Read Online Coffee by gren blackall - Free Book Online

But she didn’t mention that part. Why would she suddenly do
something like this? After all we went through this week together?”
    “Why
are you so worried, couldn’t she have connected with them as
part of her paper?”
    “And
not tell me? And not tell you? Why would it be such a secret?
This is our friend, Etty! This is the woman who marched into your
office and convinced you in a short meeting to spend millions of
dollars. No, Warren, this is weird. Something is very strange.”
    “Maybe,
but I wouldn’t get too excited.”
    “Have
you talked to anyone since Tuesday about the trades? Anyone?”
    “My
accountant has been ringing my phone off the hook, and I was pulled
into a rather interesting emergency meeting of the Trustees which
I’ll tell you about later. The only other thing, now that you
mention it, was a question from one of my clerks. She asked me
Etty’s name. Someone on the phone was asking who else was
involved with the trades.”
    “What
did you say?”
    “I
told the truth. Why not? I wasn’t going to lie or anything.
I just said Harriet Bishop devised the trade. You can’t hide
something that big for long, I figured it was someone from the
accounting office.”
    “You didn’t wonder?”
    “Hell,
Knut, my office is a mad house every second. It didn’t seem
like a big deal.”
    “So,
someone was asking about her. That’s two odd things then.
Think about it Warren - if we are right, then Global was involved in
illegal trades. Now she’s going there? And she didn’t
say where? Maybe she didn’t know herself.”
    “Harriet
Bishop not know where she was going? Knut, she doesn’t strike
me as the kind of woman who isn’t on top of everything she
does.”
    “I’m
not kidding, Warren. It’s too strange. Either she had some
amazingly powerful reason not to tell me what was going on, or she
didn’t know, or both. I’m worried.”
    “Have
some of your vodka and relax. She’ll be back Monday.”
    “I
wish I’d asked you before, do you think our side of the trade
was illegal? That someone could charge us for playing ball with
criminals?”
    “I
thought it might be possible, so I checked that out beforehand. I
got a go-ahead.”
    “You
had permission? From whom?”
    “I
called the S.E.C. guy who does our audit. I argued that you
couldn’t call it insider information because we were clearly
unrelated to either company. I also faxed over some of your stats on
coffee price history. He said it could still just be some
abnormalities. So he cleared it. He faxed me the notes he added to
our file. With that piece of paper in hand, I’ve got lead
underwear.”
    “Why
didn’t you tell us?”
    “Tell
you? Etty, and you too, were behind it 100% - I just had to check
for myself. Anyway, remember, I’m the one who goes to jail if
it’s illegal, not you or Etty. Etty’s a big girl, she
knows what she’s doing - that I feel sure.”
    “I
don’t know, it doesn’t add up.”
    “Then call them. Call Global Growers.”
    “At
9pm on a Friday?” Then he thought. “Well, maybe I
will. And if I don’t get through, I’ll call tomorrow
morning. Etty must be having some kind of Saturday interview, so
someone must be there. I need to talk to her.”
    “Saturday
interview? That is strange. Hey, here’s something. Some
information came over the wire today about Brazil - they’re
having serious political trouble.”
    Knut
mumbled a response, but hardly listened as he still considered
possibilities for Etty.
    Warren
continued, not as concerned as Knut over their mutual friend. “The
President of Brazil is on some kind of austerity program of
monumental proportion. He must not want to get re-elected. Listen
to some of these headlines, President of Brazil Undermines
Welfare System Urging Poor to ‘Make it on their own’ , President Barros of Brazil Supports 25% Tax Increase to Middle
Class . And, the one that really surprised me, Brazilian
President to Cut Military Salaries in Half . The Real