkner, she moved again.”

  Nathan expected this moment to come. He had not been made a partner for nothing and because it happened so quickly and very much against the odds, it had caused resentment in the office. Now he had to deliver something of value for self-preservation if nothing else.

  “They invited me to Europe on board the family’s boat, Anastasia. I think it could lead somewhere,” said Nathan hoping he had spoken with enough conviction. “Mary Beth’s coming. It l
ooks like an informal family get together, but I think there’s more to it than that.”

  Nathan waited to see if he had made any impact on Cunningham. His boss didn’t reply at first, as if he were selecting the right answer for Nathan to hear.

  “She’s behaving like a LPO.”

  “A what?” Nathan had no idea what his boss just said.

  “A Low Profile Operator. It’s part of some crack pot idea circulated on the internet years ago. It’s a way to give the taxman, creditors or an ex-spouse the runaround. She’s keeping below the radar so no one can find out where she is or what she does.”

  And then Nathan recognized he had forgotten something important. During a discussion of Liz’s spending habits, he should have realized that the Trust had not provided him with all her financial records.

  It was a basic oversight on his part, but he had been so caught up with his promotion and then going back and forth around the world, he had failed to apply the basics. Or put another way, he hadn’t been allowed to.

  He should have asked Cunningham for Liz’s full client file. Instead his boss had withheld important parts of it. Now with the way things were going, Nathan couldn’t help but think Cunningham had done so deliberately.

  Another odd thing was the way Carla and her husband were acting like nothing very much had happened.

  It was as if every day, they lost contact with a close relative, never to speak again. And the patriarch of the family, who was one of the world’s richest men, simply disappeared somewhere in Switzerland, only to turn up later on the terrace of a suicide clinic. Nathan had made a positive identification, but Cunningham decided they could not know for sure that it really was Budd Wright.

  If Nathan had made this all up, no one would have believed him. Facts were supposed to be facts—but he was no longer sure which ones to believe.

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