No Place in the Sun (32 page)

‘She complain and complain but nobody is interested, maybe even she makes more delay for herself.’

‘Cash is king here so.’ Tom was impressed by the way that Ehud had eased their way across the border.

‘Yes, but I told you last night, you have to know who to pay. That is the problem in Romania; maybe you pay, and pay again, and you still not find the person who it is right to pay. Here is simple, just one stupid policeman who makes small increase on his salary; if you want to make business however it is more difficult. You have to know who to pay.’

Tom sat back in silence and took in the sights on the road north from the border. Although they were in a different country, the style of buildings, the rusting steel and concrete fences in the villages, all bore the same stamp as the environment in Bulgaria. They slowed as they passed through a small seaside village.

‘This is Vama Veche, from where my grandfather comes; his home was here along this road, but the house is no longer here. It was just here I think.’ Ehud slowed as they left the village and pointed out a spot to the right hand side of the road where some flat land stretched to the cliff tops. The place was pretty, with stunning views out over the Black Sea.

‘Vama Veche is a very much loved seaside town, for holidays, very traditional holiday village. It was a place where many dissident gather for holiday, intellectuals, but was tolerated by communists. You understand the word dissident?’

‘Yes, of course.’

‘It never made developments like other seaside towns, but maybe in the future it is possible. I have made application for the return of our family lands here; maybe we will succeed, maybe not. If we succeed, maybe we make a project here, what do you think?’

‘Looks nice, and anything is possible. How far are we from Constanta?’

‘About half hour, you will see.’

He speeded up the car again and headed north; huge cranes loomed on the horizon. The sight looked to Tom like a shipbuilding facility; it reminded him of the gigantic cranes in Belfast.

‘This is the big shipyard of Mangalia, was belonging to the state, now belongs to the Koreans. It was an important place for ship building in the old days; they still build ships but now I think it is mostly for repairing.’

They crossed over a big bridge and Ehud pointed out a dockyard on the left. ‘This is the naval dockyard, the Romanian navy. If we look at this place maybe ten, fifteen years ago we are spies.’ He laughed. ‘Was nothing to see really, just some small ships.’

Ehud seemed to be very relaxed in Romania; he knew his way around and he was a mine of information on the places that they passed. ‘Here is Efforie Sud, next is Efforie Nord, they are important resorts on the south side of Constanta. On the north side of course is Mamaia, biggest resort in Romania, very busy in summer.’

‘Any business possibilities for us in any of these places?’

‘I think not. Prices of land are too high, and we don’t have information from the right people. I visit here maybe every month; I am always looking, maybe in time we will make a project here. We will see.’

They slowed as they hit heavy traffic on the outskirts of Constanta. The city limits were defined by a small ship, probably a decommissioned patrol boat Tom reckoned, that was mounted on concrete supports beside the highway.

Ehud joked as they passed the marooned ship. ‘Was a big storm maybe, bring the ship so far from the sea. You want some lunch before the train? There is time.’

‘Ok, that would be good. You know someplace?’

The Israeli turned down a side street and drove through several back streets; the surfaces of these minor roads were badly rutted and potholed. It seemed as though the authorities in Constanta only maintained the roads that were on view to passing motorists; the locals had to put up with a lesser standard. He skidded to a halt in a grand cobbled square that was surrounded by some old and attractive buildings, as well as a few derelict sites.

‘This is the square of Ovid, you know of Ovid, the poet?’

Tom had a vague recollection of the name from his schooldays. ‘Yes, I know of Ovid, can’t say I know any of his poetry off by heart though.’

The Israeli laughed. ‘Me neither, just I know there was such a man and he had a connection with this city.’

Ehud ordered a pizza and Tom asked for an omelet. The food arrived quickly and they ate in silence for a while. It was tasty and filling, and they followed it with two coffees. Ehud looked at his watch and pushed back his chair, dropping some notes on the table. ‘Let’s go, we must go to the train now.’

The station was not far away; Tom waited on the platform while his companion bought a ticket at a tiny window. The train pulled in, exactly on time, and Ehud showed him how to read his compartment number and seat number from the small pasteboard slip.

‘We talk soon, Tom, have a good trip. I hope that we make a very successful business together.’

‘I hope so too, Ehud; thanks for all your help.’

‘Tough trip?’

Tom stretched himself back in the front seat of the Mercedes. ‘It was tough, Tania, but thanks for coming out to collect me; I’m too wrecked to queue for a taxi.’

‘You had to go round the houses to get home.’

‘Yes, Bucharest, then Prague and on to Dublin, and I had a three hour train trip from Constanta to Bucharest as well.’

‘Sounds like a long day.’

‘It was, left the hotel at eight this morning Bulgarian time, had a long road trip to Constanta, and the taxi from Bucharest station to the airport took another hour, just made the bloody flight.’

