“gettothepoint。”
“but；ydearblokvist；thatisthepoint。aiawassatisfiedwithwennerstr？’sreport。itwasaninvestentthatwenttohell；buttherewasnocriticisofthewayithadbeenanaged。welookedatinvoicesandtransfersandallthedocuents。everythingwaseticulouslyaountedfor。ibelievedit。mybossbelievedit。aiabelievedit；andthegovernenthadnothingtosay。”
“where’sthehook？”
“thisiswherethestorygetsticklish；”lindbergsaid；lookingsurprisinglysober。“andsinceyou’reajournalist；thisisofftherecord。”
“eoffit。youcan’tsittheretellingeallthisstuffandthensayican’tuseit。”
“icertainlycan。whati’vetoldyousofarisinthepublicrecord。youcanlookupthereportifyouwant。therestofthestory—whatihaven’ttoldyou—youcanwriteabout；butyou’llhavetotreateasananonyoussource。”
“ok；but‘offtherecord’incurrentterinologyeansthati’vebeentoldsoethinginconfidenceandcan’twriteaboutit。”
“screwtheterinology。writewhateverthehellyouwant；buti’youranonyoussource。areweagreed？”
“ofcourse；”blokvistsaid。
inhindsight；thiswasaistake。
“allrightthen。theminosstorytookplaceorethanadecadeago；justafterthewallcaedownandthebolsheviksstartingactinglikedecentcapitalists。iwasoneofthepeoplewhoinvestigatedwennerstr？；andthewholetieithoughttherewassoethingdanedoddabouthisstory。”
“whydidn’tyousaysowhenyousignedoffonhisreport？”
“idiscusseditwithyboss。buttheproblewasthattherewasn’tanythin. cominpoint。thedocuentswereallok；ihadonlytosignthereport。everytiei’veseenwennerstr？’snaeinthepresssincethenithinkaboutminos；andnotleastbecausesoeyearslater；intheid…niies；ybankwasdoingsoebusinesswithwennerstr？。prettybigbusiness；actually；anditdidn’tturnoutsowell。”
“hecheatedyou？”
“no；nothingthatobvious。webothadeoneyonthedeals。itwasorethat…idon’tknowquitehowtoexplainit；andnowi’talkingaboutyowneployer；andidon’twanttodothat。butwhatstrucke—thelastingandoverallipression；astheysay—wasnotpositive。wennerstr？ispresentedintheediaasatreendousfinancialoracle。hethrivesonthat。it’shis‘trustcapital。’”
“iknohatyouean。”
“myipressionwasthattheanwasallbluff。hewasn’tevenparticularlybrightasafinancier。infact；ithoughthewasdanedignorantaboutcertainsubjectsalthoughhehadsoereallysharpyoungwarriorsforadvisers。aboveall；ireallydidn’tcareforhipersonally。”
“so？”
“afewyearsagoiwentdowntopolandonsoeotheratter。ourgrouphaddinnerwithsoeinvestorsinlodz；andifoundyselfatthesaetableastheayor。wetalkedaboutthedifficultyofgettingpoland’seconoyonitsfeetandallthat；andsoehoworotherientionedtheminosproject。theayorlookedquiteastonishedforaoent—asifhehadneverheardofminos。hetoldeitwassoecruylittlebusinessandnothingevercaeofit。helaughedandsaid—i’quotingwordforword—thatifthatwasthebestourinvestorscouldanage；thenswedenwasn’tlongforthislife。areyoufollowinge？”
“thatayoroflodzisobviouslyasharpfellow；butgoon。”
“thenextdayihadaeetingintheorning；buttherestofydaywasfree。forthehellofitidroveouttolookattheshut…downminosfactoryinasalltownoutsideoflodz。thegiantminosfactorywasara…shacklestructure。acorrugatedironstoragebuildingthattheredaryhadbuiltinthefifties。ifoundawatchanonthepropertywhocouldspeakalittlegerananddiscoveredthatoneofhiscousinshadworkedatminosandwewentovertohishousenearby。thewatchaninterpreted。areyouinterestedinhearingwhathehadtosay？”
“icanhardlywait。”
“minosopenedintheautunof1992。therewereatostfifteeneployees；theajorityoftheoldwoen。theirpaywasaroundonehundredfiftykronoraonth。atfirsttherewerenoachines；sotheworkforcespenttheirtiecleaninguptheplace。inearlyoctoberthreecardboardboxachinesarrivedfroportugal。theywereoldandpletelyobsolete。thescrapvaluecouldn’thavebeenorethanafewthousandkronor。theachinesdidwork；buttheykeptbreakingdown。naturallytherewerenospareparts；sominossufferedendless. compages。”
“thisisstartingtosoundlikeastory；”blokvistsaid。“whatdidtheyakeatminos？”
“throughout1992andhalfof1993theyproducedsiplecardboardboxesforwashingpowdersandeggcartonsandthelike。thentheystartedakingpaperbags。butthefactorycouldnevergetenoughrawaterials；sotherewasneveraquestionofuchvolueofproduction。”
“thisdoesn’tsoundlikeagiganticinvestent。”
“iranthenubers。thetotalrentusthavebeenaround15；000kronorfortwoyears。wagesayhaveaountedto150；000sekatost—andi’beinggeneroushere。costofachinesandcostoffreight…avantodelivertheeggcartons…i’guessing250；000。addfeesforperits；alittletravellingbackandforth—apparentlyonepersonfroswedendidvisitthesiteafewties。itlooksasthoughthewholeoperationranforundertwoillion。onedayinthesuerof1993theforeancaedowntothefactoryandsaiditwasshutdown；andawhilelaterahungarianlorryappearedandcarriedofftheachinery。bye…bye；minos。”
inthecourseofthetrialblokvisthadoftenthoughtofthatmidsuereve。forlargepartsoftheeveningthetoneoftheconversationadeitfeelasiftheywerebackatschool；havingafriendlyarguent。asteenagerstheyhadsharedtheburdensontothatstageinlife。asgrown…upstheywereeffectivelystrangers；bynowquitedifferentsortsofpeople。duringtheirtalkblokvisthadthoughtthathereallycouldnotrecallwhatitwasthathadadethesuchfriendsatschool。hereeberedlindbergasareservedboy；incrediblyshywithgirls。asanadulthewasasuessful…well；cliberinthebankingworld。
herarelygotdrunk；butthatchanceeetinghadtransforedadisastroussailingtripintoapleasantevening。andbecausetheconversationhadsouchanechoofaschoolboytone；hedidnotatfirsttakelindberg’sstoryaboutwennerstr？seriously。graduallyhisprofessionalinstinctswerearoused。eventuallyhewaslisteningattentively；andthelogicalobjectionssurfaced。
“waitasecond；”hesaid。“wennerstr？is. comnaeaongarketspeculators。he’sadehiselfabillion；hashenot？”
