by Moulton, CD
“Nothing will happen to you. I’ve already said we’ve decided it was our own doing.”
“To me or my friends, you have a deal.” Clint offered his hand. Donaldo looked sick and shook it. Clint let it be a dead fish type of contact. That “...or my friends,” hit him right in the gut. Hard. It was as good as a physical blow. It was already done – but the fact Dave came out on top and wasn’t hurt might be passed if they were lucky.
They weren’t lucky. That was why he stated it like that.
It did call for a slight change of plans. He had to keep it tied or too much could be lost.
A Way In
“Mr Hanrady? You left your number. I’m Lila Green? At the antique shop?”
Clint stared at the phone a second. He hadn’t left his number. “Yes?”
“I have a solid offer for the Griesbaum, but you didn’t return. I hope you haven’t sold it?”
“Er, no. I was tied up with another matter. I still want to move it for my friend. He needs the money for a legal matter.
“I thought ... I didn’t remember to give you my number. I thought of that after I’d left, but I’d said I’d be back and didn’t think more about it.”
“You gave me the description paper. It has your number on it. ‘Call for information’ is on the bottom.”
“Oh! Right! I forgot!”
“Well, I have very good news! My friend in Colombia will pay three five, which is better than I thought!” she cried. “Mr. Hanrady, he is a lot more interested than he first seemed. I think maybe, if your friend is willing to wait, he can get even more than five thousand in a few days!
“I usually wouldn’t tell a client that, but my commission is a percent so I want it as high as possible. There was some kind of thing on the net, E-Bay or something, where a Griesbaum in very good condition went for more than twelve thousand dollars! A description pointed out that these are hand-carved by a great artist who has been dead some years now so there will never be more available. They could appreciate at fantastic rates if Southerby’s and such took a special interest.”
“I’ll ask my friend if he wants to wait. I’ll call you back in a few minutes,” Clint promised. “I have the number on caller ID.”
“Please do!”
Clint called Dave, who said to get what he could. There really wasn’t any hurry because his case probably wouldn’t get to court for weeks. This is, after all, Panamá!
Clint called back and said they could wait a week or so to see what happened. She seemed happy about that. Clint went to the internet to check. It seemed the Griesbaum was on a site that specialized in such things and that the sale actually happened. He knew Griesbaum would appreciate at a steady rate. This was too much. What was going on?
He called Manolo. Manolo would call back in ten minutes.
In ten minutes: “From Santa Marta, Colombia. What’s going on?”
“I think I see what’s happening. They’re getting too much money to launder in the regular ways and things might get hot pretty fast. Suppose you had millions to move with ways that could only move hundreds of thousands? What could you do to legitimize that much?
“Look! A Griesbaum automaton is on sale at a website. I checked. It’s been there for months with bids of two thousand, which was under the minimum bid of two two fifty. There’s an offer in a little town in Panamá to purchase one.
“You bid a very high price for the one on the net. The value of all Griesbaum collectibles sky-rockets. You might pay, say, ten thousand for the one in Panamá, making TWO huge sales to buttress the one on the net. Suddenly you’re getting bids in the millions for the things if they’re in excellent to perfect condition. You offer your two through Southerby’s and put a shill or two in the bidders. Suddenly you have a way to move millions.”
“But ... it damned well could work if you get two opposing European markets into it. I wish I had a couple more of those things stored in the attic! I could be a millionaire in a couple of months!”
“Now to stop this crap!”
“Wait until AFTER Dave sells his. Make him hold out for twenty five grand, minimum. If this is the scheme they’ll go for it. The more they have to pay for his, the higher the bidding will go in a week in the international marketplace. They’ll WANT him to raise the price!”
“And the fact that such prices were paid for Griesbaum’s establishes their base price whether this bunch is in it or not,” Clint replied with a laugh. “This is getting to be fun! Everyone else is manipulating the markets in a lot of ways to make a dishonest buck or two. Why not us?”
“Our end isn’t dishonest,” Manolo pointed out.
“There is that bit!” Clint rang off and giggled. Dave would get a real kick out of this.
He called Lila and said his friend knew about the sale on the net and said that would establish a market that could well go into the hundreds of thousands in a couple of months. He would sell, but he would want a third of what the value would be if this caught on. Thirty grand, or he’d wait.
They had to establish the market and wanted it high. She said five minutes for her to dicker with her bidder. Clint waited. She called back and said she had made a great deal for all of them! Her buyer had figured the same way and would give his friend a third of what his projection indicated. Thirty seven five! Cash! He would pay the fees and commissions!
Clint said he’d bring the automaton in as soon as she could get the cash. She said within the hour. There was a direct transfer account with that bidder and he would have the money there instantly.
Clint said he’d be right over.
He got his disguise on as quickly as he could and took the Griesbaum to the shop. This had to be a legitimate deal from this end. It would be checked, so he knew she had arranged that. He suggested the money should be directly transferred to Dave’s account. She said she had the cash, that she’d already gone to the bank just across at Rey and gotten the money. She got her commission paid immediately that way. It had actually saved her business because she hadn’t sold anything much in more than a week and was afraid she wouldn’t make the rent. Now she could pay for a year in advance and sleep at night without worry!
