At the End of a Dull Day Read Online Free PDF Page A

mouth full of food about the responsibilities of “leaders.” “This is a country where one minute the people adore you and the next minute they’ll line you up against a wall in Piazzale Loreto and shoot you, or throw coins at you as you leave your hotel.”
    I speared an artichoke preserved in oil and a slice of salami with a toothpick and laid them down on a thin slice of bread.
    â€œYou’re worrying me, Counselor. You’re dragging this thing out a little too long for it not to be something serious.”
    He heaved a deep sigh and went straight to the point. “The whole Dubai business went belly-up. They screwed us with a Ponzi scheme.”
    I’ve never been a financial genius so I’ve always entrusted my money to Brianese and his expert advisers, but I wasn’t a big enough fool to be taken in by that old trick. Like every other investor, large and small, on the planet, I’d followed the Madoff case with interest and I knew perfectly well that there were successors to Charles Ponzi around every corner, looking for idiots to fleece. They promise high returns on small investments but it’s nothing more than a financial pyramid scheme. The few at the top of the pyramid rake in the cash invested by the many at the base, and on it would go until the hordes of chickens rushing in for the plucking begin to thin out.
    â€œEven the English advisers who recommended that we get into the deal were screwed,” he went on. “They flew out to Dubai but, instead of construction sites for luxury hotel and office towers, they just found a lot of old ditches. Those fucking Bedouins didn’t even bother to pretend to build anything. Our friends tried to kick up a fuss but the authorities just loaded them onto the first plane out.”
    According to what Brianese had promised me, I was going to be the owner of two mini-apartments on the sixteenth floor of an exclusive skyscraper and a suite in a hotel for billionaires. “Any hope of getting the money back?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer.
    â€œNone. The con was organized far too high up the ladder. They’ve already pulled the strings that need to be pulled. It ends here. The media have talked about it but without too much emphasis, because we don’t have any real interest in showing how deeply we’re involved in this thing . . . ”
    I nodded as I looked him straight in the eye. Brianese snapped in annoyance: “Don’t look at me like that, goddamn it! You saw the commercials on Dubai television yourself.”
    â€œHow much do I have left?”
    â€œNothing.”
    â€œNothing? But you assured me you were going to invest part of my money in that real estate deal in Croatia . . . I remember you partied big time when the deal went through.”
    â€œI had to make room for other people and I had to leave you out. I need allies even outside the party,” he admitted with an edge of embarrassment. “But don’t worry about it, you’ll make it back. Your prostitution ring takes in plenty of cash and when you’ve put together another pile of money, let’s say, half a million euros, I’ll slip you into a safe investment. For example, after the regional elections they’re going to announce the route for the new high-speed train line. I have a way of finding out about it in advance, so that we can buy up a nice parcel of low-cost farmland and then resell it at three times the price.”
    I shook my head, with a forced smile stamped on my face to conceal the seething astonishment and rage. “No, Counselor, that’s not the way it works. I gave you two million and two million is what I want back. All these years you’ve managed my money and taken a 10 percent cut, on top of what you earned by managing my capital. That’s your problem if you let someone rip you off.”
    â€œBusiness always entails a certain risk factor,” he