Jigsaw Lovers (9 page)

‘Look. I could have waited a month and then bought the equipment, but then I would have ended up paying more.’

‘You’re asking me to give you money to pay your bills, to put food in your mouth, to pay your rent,’ he continued in an annoying fashion.

Hamilton wondered how this man had managed to achieve the position he held. He was unable to grasp the simple fact that the asset had already been bought. Had Hamilton come to him to borrow money to purchase the computer before he bought it, then it appeared he would have been able to raise the loan. If he had waited a few days this short-sighted fool would have been happy to lend him the money to purchase the equipment, but the fact that he had already paid for it out of his own funds made a difference, for some unknown reason, which was never explained. He felt sure there would not have been a problem if his previous manager had still been in charge of his account. Michael Winder had been able to understand the overall picture and not get stuck with trivialities.

Hamilton had over
a hundred thousand rands worth of work in progress, with payments coming in the next four weeks. These were secure contracts from established clients that he had been doing work with for the last three years; apparently these contracts were not worth the paper they were written on according to Mr Smith of the Bank.

‘For all I know, Mr Hamilton, these figures you’ve given me could have been written by Hans Christian Andersen.’

‘Are you implying that I’ve made them up?’ Hamilton demanded indignantly, glaring at the obnoxious little man opposite him.

‘It wouldn’t be the first time that the Bank’s been presented with overly optimistic figures, when people are trying to borrow money, from a shaky position,’ Smith replied smugly.

‘But you’ve got my records in front of you. You can see how much has been through my account in the last twelve months.’

One aspect that really irritated Hamilton about Smith’s attitude was that before he started his own business he had frequently run an unauthorised overdraft to almost twice the amount that he was now requesting. Nothing was ever said by the Bank. They gave their tacit approval by honouring his cheques and standing orders, his paper as they quaintly referred to it, and took the opportunity to charge service fees and interest rates that bordered on usury and extortion.

That was when he earned a regular salary, from full-time employment. In those days the amount that was paid into his account at the end of each month was approximately a third of what he had paid into the account in the first twelve months of working for himself. His business was going well and more and more money was coming in.

The problem was the amounts didn’t come in on the twenty-fifth of the month, every month, and the assistant manager was too small-minded to realise this. It seemed to Hamilton that Smith would be more amenable to his request if he were earning five thousand regularly every month, than if payments for many times that amount came in randomly during the same overall time span.

‘That’s what’s happened in the past. Its no indication of what might happen in the future, especially as you say you need the money to play games.’ Smith was being obtuse.

‘Not play games, design games. There is a difference.’ Hamilton was becoming exasperated by the man’s stupidity.

‘Not in my eyes. The Bank couldn’t condone lending money for such an activity.’

‘And just what the hell is that supposed to mean?’ demanded Hamilton, his voice raised.

‘We wouldn’t like to be associated with the development of a product that causes so much time wasting, particularly amongst the young.’

Hamilton looked at Smith in disbelief. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard. ‘There’s a tremendous educational element in everything I design. Children will learn as they play. It will help them to become computer literate, and teach them about historical events.’

‘No matter. The bottom line is that at present the Bank is not prepared to advance you any money. I suggest you seek alternative arrangements for your financing needs. Now I have other customers waiting.’ He pretended to busy himself with files on his desk, rudely ignoring Hamilton’s continued presence.

Hamilton gathered his papers, stuffed them into his briefcase and stood up. He resisted the temptation to punch this fool between the eyes. Instead he threw open the office door with such force that it bounced back on its hinges, with a resounding crack, which startled Smith. As he walked through it he turned,

‘And fuck you too, Mr Smith.’

Ackermann was not pleased. In the last six months he had seen the overall value of his shar
e portfolio decrease by almost eleven per cent. That represented a considerable amount of money.

Years ago, when he had first started earning enough money to be able to put some aside for investing in the stock market, he had handled his own transactions. He had studied the companies that interested him, and, based on his own judgement as to how he thought they would perform, had decided when to buy and sell their shares. He had been reasonably successful, generally returning a slightly above average profit on his investments in relation to overall market trends. As his business became more successful and he had more money to risk, he employed the services of a full-time stockbroker to handle his portfolio. He no longer had sufficient time to devote to the necessary research and monitoring of a company, before making an investment decision.

It had been a wise decision. His broker had spread his investments over a broader spectrum of companies; companies and sectors that Ackermann would never have contemplated buying into. The returns had been good, and the extra expenditure in commission had been fully justified.

The broker he had used for many years had retired a couple of years previously. His place had been taken by a relatively young man, in his early thirties.

The man, Ben Samuels, was representative of a breed of broker that believed very much in their own abilities and their own invincibility. He spent considerable amounts of money on material attributes and status symbols. The suits were hand-tailored, the shirts made to measure, the shoes Italian, the watch Swiss and the car German.

Modesty and self-effacement were not characteristics of this particular type of broker. When a deal went well everyone would know about it. On the rare occasions when a trade didn’t go as well as could be expected, excuses were made equally loudly and forthrightly, holding everyone and everything responsible, apart from themselves.

Ackermann didn’t like Samuels personally, but he didn’t allow that to interfere with their business relationship. There were many people whose company Ackermann didn’t enjoy, but he didn’t allow his personal likes and dislikes to disrupt the process of making money. If the person was exceptionally good at what he did, and Ackermann needed his services, then he would tolerate having to associate with them on those occasions when it was strictly necessary. Ben Samuels fell into this category.