Clint made out a receipt. She locked the automaton in her safe and they went to the notary for the receipt to be officially registered. It made the entire process in Panamá legitimate. Clint went to HSBC with his copy and the cash and deposited it in Dave’s account. When Clint saw the account on the computer screen there he shook his head. Dave had two dollars and thirty six cents in the bank before the deposit was made. Clint knew this would be gone in no time. Dave spent all he had helping people. He was like that.
He called Manolo. “Well?”
“Not a penny transferred from anywhere. She had the cash right there in her office she couldn’t pay the rent for. Did you get a look in that safe when she put the thing in?”
“No. She made damned sure I couldn’t see.”
“I wonder what else is in that safe.”
“You and me both.”
“Well, now we can set something up where they’ll get caught with a lot of unexplainable cash or with as much or more in jewels. If it’s a large find they’ll be uncut. Try to explain that!”
They chatted a few minutes and Clint rang off. He went to his hotel and got rid of the disguise. He went to Las Brasas for a good rib-eye, then to the 7 Mares to chat with Ulyses and Alan, then to Sandy’s for a few minutes. He decided to go to Cantina Parque for one beer, then to the Iris for the last one at Peter’s. Perez was at the Cantina Parque, but he only nodded at Clint and left soon.
Clint wanted to solve the murder. He had an idea that could put both him and Manolo in a good position to close their parts out. He hoped to have it done before Carnaval, just three more days. He hoped he could get to Las Tablas. The pageant there was a lot like Mardi Gras in New Orleans!
Martinelli had announced he wouldn’t negotiate with the indigenos until after Carnaval holidays? That pretty much told Clint
how much he actually cared about the people in Panamá! He’d started out thinking Martinelli would be a truly great president, but he was apparently another like the bunch before him. Another politician on the make. That might make for trouble over the holidays that would definitely get international attention! All negative!
Well, Dave’s experiences had shown the system to be as corrupt as it always was. It would take another hundred plus years to stop it if all the politicians did was talk. They were the source of it. That’s why they’re politicians. Clint thought he could handle things by manipulation within the law. He didn’t need and wouldn’t use the blatant corruption. He knew how to get around a lot of it.
He’d have to, actually. This bunch would have the money to offer some very high bribes. The one thing that bunch fear is anyone getting proof of what they are and going public. He already had a couple of things that certain underlings couldn’t explain, which meant they would have to bring their superiors into it.
Did he want to get involved in that?
Why the hell not?
The Trick Was...
The trick was going to be in getting them to collect a lot of money together. A good lever was their dealing in jewels. It was widely known that he was involved with finding two multi-million dollar treasure finds. They would have to get their hands on a certain amount of legitimate, so far as could be shown, material. He could use the reputation of corruption in his favor there. He had the contact established. Lila Honey was about to get a hint about a cache of jewels that were, in a word, unreported. They could be legitimized easily for a few lousy thousand dollars in the right place. The main thing this bunch had to avoid was having their find located.
He called Dave, who pointed out that he would be suspected because of the thing with the bar. Why not use Judi? She was far more than capable!
He called Judi, who agreed to send an e-mail to Hanrady and another tomorrow. He went to the internet and set up a free e-mail account with Mail.com. He spent an hour setting up a bunch of phony e-mails for the registry both ways, made a phone call, and put on the Hanrady disguise. He called Lila when he received the second one and said he had something she might be interested in. They could all three make a lot on it. She had already made a small hint that she knew someone who could handle what he had.
“I did?”
“You said the Griesbaum was probably found in an attic somewhere or something such. You don’t have to be a genius to know what that meant!”
She laughed. “What do you have?”
“I’ll come over there. You have a computer on the net.”
“Computer? Well, yes?”
“I want you to read an e-mail I just got. I said we would all THREE make a lot.”
“Half an hour?”
“I’ll be there.”
He called Manolo and told him what was going down. This could keep everyone’s name out of it on the legal end.
He caught a cab and was at Lila’s just fifteen minutes late, which was early in Panamá.
She greeted him and said she hoped it was something as good as the Griesbaum. He laughed and said that was a little diversion, nothing more. He did that for a friend. This one, he wanted a hunk of.
“I’ll just let you read the e-mail, then we can contact the one who ... you’ll see.”
She led him into the little office and waved at the computer. He sat down and brought up his e-mail, answered two “new” ones and erased the half-dozen scams and penis enlargement offers. He shook his head.
“Yeah. It used to be Cialis and Viagra, now it’s that crap. You guys seem to have a lot of trouble with certain physical features.”
“And you women get as many boob enlargement kinds of things. Here it is.”
She sat at the desk and read the e-mail. He noticed she had seen the long lists of e-mails, so would think the site had been used for some time.
