Memoirs Of An Invisible Man (47 page)

“Gee, to tell you the truth, I don’t think I’ve ever had a bank account. Not that I know of, unless you count the trust fund. I mean, whenever I need money, I call Herr Wengler — he’s someone who works for my father — and he handles it. He handles everything, really. I mean, I’m about to open a bank account here. It’s one of the things I mean to do right away. I just haven’t really got myself organized here yet.”

Willis wondered if my father had a bank he used here in the United States.

“Well, I don’t think he actually has his own account, but I know that years ago when he would still come here, there was a bank that had some arrangement where he could have money sent to him from Switzerland. Is there a bank called Morgan something?”

He told me there was a bank called Morgan Guaranty. He asked what I meant to open the account with.

“Open it with?” I asked. “I was hoping I could open it with you. Over the phone. Actually, I hoped to buy a stock today.”

“I mean what sort of money or securities did you mean to put into the account to start with?”

“Well, that was one of the things I wanted to ask you. How much money do you think I ought to have in there?”

“Well, I… How much do you… Jonathan, it might be helpful to begin with if we briefly went over your investment goals in the context of your overall financial picture. That way we could develop an integrated—”

“I was thinking maybe just one or two hundred thousand dollars to start with and then see how it goes. Do you think that would be enough?”

“Why, yes,” he said quickly. He would be mentally computing his share of the commissions on $200,000 worth of trades. “That is, of course there are some sorts of strategies that you couldn’t really implement effectively without a more substantial commitment of capital, but, yes, that would be a prudent level to begin with. Tell me, Jonathan, how are you going to be making payment? You don’t seem to—”

“Oh, right. It’s good you mention that. I’m going to have it wired or transferred or something. I don’t know exactly how it works, but I’ve already talked to Herr Wengler about it. I’m supposed to get an account number from you so he can take care of it.”

“I’m going to get that for you right away, Jonathan.” I could hear him punching keys on a terminal. “Let me just get a couple more things I need to open this account… What are your investment goals for this account?”

“I guess making a lot of money, mainly.”

“Yes, but—”

“My grandfather and my father both did that, and I think I’d like to accomplish the same sort of thing too.”

“Yes. Well, that’s very good, Jonathan. But I meant more your particular strategy for this part of your assets. That is, are you interested in preservation of capital or yield or long-term appreciation or trading or what?”

“Trading, I think. I’d like to get in there and really get an active feel of the market. I mean, I’d be prepared even to lose money at first just so I could learn the ropes. I think I’d want to trade as much as I could.”

There was a pause. Willis T. Winslow,
III
, was not speaking. He must be dizzy with greed thinking about the commissions. I went on.

“I mean that’s why I was so interested last night in hearing your ideas. You’ve obviously given this a lot of pretty serious thought. Could you tell me — I suppose this is really the sort of thing I ought to be asking you— do most of your clients make money? I don’t mean to be rude, but—”

“Not at all. Not at all. That’s a very sensible question.” His voice was a good octave deeper. “I think I can say that my clients are pleased with whatever role I have been able to play in their investment programs.”

In a way, these people are telling the truth when they say this sort of thing. The clients who are still with a given broker at a given moment in time are inevitably people who either happen to be ahead so far or else don’t open their mail.

“Great. I’m sorry to be in such a hurry, but as I said last night I want to buy this one stock right away today that this friend of my father’s told me about.”

“Well, we really ought to have some funds in the account to—”

“Oh, gosh. I must have misunderstood what you said last night. I thought that just so the money was there within five days… That’s really why I was in such a hurry to open the account.”

“And I don’t have your signed application—”

“Golly,” I said. “I’m creating problems for you, aren’t I? I didn’t realize. Actually, I have the name of someone who my father knows at… Kidder, Peabody? — is that the name of a brokerage firm? I think it’s Kidder, Peabody. Anyway, he could probably handle this for me now, and then in a few weeks when I have a bank account and everything, I could give you a call again. Would that be better for you?”

“Jonathan, what exactly did you want to buy today?”

