Reunion Promise by Charles J. Johnson

Author:Charles J. Johnson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2011-05-28T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

“Aloha,” I cheerfully greeted Kate Vainer as I entered my New York office. Always dressed in fashionable, pinstriped suits that accented her willowy body, she could have graced the cover of a women’s business magazine. She’d grown up in the diamond business, and struck off on her own after finishing her MBA. Although only twenty-nine, I’d quickly grown to trust her uncanny business acumen more than anyone else in my company. She smiled as she looked up from the inventory sheets, tucking a few strands of auburn hair back around her ear.

I handed her the colorful gift box of fresh pineapples. “Lugged these back from Hawaii just for you. Hope they’re as sweet as the ones I had there.”

“Thanks. Next time, send me to Hawaii to make a firsthand comparison.” She turned serious. “Sorry to dump this on you as soon as you walk in the door. But, there’s something that needs your immediate attention.”

“Problem with sales?”

“No. Sales are booming. It’s the Syndicate, again. Better read this.” Kate handed me the letter.

Dear Mr. Parker,

It was good to see you recently and resolve the little misunderstanding on diamonds. Unfortunately, I must inform you that due to the continuing weak demand for larger goods in certain world markets, we will be reducing sales at the next sight by twenty percent. I trust that this will not cause you undue difficulty. As soon as market conditions improve we will make appropriate adjustments to rough diamond supplies.

Sincerely yours,

Ivan Edwards

“Kate, what’s the status of our inventory?”

“Lousy.” Kate flipped the computer printout sheets, slowly shaking her head. “Inventory is not just low. We’re out of many sizes of the larger, quality gems that bring in the big spenders and highest profit margins. Last week, I couldn’t fill an order for a three-and-a-half carat stone for Mrs. Randolph Harding. Turned away seven important sales while you were gone. That’s over a quarter million that went to the competition. You’re the only one in the company that’s got personal connections in African diamonds. I hope you can go to West Africa as soon as possible, and buy critically needed gems on the open market.”

I thumbed through a few pages of the inventory list. More than half of the one-carat-plus gems were redlined as out of stock. With access to Syndicate sights, I’d hoped that my trips to West Africa to buy gems from the sleazy diamond traders were finally over. The year before, my Lebanese contact in Sierra Leone had been “accidentally” shot in the back eight times by police. The police reported that they were shooting in self-defense. Then two months earlier a Jewish friend from Antwerp mysteriously disappeared while on a diamond-buying trip to West Africa. The rumor was that a disagreement with a local diamond dealer resulted in him being staked spread-eagle on a crocodile-infested riverbank. The government’s diamond security unit reported no proof of foul play, even though they had recovered pieces of an ankle and hand tied to pegs on a riverbank, plus a bloody handkerchief with the man’s initials.

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