James Chase - An Ace up my Sleeve

She regarded him.

“I’m not in the least interested in other investors, Jack. How much are we down?”

“Oh… around ten per cent. It’ll pick up on the next half year.”

“Ten per cent!” She sat upright. “But that’s about a two million dollar loss!”

“Yes… about that, but there’s twenty million in the kitty.” He smiled. “My two old fossils are in the hole for a thousand.” He shook his head. “In comparison, they are worse off than Herman… a lot worse off.”

“Let me see the stock list.”

He shrugged, opened his briefcase and took out a file.

“Sure you want to run through all this? Could take couple of hours.” He glanced at his watch. “You must be tired.”

“I’m all right’ She took the file from him and put it on the table.

“To save time, you might initial each page as you go. I’ve initialled my copy already.” He handed her a gold Parker pen and then began to gather up the papers strewn on the table.

Helga lit a cigarette, picked up the pen and began to go through the list of holdings. She had an excellent memory but there was such a mass of holdings she couldn’t remember the exact price of each stock or bond as it had stood six months ago, but she remembered a number of them.

Admittedly the prices of the bonds were down, but only by two or three points. She had been expecting something much more dramatic. She turned the pages, her eyes darting down the neatly typed columns of prices.

Archer sat in an easy chair, watching her, his cigar burning evenly.

“There’s a page missing, Jack,” she said finally.

“No… you have it all there.”

She looked up sharply.

There’s a page missing. There are at least four Eurobonds not listed: Mobile, Transalpine, National Financial, Chevron. There are equities missing too. Calcomp. Hobart.” She paused to look at the list, then went on, “CBS.”

He smiled.

“Whata wonderful memory you have. It’s really remarkable. Yes, they are missing. You slipped up on one: General Motors.”

She put down the stock list.

“Then let me have the missing page… what is this: a memory test?”

“Do you think Herman would miss them from the list?”

She frowned, staring at him.

“Why, no. You know he never looks at all this. You check it… I check it… and that’s it.” She looked more closely at him. “What is all this about, Jack?”

“Have you initialled the sheets?”

“No, and I’m not going to until I get the missing page.”

He stared at his cigar for a long moment, frowning slightly, then he looked up, staring at her, his pale blue eyes hard.

“You’re not getting that, darling.”

She leaned back in her chair.

“Why not?”

“Because they don’t exist any more.”

She felt suddenly cold and a little sick. She had been in the jungle of finance long enough to sense what he was trying to tell her.

“All right, Jack… explain.”

“One of those things, I’m afraid,” he said and lifted his shoulders. “That Australian nickel thing… I went into it heavily… the bubble burst… and that’s it.” “You went into it heavily… what do you mean?” He made an impatient movement which he checked immediately.

“Oh, come on, Helga! There was a great chance… a chance of a lifetime! I got in on the ground floor at $10… imagine! I held on too long… it happens. I could have got out at $120, but I just couldn’t resist hanging on. I swore I’d get out at $150 and I would have done. Then they found there was no nickel and… that was that.”

“But where did the money come from?”

“Where do you think? I sold these missing bonds and stocks. Now look, Helga, Herman needn’t know about this. You know he never checks anything. He’s far too busy. You initial all this stuff and he accepts it. I’m asking you to help me out of a hole. After all he’s worth around sixty million… he’ll never miss two, will he?”

“You sold bonds and stocks?” Helga sat forward and stared at him. “But you couldn’t have! We have joint signatures on the account! What are you talking about?”

Again he regarded the burning end of his cigar, then he looked at her, then away.

“I always did say, Helga, you had rather an unformed signature.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Are you drunk?”

“I wouldn’t mind being drunk.” He smiled his charming, sincere smile. “I’m sorry… I admit it’s a mess, but messes do happen.”

“Are you telling me you forged my signature?”

He hesitated and for a moment, his heavy face darkened.

“Sounds hellish, doesn’t it? But that’s what I did.”

“You must be out of your mind!”

He lifted his hands.

“I suppose I was then, but it looked so certain. I could have cleaned up three million.”

She put her hands to her eyes. She couldn’t bear to look at him. There was a long, heavy silence, then he broke it by saying, “I’m sorry. It seemed so certain.”

She snatched her hand away and her eyes snapped as she said furiously. “All weak, stupid, greedy, dishonest fools say that! Don’t give me that crap! You’ve broken a trust! Worse… you’ve proved yourself a thief and a forger!”

He flinched.

“Yes… I deserve that.”

“How could you, Jack! How could you have done such a thing?”

He stubbed out his cigar.

“A mad moment… don’t you have mad moments?”

She felt her heart skip a beat.

“We’re not talking about me. We’re talking about you.”

“Yes… what are you going to do?”

“What is there to do? I must tell Herman. There is nothing else I can do. I won’t be party to this. You have done it and you must take the consequences. I’ll try to persuade Herman to accept what has happened… I’ll do that.”

“Herman is an unforgiving, ruthless sonofabitch,” Archer said quietly. “He’s sure to prosecute. Look, Helga, for old times’ sake, won’t you give me a hand? After all we were lovers… I did fix your marriage… don’t you feel you owe me something?”

“No, and you know it! You wanted me married to Herman to be sure of his account!”

“Just try leaning over backwards a little. Look, suppose you tell him I suggested investing in Australian nickel. You agreed. The stock began to rise so we plunged two million into it. Suppose you tell him we were gambling on his behalf. Do you think he would buy that?”

She hesitated. She realized she couldn’t send this man to prison: even now the memory of those ‘quickies’ was too strong. Yes, she thought she could convince Herman this had been a bad speculation that hadn’t come off. She would be contrite and promise him it would never happen again. He was certain to give her a tongue lashing but if she ate enough humble pie he would still leave her in control of his affairs, but only if she got rid of Archer. She would have to do that. From now on she would have to deal with some firm like Spencer, Grove amp; Manly, stuffy people, but highly respectable and their integrity unquestionable. She could no longer work with Archer. She could no longer trust him.

She lit a cigarette in the effort to steady her nerves.

“All right, I’ll persuade Herman to buy it,” she said quietly.

“But I am going to tell him to move the account to Spencer, Grove amp; Manly. I can’t work with you in the future. You understand that?”

“You really think Herman will buy it?” Archer sat forward, relief on his face.

“I said so, didn’t I?”

“Then why close the account, Helga? There’s no need to. If you’re sure he’ll buy it we are back on square A.”

She regarded him as if he were a stranger.