“Well, I wanted to buy” — I wondered one last time how far I dared push him — “two thousand shares of a stock called Allied Resources. This friend of my father’s said I should do it right away…”

I could hear him punching the keys in the background.

“That’s at 10-¾ bid, 11-¼ asked,” he was saying distractedly. He would be doing the multiplication. Say $22,000, in a listed stock trading at six times earnings and within a point and a half of its low for the year. Not much downside there. But I was ready to compromise if he balked: I would settle for 1,000 shares. I would settle for 100. The critical thing was to get somehow from zero assets to any assets at all.

“The thing is, you’d absolutely have to have the funds here within five business days.”

“I think it only takes twenty-four hours to wire it. That’s what Herr Wengler told me. Are you sure this isn’t too much trouble? I just don’t want to let this opportunity go by.”

“As long as the funds are wired tomorrow… Jonathan, I’m looking at some information on this stock right now. Do you know exactly why your father’s friend recommended it? It’s not something I follow myself, but I see it hasn’t been much of a performer this year.”

By that he meant that it seemed too cheap, and he would prefer something that had already become expensive. This is the way brokers think. I explained to him that the recommendation came from a very good friend of my father’s and I was pretty sure that it was going to work out. He told me he was sending some papers up by messenger for me to sign. I said I would be out when they arrived, but I would put them in the mail tonight.

Five minutes after we had hung up, he called back to tell me he had bought my 2,000 shares at 11-½. You sometimes wonder how these things are possible moments after you have been quoted 10-¾, 11-¼. Well, that’s the advantage of paying full commissions: I had not only the benefit of Willis T. Winslow’s thinking but the skill and muscle of his firm’s trading department when it came to the executions.

On the other hand, it might be that Allied Resources was already moving, as Myron Stone busily bought up enormous gobs of it for his various accounts. I hoped so. I had put a lot of work into this, and I was giving it my best shot with Allied Resources, which was as close to a sure thing as I could imagine. Even without the acquisition activity, it seemed as undervalued to me as it did to Myron Stone, and I could not see much downside. But you can never be sure. If over the next few days Allied Resources inexplicably dropped — or even if the price stayed the same — I would have to forget all about Jonathan B. Crosby and Willis T. Winslow,
III
, and start over again.

I waited in the Crosbys’ apartment all day. The account application was delivered to the doorman around three o’clock, and he brought it right up and left it in the vestibule. I signed everything and took it out to the mail chute.

I have never been a tape watcher, but I turned the television on to the cable channel that runs the tape and watched eagerly until the end of trading. Allied Resources closed at 12-¼, which was not a bad start. I had already more than covered the commissions on the turnaround. Of course, tomorrow it could drop to 10 and stay there for a year. Not that a year mattered in this case. I had a little over a week, with luck. There is probably no sure thing ever, but there is certainly nothing so sure that it can be counted on to come through within a week.

I waited until Thursday afternoon before calling Willis again. I told him that I had spoken to Herr Wengler and that the money was being wired and it should arrive sometime in the next two business days. “I guess that means sometime tomorrow or Monday,” I added, as if I had just worked out a difficult idea for the first time.

“That’s fine,” Winslow said absently. He was not worried yet. It would be interesting to see how he felt around Wednesday or Thursday of next week.

“I’m going away for the weekend and I won’t be getting back till Monday afternoon. I’ll give you a call then, just to make sure everything’s arrived.”

“O.K. I see Allied Resources has moved up a little bit here. It’s trading around 12-½. Your friend seems to have put you into a good situation. Who exactly did you say he was?”

“Uncle David? He’s a friend of my father’s. Some sort of banker. I think he’s on a lot of boards of corporations or something. I have to hurry to get my ride out to Southhampton. Have a nice weekend.”

Allied Resources closed at 13-½. I had forgotten the elation that could come with making a winning bet. Especially when you have put a lot of work into it. I was on my way. It would all be easy after this, I thought.

On Friday it closed at 13, inexplicably back off half a point. I hoped this was going to work out. Pointless to think about it. The market would be closed for two days. Nothing to do but wait.