Ackermann had summoned Samuels to his office for a meeting to discuss the latest loss on some shares the man had bought him, with the assurance that they could only go up.

‘Good morning, Mr Ackermann.’ he said casually as he breezed into the office.

‘I asked you to be here at ten. That was ten minutes ago.’

Looking at his watch ostentatiously, he cheekily replied, ‘Am I only ten minutes late? I didn’t realise I’d managed to get here that quickly. I thought it was much later.’

Ackermann tried to
control his irritation at the lack of punctuality and the latent bad manners of his subordinate.

‘The reason I’ve asked you here, today, is that I’m concerned about the losses I’ve been suffering in the last six months. Over the same period the market trend has been upwards, but recently, you seem to have an uncanny knack of managing to pick the few that go down. You seem to be buying at best and selling at worst. Why is that?’ Ackermann asked in an almost naïve fashion.

‘If I knew the answer to that Mr Ackermann, I would be a rich man now,’ he laughed, crossing his legs and flicking a piece of dust off his trousers.

‘You don’t seem to be taking my concerns seriously enough. Maybe I should find another adviser.’ The smile vanished from Samuels’s face. Ackermann had managed to gain his undivided attention.

‘I’m sorry Mr Ackermann. I didn’t mean it to sound like that.’ He wasn’t ready to leave Ackermann’s employ just yet.

‘Then answer my question.’

Samuels then proceeded to explain his strategy and how he interpreted the market, that he was anticipating medium to long-term gains that would far outweigh the losses that had been incurred in recent months. The man was convincing in his sincerity as to why they had gone down instead of up as he had predicted previously.

‘Well, I feel somewhat reassured by that. I’ll be keeping an eye on what happens in the coming months,’ stated Ackermann, looking closely at his broker opposite him.

As he stared at Samuels he realised that there was something that was not quite right. The man’s explanation was too convincing, too well rehearsed, almost as if he had anticipated being asked to give an account of himself. Maybe he had, after all, he was a professional and very good at what he did. That was why Ackerman had chosen him originally. However, it was not something he was prepared to leave to chance. These feelings in the past had invariably proved to be correct.

‘You’re looking tired, Ben,’ he said with concern.

‘We have been rather busy. Lots of late nights recently.’

‘You should take a break.’

‘I’ve been thinking about that for a while now, but I never seem to get around to it,’ agreed Samuels.

‘Yes, it is difficult. I was meant to be going to Tuscany for ten days, next week. We’ve rented a converted farmhouse in the hills above Siena. But I found out this morning that I’ve got to go to the States. There’s no way I can get out of it. I don’t know what my wife Caroline’s going to say. She has a lot to put up with in me. She never complains when I can’t make one of her charity events or social gatherings. She was so looking forward to this break, I’ll have to make it up to her somehow.’

‘She sounds very understanding.’

‘She is. Such a pity about this trip. And what’s more, at this late stage, I don’t get a refund.’ Then Ackermann looked up as though a thought had suddenly struck him.

‘Why don’t you go instead? Seems a shame to waste it.’

‘I don’t know whether I could find the time,’ Samuels said hesitantly, hoping to be persuaded otherwise.

‘Don’t be silly. You’ve just said you need a break. Here’s a perfect opportunity. And what’s more it’s on me. My treat.’

‘I couldn’t let you pay.’

‘I insist. I’ve already paid for everything anyway. It’s a thank you for all the good work you’ve done so far.’

‘It would be rude of me to refuse,’ he said ingratiatingly. ‘You’ve convinced me. Thank you very much.’

‘Come back refreshed, and hopefully I’ll see a big improvement in performance.’ Ackermann lead him to the door, with a hand on his shoulder.

‘You can bank on it, Mr Ackermann.’

After he had shown Samuels out he called James into his office.

‘I’d like you to check Samuels for me,’ h
e stated without prevarication.

‘As I recall the initial checks we did on him were quite favourable. He came highly recommended from old friends of ours. Is there a problem with him?’ asked James.

‘I’m not quite sure. It’s just a hunch I have. I’ve learnt that it’s usually better to play safe. Maybe its nothing, but it will put my mind at rest one way or the other.’

‘What would you like me to do?’

‘I’ve given him the Tuscany house for ten days. He’s not married. I don’t know whether he’s got a girlfriend, but I was rather hoping you could arrange something with Diana.’

‘You mean come up with a situation whereby he takes her on holiday with him next week? I’m pleased you gave me so much notice.’ James spoke with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

‘I knew I could rely on you, James.’ Ackermann smiled. He liked giving James a challenge. It stopped him getting too complacent.

‘Assuming, and its quite a big assumption, that I can organise things so that he takes Diana, what information do you want her to find out?’

‘Initially Samuels was performing very well. He was very in tune with and aware of what was going on in the market. He was good and now he isn’t. I just find it strange that he’s suddenly become so average. I want to know whether he’s just tired and in need of a rest, or whether he’s trying to screw me, and if so, how. Do you think she’ll be able to cope with that?’

‘She hasn’t failed us yet, has she?’ It always amused Ackermann at how defensive James was towards Diana.

‘I have every confidence in your abilities, James, which is why I want you to handle all of the details of this yourself. If anything does come up, the fewer people who know about it, the better. Let me know when things are in place.’

After the meeting with Smith, Hamilton was extremely irritated. He was surprised by the man’s attitude towards him and his unhelpful point of view.

One thing that was clear to Hamilton was that the coming months were going to be very difficult financially, and he best look at making whatever economies he could.