Page 98 of Analysing Her Assets

“Abba, I’m serious.”

The conference room phone buzzed. Gideon put it on speaker.

“TASE halted trading,” Miriam said. “Yehoshua, as CEO, I need you to sign the immediate notice.”

“I will not,” Yehoshua said stubbornly. His face contorted.

“Abba!” Gideon called.

Yehoshua slumped sideways in his chair.

“It’s a heart attack,” said Savta Paulina coolly. “Giddichka call an ambulance. My son is having a heart attack.”

47. Tamar

The wintery morning was sunny. Her city looked crisp, shining in a way that could never happen in the haze of Summer. The Ficus was dark green, the sky baby blue, even the pavement’s gray looked silvery.

On her morning walk with Giddy, she went to Gideon’s apartment and banged for long minutes on the sturdy penthouse door. No one answered, and no barks were heard from within. He wasn’t there, nor was Shemesh.

For the first time in forever, on a weekday, she didn’t have to go to work and didn’t have any plans. Tamar had always wondered what it would be like to be one of those people who had coffee in the morning in one of the many Tel Aviv cafés. Whether she would like it. She walked up Ah’ad Ha’am Street towards Habima, to the hip café that had bookshelves and large herb plants as its décor. She ordered the House Winter Brew (cinnamon, lemon, fresh turmeric, and honey), and sipped leisurely. Giddy graciously accepted an old blanket that the owner gave him so he wouldn’t lie on the cold floor.

Turned out she didn’t like this.

She fished out her phone, checking for messages that weren’t there. She’d texted Gideon, saying she was sorry, asking him how he was, where he was. He didn’t answer. She called, and he didn’t pick up.

He told her he loved her. The first man who’d ever done that. She had him for two whole days.

Her phone buzzed with a text message.

I miss you. Call me.

Tamar called Marina immediately.

“Are you at work?”

“Yeah. It’s like a graveyard here. Everyone is walking around like zombies, shellshocked that the analyst competition was cancelled. N is a ghost. But no one believes you cheated.”

Tamar clutched her phone to her heart, and gulped down a fresh batch of tears. It meant the world that her colleagues still believed in her. She had worked so hard at being a good analyst, building her reputation.

“I went to Yelena’s last night, and I confronted her,” Marina continued. “I told her she was a stupid shestyorka.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s like, in the mafia, or any criminal organization, it’s what we call the lowest rank. The term, shestyorka, it comes from the number six–from a card play–like she was just a pawn. Like Danny doesn’t even think she means anything, I told her. I asked her if Danny was worth it. If the promotion was worth it. I pressured her, asking why she wanted to meet you.”

“What did she say?” Tamar asked.

“She started crying and couldn’t stop. She said to tell you she was sorry. And that she would tell her boss you were the brains behind the system for the brokerage, not she. But she said she would tell only you why she wanted to meet.”

“She was thinking with her vagina, I guess, wanting that asshole, Danny,” Tamar said. His taste was suddenly in her mouth. She gagged and took a large, too hot gulp of her tea and started coughing.

“Did you talk to Gideon?” Marina asked.

“No. I don’t know where he is,” she said.

“Look at TASE news later, Tamar. Berdiplast’s trading has halted. They’re going to release an immediate notice,” Marina said.

After her tea, she and Giddy continued their stroll up Dizengoff Street, onto the higher numbers where the chic boutiques were. Tally was alone in the store. She took the news much better than Tamar expected.

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