Avraham Azrieli - The Jerusalem Assassin

Gunter, who was standing against the wall, nodded. The other men exchanged glances around the table, but no one questioned the instructions.

“ If you have any concerns, please come to me. Our message to our clients and the banking community is that business continues as usual at the Hoffgeitz Bank.”

He returned to his office and spent an hour returning phone calls and answering mail. Before lunch, he summoned Christopher. “I was wondering, has Gunter completed entering the data into the system?”

“Yes. I’ve followed his progress on my computer. He has inserted numbers for all of the accounts that Herr Hoffgeitz handles personally, which amounts to less than thirty accounts actually. Is there a problem?”

“My father-in-law had a heart attack right after a mysterious phone call regarding an account of an old friend. Why?”

“ Maybe your wife knows who it is?”

“ I won’t drag Paula into the bank’s business.” Lemmy rocked in his chair. “It’s my responsibility to find out what’s going on before the bank’s reputation could be damaged. You agree?”

Christopher nodded. “You want me to ask Gunter again?”

“ He won’t talk. But the computer now holds all the records of deposits and withdrawals in each of the bank’s accounts since the beginning of this year, correct?”

“ Yes, but because Herr Hoffgeitz’s accounts are segregated from the clients managed by you and the account managers, I can only see the total turnover for his clients’ accounts as a combined group, not individually.”

Lemmy played with the pen. “What’s the total value of all the deposits currently with the bank?”

“Calculated in U.S. dollars, our total holdings in all the accounts add up to about forty-two billion.” Christopher rose. “I can find the exact number-”

“And what part of it is held in the accounts of Herr Hoffgeitz’s clients?”

“As a group, almost sixty percent.”

“ About twenty-four billion dollars?”

“ Yes.”

“Good. What I need from you are two numbers. First, the total turnover-deposits and withdrawals-in Herr Hoffgeitz’s clients’ accounts as a group during the month of September. Second, the total turnover in the rest of the bank’s clients’ accounts as a group, also during the month of September. Can you do that?”

“Easy.” Christopher left to run the numbers.

Lemmy brought up Herr Hoffgeitz’s office on his computer screen. Gunter was sitting in the president’s chair on the far side of the room, surrounded by the light from the window behind him. Using the arrows on his keyboard, Lemmy zoomed in. The face drew closer, filling the screen, the lips trembling, the eyes shut tightly, the tears flowing.

A moment later, Christopher knocked on the door.

Lemmy punched the escape key and unlocked the door.

Christopher placed two pieces of paper on the desk.

The numbers were shocking. Lemmy examined them carefully, calculating in his mind, and then sat back in his chair, struggling to keep his feelings from showing on his face. On the desk before him was the reason for Elie Weiss’s lifelong obsession with the Hoffgeitz Bank.

“Herr Horch? Anything wrong?”

“Don’t you see?” Lemmy grabbed a pencil and jotted down a few numbers, then turned the page. “I rounded up your numbers for simplicity. Herr Hoffgeitz and Gunter manage accounts for a small group of clients. We don’t know who they are, but we do know there’s a total of about twenty-four billion dollars, right?”

Christopher nodded.

“During September, the total turnover in his clients’ accounts was about twenty-one million dollars. That’s about-”

“Less than one-tenth of one percent of the total balance of all his clients’ accounts combined.”

“Correct.” Lemmy wrote the number down. “Now, in the rest of the bank’s accounts, including those that I manage and the accounts handled by the others, we have total balance of about eighteen billion dollars altogether, correct?”

Christopher nodded.

“And according to your numbers, the total turnover in and out of these accounts during the last month was four hundred and seventy million dollars, which is a little more than-”

“ Two-and-a-half percent.”

“ Correct!” He threw down the pencil. “See?”

“How strange.” Christopher stared at the numbers in astonishment. “Herr Hoffgeitz’s clients barely move their money. Why?”

“Good question!”

“Maybe some of his clients are not active at all?”

“Bingo!” Lemmy picked up the pencil. “If Herr Hoffgeitz’s clients are divided into two groups-active accounts and inactive accounts-how much would each group hold?”

“You mean, if we assume that Herr Hoffgeitz’s active clients behave like the rest of the bank’s clients?”

“ Correct.”

“ We could extrapolate the turnover amount in Herr Hoffgeitz accounts-twenty-one million dollars-by the normal turnover percentage of two-and-a-half percent.”

“ In other words, take the turnover amount in his accounts and multiply it by forty, which comes to-”

“ Eight hundred and forty million.”

“ That’s right. So out of twenty-four billion dollars in the accounts that Herr Hoffgeitz manages exclusively with Gunter’s help, only eight hundred and forty million dollars are in active accounts.”

Christopher thought for a moment. “And the rest is sitting in inactive accounts-”

“ Or a single account.”

“ With a total balance of over twenty-three billion dollars!”

“Based on September’s figures,” Lemmy said. “But even if the numbers fluctuate a bit, we can safely assume that a huge part of Herr Hoffgeitz’s clients’ holdings remains inactive.”

“That’s incredible!”

“ Interesting may be a better word. But also logical, because he would normally assign the routine handling of clients to one of the accounts managers. Herr Hoffgeitz would only keep special accounts under his own management.”

“ Special in what way?”

“ That’s what we need to find out.” Lemmy walked around the desk and stood by the door. “Great work, Christopher. You’ll make an excellent assistant to the president.”

“Thank you!”

“Now try to sniff around Gunter, but don’t frighten the old guy, okay?”

Christopher disappeared behind the door, but a moment later buzzed Lemmy on the intercom. “Prince Abusalim az-Zubayr is on the line. He wants to talk to you.”

*

At the Hilton suite in Paris, the lights blinked on the eavesdropping system. “Outgoing call,” Gideon announced.

“ Put it on the speakers,” Elie said.

“ What happened?” Bathsheba clapped. “No more secrets?”

Gideon hushed her, and a man’s voice came from the speakers. “Welcome back, Excellency. How is Paris treating you?”

“It’s good to be back, Herr Horch. Six-one-nine, El-Sharif.”

“ How can we help you?”

“ I know this voice!” Bathsheba pointed at the machine. “That’s the man who left the message earlier.”

Elie put a finger to his lips.

“ Another transfer,” the prince said, “to the same bank in Senlis.”

“Of course. How much would you like to give Monsieur Sachs this time?”

“Two-and-a-half million dollars. And there will be another transfer of the same amount in a week or so, after he completes a certain job for me. I’ll let you know.”

“It’s an honor to serve you. The transfer will take place tomorrow, Wednesday, the twenty-fifth. It might take the French a few hours to get the cash ready. Should be available for pickup in the afternoon.”

“Perfect. Be well, my friend.”

Gideon turned off the speakers. “We’re back in the game.”