No Place in the Sun (29 page)

‘I have another joke, very good joke. Is for you, Tom, you want to hear?’

Tom wondered at what was coming. ‘If it’s as good as the last one…’

‘Is better, is better.’ The Israeli was having trouble composing himself.

‘Let’s have it so.’

‘You know when you make the name ‘Renaissance Quarter’ for the area where is my projects? I show the newspaper reports from internet to the guys at town hall.’

Tom swallowed, he hadn’t thought of the fact that the story might get back so quickly to Budapest.

The Israeli was still laughing. ‘They love it, now they are going to call this area the Renaissance Quarter, already they spending money, cleaning papers from shops, fixing sidewalk, and they make some small park where was the bad ground across the street from Kover Amber Haz.’

Tom relaxed; this wasn’t bad news at all. He was amazed that his idea had been taken up so readily by the authorities; what could have been a problem had turned into a very good outcome. He raised his glass to Amir and toasted him. ‘Here’s to the Renaissance man, Amir Mamzer.’

They laughed at the story; it was funny, you had to admit it.

Mamzer was still laughing. ‘There is another joke, very funny also. You want to hear, Tom?’

‘Sure, Amir, we need a few laughs, it was a long weekend.’

‘Ok, ok, you know the rentals, the guarantee? You know we agree that I keep any rent I can get for the two years?’

‘Yes, that’s what we agreed.’ Tom was puzzled, what did the little man have up his sleeve?

‘You remember Monika, the girl in my office? ‘

‘Yes, I know Monika.’ Tom remembered the pretty girl who had brought them the cakes and coffees.

‘She is daughter to important man in Medical school. They are selling their old residence block; it will be redeveloped by private investors.’

‘Israeli investors?’ Tom was beginning to see a pattern.

‘Of course. Stupid lazy fuck Ungarians never make such business. But while this redevelopment is happening, they need accommodation for students. I have contract, I sign on Thursday, just before I come here. I rent all block for two years after is complete.’

Tom was astounded, and it must have showed on his face. The Israeli looked at him across the table. ‘Is good joke, Tom, no?’

Tom smiled; you just had to see the funny side. Fellows like Amir Mamzer had been around for a long time, living off their wits in a tough business, and you had to admire their initiative. He laughed along with the developer.

‘It’s a very funny joke, Amir, I have to hand it to you, you know your job.’ He raised his glass to the Israeli. ‘Here’s to your continued success in Budapest.’

Mamzer raised his glass in return. ‘And to your success also, we make good business together.’

The waiter brought more wine; he turned the bottle to show the label to Tom. Tania had been quiet; she was slightly drunk and still stunned by the revelations from Mamzer. When the waiter leaned in to show the bottle, she suddenly came to life. She jabbed her index finger in the direction of her own face.

‘Up here, my face is up here, ok? You never see tits before? Stop staring at my tits.’

Tom waved away the wine. ‘I think we’re ok, I’m heading off; it’s been a long day.’ He wanted to break up the party, to get Tania out of there before she made a scene.

Somehow, he got his boss out the door and into a taxi, but not before she had insulted the waiter and a couple of people at a table near the door. He returned to collect his coat. Andrew was very drunk, as was Amir Mamzer. The salesmen were by now getting down to lines of shots, and the Israeli was enthusiastically joining in. It was time to be off; he called Andrew aside.

‘I’m heading home, going to drop into the Willows for a quick pint with Walter and Harry, do you want to come along?’

Andrew smiled coyly. ‘Not tonight, Amir has invited me back to his hotel; he has a big cake and some Hungarian wine to finish off. We’re going to have a party.’

Tom raised his eyebrows. ‘You know what you’re doing?’

‘Oh yes, he’s a very nice man, he’s invited me to come and stay for a few days in Budapest, say’s he’ll take me to visit the baths and all that.’

Tom slipped out quietly and took a taxi to the bar. Walter and Harry were sitting in the corner; they looked exhausted.

‘Good weekend, lads?’

Walter nodded. ‘The usual, seems to be no bloody end to it, not that I’m complaining.’

Harry put a pint in front of Tom. ‘How was your show?’ Did you do ok in Budapest?’