I called Willis again on Monday afternoon.

“Hi, Willy. I was just calling to make sure you got back my application and everything.”

“Oh, Jonathan. I’m glad you called. I’ve been trying to reach you. Your account application arrived today, but we haven’t—”

“And did the money get there all right?”

“We haven’t received anything yet. I’ve left instructions for them to notify me as soon as it comes in. What I’d like you to do is give me the exact name of the bank at which the transfer is originating and the wire route, so that we can—”

“Gee, that’s awful. I don’t know what could have happened. Herr Wengler said it should be here by now.”

“Well, Jonathan, if you could just give me the name of the bank, we’ll try to track down the problem.”

“Gosh, I’d have to ask Herr Wengler about that. I don’t really know anything about it… Maybe I should have him call you. Do you think that would be a good idea?”

“That might be the simplest way to get it straightened out. Now you’re sure he had the funds transferred? There wasn’t any question about his issuing the instructions?”

“Oh, no. He was absolutely clear about it. He’s awfully precise.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear that, Jonathan, because I’ve kind of stuck my neck out personally on that Allied Resources transaction, and tomorrow’s the settlement date.”

“Gosh, I’ll get right on the phone to Herr Wengler. I mean, he’s always absolutely reliable… By the way, how is Allied Resources doing?”

“It was up a point from where you bought it last time I looked… Wait a moment… 13. Up a point and a half from where you bought it.”

“Gosh. That’s great, anyway. But I’m really sorry about the money not arriving. I don’t know what could have happened. I’ll call Herr Wengler first thing in the morning and then get back to you as soon as I’ve found out something. Will you be there at one in the afternoon?”

“I’ll be right here.”

“I’ll talk to you then. I’m really sorry about this.”

Still only a point and a half. And with Stone gobbling up every share he could find. I hoped this was going to work out. I probably had another two or three days before they closed me out. I thought of starting a rumor about Myron Stone and Allied Resources to push things along, but I was unwilling to take any risk, no matter how slight, of bringing on an
SEC
investigation. What I had to do was deter Willis and his employers as long as possible from selling my shares. And I also had to make sure that Willis did not talk to Mrs. Dixon. Tomorrow would be Tuesday.

I slept at the Crosbys’ apartment that night. At seven in the morning I got up and switched off the bell on every telephone in the apartment. Mrs. Dixon arrived at nine exactly, and I stood next to her desk the entire time she was there. If she happened to pick up the telephone just as Winslow was calling, I wanted to know about it. There were no calls. She left a little before eleven.

I left right after her and went to another apartment to make my telephone calls. I didn’t like to use the Crosbys’ phone any more than necessary, because Mrs. Dixon looked like the sort of person who would immediately notice a few dollars in extra local units on the monthly bill.

When I got to the telephone, I wrapped the receiver in a washcloth and for good measure held against it a portable radio, which I had tuned to pure static. I dialed Willis’s number.

“Hello, Mr. Vinsslow?” I said rapidly and brusquely, as soon as he picked up the receiver.

“Hello?”

“Rudi Schlesslgemuenze here, from the Schildkreuzige Landsschleierschafts Bank.”

“Hello, I’m sorry but I didn’t—”

“I am calling about the transfer of two hundert tausend dollars U.S. funds originated by us to an account in the name of Jonathan Crosby.”

“Yes, that’s right,” said Winslow eagerly. “Could you give me your—”

“Also, I vould vant to confirm the account number if you don’t mind.” I read off the number he had given me in as fast a staccato as I could manage.

“Yes, that’s… I mean, I think that’s… Could you read that off again?”

I read it again, less distinctly and perhaps even faster.

“We seem to have a rather faint connection here. I’m going to read the correct account name and number off to you.” He fumbled for a moment and then read it all off.

“Precisely,” I said. “Ve are seeking to trace the funds now. Ve believe them to be somevhere in New York since yesterday.”

“That’s very good. I hope you can track it down, because we really should have those funds today.”