Page 79 of Analysing Her Assets

The simple answer, coupled with her own nerves, unraveled her, bringing tears to her eyes. Marina was by her side, no matter what. She wasn’t alone.

“Thanks,” she said hoarsely. “Marina...”

“Yes?”

“Gideon has ties to a company that works with Peaks brokerage. Do you think I should say something to him?”

Noga and Marina exchanged looks, and Tamar realized Noga must have known or guessed about her and Gideon.

“I think we should see what goes on in the meeting and then decide,” Marina finally answered as they left the elevator.

The investigation agency’s offices, its name was SMO Business Solutions, were on the fourth and last floor. They rang the bell and a young man let them in.

“I’m Aviad, I work with Ilan. He’s waiting for you.”

Aviad was slim and dark and had a gentle manner. “Can I get you anything to drink? You look like you need a hot drink.” He helped her take off her coat while she clutched her laptop to her chest. He led them to a room that turned out to be a medium sized meeting room with a large screen and a balcony that overlooked the ugly low garages that stretched all the way to the Ayalon freeway. There was a man, presumably Ilan, with his back to the door, wearing dark blue jeans and a black T-shirt and speaking on his phone.

Ilan turned to greet them. He was olive-skinned with light brown-green eyes that swept over the three of them quickly, and then zeroed back on her. When he moved his head, she noticed he had a small diamond stud in his left ear. That was both unexpected and welcome. It made him accessible somehow.

“Please sit down,” Ilan said. “You’re Tamar?” he asked her.

“How did you know?” asked Marina.

“She had mud on her shoes from her street,” Noga guessed, and Marina giggled.

“She holds a laptop with her name on it.” Ilan smiled. The smile grooved two parallel lines on his cheeks and reached his eyes. Tamar’s nervousness dissipated. This man was nice. Aviad joined them with hot drinks and water for everyone. Then he walked around the conference table and sat next to Ilan, facing the three of them.

The door to the meeting room opened, and a very tall woman wearing high heels, strode in. With her long, flowing, shimmering black pants and jacket, long dark hair, slightly touched by silver, and beautiful face, she looked like a model for a successful businesswoman.

“Noga!” she said in a strong Argentinian accent. “How is my favorite intern doing?”

“I’m great. Tamar, Marina, meet Kelly,” Noga said excitedly to Tamar.

“Hi Ilan.” Kelly smiled at the serious PI, whose eyes lighted when he saw her. He rose to greet her, and they exchanged pecks, one on each cheek, his hand placed loosely on her hip. The temperature in the room went up several notches.

“Hi, nice to meet you. I came to give you support.” She sat next to Ilan.

“Thank you,” Tamar said, touched. She needed all the support she could get.

She recounted, for the umpteenth time, her suspicions. By now, she must sound robotic.

“Do you have anything on this laptop that you didn’t send ahead?” Ilan asked.

“Yes.” Tamar had the audio files there. They all listened to the brief phone calls. Aviad and Ilan exchanged a glance and Tamar’s heart plummeted.

“Okay,” Ilan said, “Aviad had just a few hours, but using your system and a couple of algos we developed here, he’s made a preliminary analysis of what you sent. Aviad, please explain.”

“Yes, I plugged in the events you told me to look for: secondary offerings, warrants and convertibles expirations, immediate notices, etc., and crossed it with Peaks’ transactions. I could find a definite pattern–one that would be hard to explain, because the dealings were heavily skewed towards raising share prices.”

“Shit,” Kelly said, and that was exactly how Tamar felt. She came here hoping to be refuted. Ilan’s expression, as he traded looks with the Argentinian, showed that he didn’t like it either.

“Who else knows about this?” Ilan asked.

“Our friend Yelena does,” Marina answered. “But she doesn’t give it much importance. And no one else besides her.”

“Keep it like that. Don’t mention it to anyone who isn’t in the know already,” Ilan ordered. They all nodded.

“It’s true that Aviad found definite patterns.” Ilan continued, his voice somber. “But opening an investigation is tricky. There are politics involved. Peaks is the largest money manager in Israel, and the ISA wouldn’t want to start anything without hard evidence. I looked into Danny Golan. His father is very well connected.”

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