‘We sold the lot, over a hundred units, and Spain did well for us too.’

Harry gave a low whistle. ‘We did pretty well in Budapest, ourselves, better than I expected; we did over forty units downtown. Or maybe fifty, I’m not sure about the last ten. There’s no doubt that your publicity drive helped us to put the place on the map, but you seem to have swept the board entirely, was it the rental thing?’

‘No doubt about it, we even have a waiting list for the next one.’ Walter was dubious. ‘Don’t tell me that it was genuine, Tom, I know you too well. You just added it on to the price, didn’t you?’

‘I have to admit, that was the original plan, but we managed to put a contract in place for two years; one of the medical colleges.’

Walter shook his head in disbelief. ‘I always used to say that you’d sell shoes to the footless, Tom, and nothing changes. You have a lucky streak in you; I don’t know how you do it, but try and keep it legal, or as near as possible anyway.’

Tom laughed. ‘It’s legal enough, they’re promised rentals, they’ll get them.’

‘Even if they are renting from themselves?’ Walter sounded a disapproving note.

Tom ignored the jibe. ‘What did you mean about not being sure of the last ten in Budapest?’

Harry contemplated his pint. ‘We sold ten in one lot this morning, but I’m not too happy about them, I just don’t like that fellow. Mickey Macken, you know him?’

‘The racing commentator? I just know him from the telly, never met him.’

Harry sighed. ‘I never met him before this morning either. Heard a lot about him all right, small little fucker, used to be a jockey but he got too fat, there isn’t a horse in the country could carry him. He’s like something that came up in a trawl net.’

‘If you knocked him over he’d be taller.’ Walter didn’t like the celebrity broadcaster much either. ‘Women seem to like him though.’

Harry gave a chuckle. ‘I had a nephew who was a stable lad when Macken was a jockey, they had a nickname for him in the weigh room; they called him tripod.’

Tom laughed at the descriptions. ‘So is he buying property in a big way then?’

Walter shook his head. ‘I reckon he’s just a chancer; he called in before we opened and picked out the best ten apartments in the place, then told us he had buyers for them, playing on his name I think, cashing in the bit of fame and all that.’

‘So what’s the problem?’ Tom was curious. ‘Surely a buyer is a buyer, even that little jackass.’

‘He wants a grand each from us for making the deal, no real problem with that, but I think he buys first and then tries to sell later, I’d say he’ll break our hearts on this one. No deposits paid, nothing. Got stroppy when I asked him to write a cheque. Do you know what the little fucker said to me?’ Harry was angry with the TV personality.

‘What did he say?’

‘He said ‘Do you not know who I am?’ He was pretty arrogant about it, not just asking me if I knew who he was if you know what I mean.’

Walter shrugged. ‘Nothing lost anyway, just I wouldn’t count them as sold until he pays up. It’s not really a problem until we start to run out of stock, other than if people see ten cancelled units it will look bad, might start a run.’

‘Thanks for the warning, Harry. If he comes to us I’ll show him the door, we don’t need that kind of crap. Why didn’t you run him, tell him no deal?’

‘Those media guys are dangerous, you can’t afford to fall out with them and they know it. No, I’ll string him along as long as I can.’

Tom held up his almost empty glass. Anyone for another?’

‘Not me anyway.’ Walter was exhausted.

‘Me neither, but thanks, Tom. I could sleep right here, these shows take it out of you.’ Harry was looking his age.

‘Probably time for us all to call it a night so.’ Tom got up and put on his coat. ‘See you soon, lads, and good luck with the rest of the Budapest project.’

Walter finished his pint and pushed the glass away. ‘You didn’t bring Andrew with you, how is he doing?’

‘Doing his bit for Arab Israeli relations.’

‘I won’t ask. Goodnight, Tom.’

Tom switched on the computer and opened his emails. The office was quiet; the team always took a lie-in on Monday mornings to recover from the hectic pace of the shows, but he liked to use that time to look at new opportunities and to review the situation on current projects.

He opened the inbox and scrolled through the list of messages. The sales enquiries were forwarded to Andrew for dispersal among the sales team, and he quickly deleted the offers of cheap medicines and easy Nigerian money.