Snra. Lum – I realize you won’t know who I am. We met twice before in casual encounters, once at the garden club dinner and once at The Reef Restaurante. The meeting at The Reef is why I am contacting you. You were talking about your friend who had found the two pirate treasure chests on Solarte. You said it was a shame the government would get all the money because the people here need it a lot more than a bunch of cheap snakes in government.
I have found something that might have been part of that, though the police believe all was found. It is a smaller chest, but contains kilos of jewels and gold. I would like to propose a business deal under which the government would not get everything. I feel they got enough and your penchant for financing many hospitals and schools for the Indigenous people is known everywhere.
I am an Indigeno myself. I could, because of that fact, not hope to get away with disposing of what must be a million dollars or more in jewels. I think that you will know some way to handle this so that my people will get the main part of the money. I will meet you if you will call me. I know that, even if you will not do this, you will also not turn me in to the police. I will call you at exactly two o’clock on catorce de Febrero. Juan Pablo (not my name)
“That was the first one last night. It was, as you can see, a forwarded message from Mrs. Lum, a friend in Bocas. I got the next one two hours ago. At three twenty, as the time will tell you on the message. I considered it and decided to call you. Here were are.”
He brought up another message seven down the list.
Jim – I just looked at what the man I will call Juan Pablo has. He is an Indio I know well and I know his impossible situation.
I would usually refuse to even listen, but it is very true the government got all that treasure Clint found. We have learned that more than three-quarters of it was stolen already. The people will get nothing but what Clint, Manny, and I kept as finders’ fees, and that was enough to build a school and clinic on San Cristobal and one on Popa.
I know you know a number of people who deal in this kind of thing. I will appreciate it if you will find someone who will give Juan Pablo an honest deal.
I saw what they found. You know I am trained as an appraiser of antiques and also that I know jewelry. I would estimate the value of this find at something over seven million dollars plus the historical value. It could go well over thirty million dollars.
Give me a buzz? – Judi
“She knows this kind of stuff better than anyone else in Panamá. What can you arrange?”
“I know someone who has a good in with the government. He can work an authentication for a price. I know about those treasures that gringo found. A business acquaintance of mine helped some people, shall we say, dispose of part of it?”
“What kind of deal? No screwing the Indios. Judi wouldn’t go along with that and neither would I.”
“They can’t expect or get market prices, but I can see they get ... this Judi character is a good appraiser?”
“The best.”
“We have to forget the historical part. I think we can get the seven million and maybe just a little more. I’ll have to make a call?”
“Tomorrow morning at eight. You have my number.” He logged off the e-mail. He knew she’d save the two. He had excellent peripheral vision and had seemed to be looking away when she quickly saved them. He counted on that. They would check the source and time and find they were pretty much what Clint suggested. The source would be an internet café in Bocas.
He went back to his hotel and called Manolo to set things up. He had checked on the received form with the bank Lila had supposedly used to accept the “transfer” from Colombia and knew it was a phony she gave to Dave’s bank. She would work the same type of deal here. Manolo could check that kind of thing with banks in minutes. This would happen fast now.
He relaxed, had a good meal at La Tipica with Annette, a girl from France he met. He spent the night at her place. It was a great night!
At precisely eight o’clock in the morning he got a call. “I’ll have the cash here by nine thirty. It’s being delivered as soon as the
bank’s machines can count it. Eight two. It’ll be in hundreds.”
“I’ll ... why can’t we just make a standard bank transfer?”
“Because we’re working a little bit outside of, er, normal business practices. We don’t want to leave a direct trail to us or to the ones we’re dealing with.”
“I suppose that’ll be a large crate. I don’t know how much that much will take. It’ll be heavy!”
“It’s eight thousand two hundred hundreds. That’s a hundred sixty stacks. That’s a stack five feet deep. Packed in a box three stacks long by five wide make a box eight inches deep. It’ll weigh about eighteen pounds.”
“Sheesh! The jewels take up more space!”
“Yes. Money’s a more efficient way to store the value. It’s not nearly so stable.”
“You got that! I’ll be there!”
He called Manolo. It would go down before ten o’clock.
He ate a good breakfast of hojaldres and boletas and met Manolo, who “wired” him with a little recorder that wasn’t much larger than a cigarette lighter and looked like one. It broadcast through his phone.
Clint went into the shop with an Indio friend, Emilio, who would play the innocent idiot to perfection. It was an act he used on the snobbery gringos. He spoke very good English, but would act like all he understood was “Bullshit!” and “Money!” and “Ello, my friend!” He was carrying a heavy box that Manolo had filled with very fancy antique jewelry. It was mostly very good copies, but was put together by experts. It would take another expert to say it wasn’t authentic.
Lila looked through it and lifted some of the gold, part of which was real gold. “Heavy!” she said.
“Gold is,” he replied. She looked at the large emeralds and rubies and almost drooled. They were good!
“Well, you kept your end. I’ll get the cash.”
She went around the corner and opened the safe to take out a box. She turned back to find Manolo and two agents standing there with automatic weapons pointed at Clint and Emilio. They were looking shocked and scared.