One particular email caught his eye; he had highlighted it and was about to click on the delete button when he paused and opened the message. It had initially looked like junk mail, but it was obviously from a developer who had found the Scorpio details on the web; the language was a stilted translation into English, but the content was interesting.

‘We would like to introduce ourselves to you. Our company is Dengesiz Homes Ltd, has become one of the foremost builders and developers of luxury prestige homes in Kusadasi area of Turkey since many years. We are family owned business local to the area with 19 years in the constructor business with many previous project for our credit. Our company is also the owner of the well know Blue Apart Hotel in Kusadasi. The city of Kusadasi which lie near Izmir is most of the year round resort with flights in to Izmir airport which is just 45 minute transfer time. This area of Turkey is now becoming one of the most popular areas for foreign investor with increase uplifting in the demand for qualities property.’

The email had a link to a website, and the project looked good; white houses with a background of a deep blue sky. It reminded Tom of Marbella on a nice day, but with a more eastern look and feel to the architecture. The prices were the interesting part of the information; this was Spain but at a fraction of the cost. True, it was a long way away and hard to get to, and probably closed down in wintertime, but it just might have possibilities. He printed off a few of the website pages and put them aside.

Scorpio needed more properties urgently in the newer markets. The Spanish business was still steady and Juan was able to line up more and more villas as they sold the ones on offer; he seemed to have a direct line to the local town hall that allowed him to expand the boundaries of Montana Fea almost indefinitely. There was still strong demand for the Budapest market, but with Kover Amber Haz sold out and only Amir Mamzer’s redevelopment project in the medical college on the books, Scorpio needed to expand if they were to sustain the current level of business. The overheads were rising, staff wages had to be met every week, and there was danger that Tom’s share of the profits would be eroded if they didn’t find some good new markets soon.

He didn’t want Harry and Walter overtaking him either. It was a matter of pride to him that Scorpio was now the market leader in the overseas property field, and that the huge Scorpio weekend property shows were an essential port of call for anyone looking to invest abroad. Scorpio sales information, admittedly much of it made up by Tom himself, now formed the basis of a lot of widely held beliefs about various markets, and he was amused to see his own words being frequently plagiarised by other companies as they composed their sales literature.

Other companies; that was another thing. Harry had been right when he had predicted that the business would attract a lot of small players into the market. There were now almost twenty overseas property outfits up and running, many of them just one-man bands, but they were clouding the waters. Increasingly too, accountants and lawyers, many of them having inside information about their clients’ funding strengths, were working with foreign agencies on a commission basis. There was even rumour of a psychiatrist having moved into the business in his spare time; it was reputed that he was making sales pitches to patients as they lay on his couch. Scorpio needed to widen the net, and soon.

Tania arrived at half past eight, looking fresh and rested as usual. She breezed in on a cloud of expensive perfume and put two coffees on Tom’s desk.

‘Morning, lover. Working hard for me I see, making me a rich woman. Keeping me supplied with shiny things.’

‘Not just doing it for you; remember I have a slice of this business too. Not a big enough one for all the work I do, but I’ll manage somehow. Thanks for the coffee, good timing.’

‘So, Tommy baby, what’s the story, where to from here?’

‘We can’t stand still anyway, Tania; we need to spread our wings a bit. As well as that we need to be seen to be the innovators, not to be following Harry into places but making the running ourselves.’

‘I agree, but the way it worked out in Budapest it looked like we had made the running, not Harry. I mean, we stole the show completely with the rental trick, can we not repeat that again somewhere else, in Budapest even?’

Tom stirred two sachets of sugar into his coffee. ‘Not in Budapest, the Israelis won’t fall for that one again; they know the value of stuff on the foreign market now, no way will we ever get in with those kinds of margins again.’

She smiled broadly at the thought of the deal that they had made with Kover Amber Haz. ‘It was good though, I still can’t believe that we made so much bloody money in three days. Did you ever think, Tom, that all the ducks would have lined up like that? I still have to pinch myself to remind me that we did it.’

‘The trick is to repeat that success somewhere else. But where?’ Tom sipped at his coffee thoughtfully.

‘What are our options? Let’s deal with this in a systematic manner, list what’s out there and decide whether to go for it or not.’