‘You’ll have to plan ahead a bit for the next trip, that’s too much of an ordeal. Anyway, fill me in on the details; I only got the bones of it from you on the phone.’

Tom recanted the details of the arrangements he had made with Ehud and the Bulgarians, and the potential he could see in the project near Sunny Beach. Tania was amazed at the possibilities.

‘I knew that Bulgaria would be good, I just had a feeling about it. If we can do another Kover Amber on it, and with eight hundred apartments, we’ll make a bloody fortune.’

‘I don’t think that will be the end of it either; they have another project in their own backyard, same kind of size, called Kukovo, but the Sunny Beach North job will give us a great start. If any of our competitors try to get in behind us we’ll have a second string to our bow, so we won’t have to worry about product for six months at least.’

Tania drummed her fingertips on the wheel as she waited for the lights to change. ‘Is it wide open out there, could someone like Harry go there and get a break like we got this week?’

‘Are you worried about Harry? I don’t think you have to. I’d be more concerned about some of the others, maybe some small outfit that wants to get big quickly. It’s very difficult to do business there, it seems to be a bit of a mafia setup; I heard some stories of developers killing each other to gain an upper hand.’

‘Killing each other? You mean literally? Dead bodies?’

‘Yes, seems like they are involved in some kind of natural selection process. Only the fittest will survive and all that.’

She pulled up outside Tom’s apartment building. ‘Be careful anyway, Tommy baby, don’t get yourself killed for my shiny things. Are you not inviting me in?’

‘Not tonight, Tania, I’m about ready to drop. See you in the morning; we have a show to run.’

‘Ok, if I’m not wanted. Don’t you want to know about Turkey?’

‘Of course, forgot about that, how did you get on?’

Your contact Omer, he came over and we hammered out a deal; we’ll be selling the villas tomorrow. The site is right next door to the Blue Apart Hotel, and we’ll be doing as you suggested, two years rental guarantee at five percent. He keeps half of any rent on top of that and we get the rest. He seemed happy enough, I think that the project was going very slowly for him, we maybe threw him a lifeline.’

‘Well done, boss, now I’ll leave you and get some sleep.’

Tania was in her office when Tom arrived; he dropped gratefully into the chair across from her desk and peeled open his coffee.

‘Sorry, would have brought you one, didn’t think you’d be in this early.’

‘No problem, Tom, I had some already. No, I had to come in, I’m working on something.’ She pushed back her chair and looked at Tom. ‘I have something I want you to do for me.’

‘Within reason.’

‘You know the way that Murtagh is always on the TV talking about foreign property? He’s something of a pundit I suppose you’d call him.’

Tom nodded. ‘He is because we made him one. That jackass knows nothing about the overseas market; anything he comes out with is what he got from us.’

‘That’s what I’m coming to, we made him what he is; would you agree?’

‘Sure.’ Tom wasn’t clear on what his boss had in her mind. ‘Only because it suits us; he’s out there plugging all the spots we’re doing business in. It’s free advertising for us.’

‘It is, but it’s also free advertising for all our competitors; twenty four at the last count.’

‘I’m sure you’ll get to the point in a minute, Tania.’

‘It’s very simple, Tom, I want to go on TV, not just once but every week if possible. I want to be the choice of all the producers whenever they need an expert on foreign property. I want to be known as the leading foreign property expert in the country.’

Tom didn’t know whether to laugh or say nothing. He looked at his boss; she had a serious look on her face, there was no doubt that she was in deadly earnest about this latest plan. He wasn’t so sure about the wisdom of her idea though; it seemed to him to smack of vanity rather than common sense.

‘I don’t like it, Tania, if they throw questions at you that you can’t answer....’

‘That’s where you come in, Tom; I want you to write me a synopsis of each market and to predict the kinds of questions that might be asked. Also, from today I want you to stop doing the radio slots; I’ll do them from now on as well.’

‘Ok, suits me very well if you can manage it.’

‘Another thing.’ Tania leaned forward across the desk. ‘We need to up the ante a bit, let people know in no uncertain terms that we are the big guns in this business. From now on we don’t do property shows, or property expos; this weekend’s show is advertised as an ‘investment seminar’, that’s what we will call all our shows from now on.’

‘Ok, I go along with that. I like the sound of it actually.’

‘So, get going and prepare me for the TV show tomorrow, I need a briefing document in two hours.’

‘If you think it’s wise, Tania, but I still have my concerns.’

‘Don’t worry about my ability to perform live on air; I’m well able to do that. What other worries have you got?’

‘ Murtagh. If you put him off side, lose him his bit of fame, we’ll make an enemy of him.’

‘ Murtagh will do what he’s told; at the end of the day we spend five grand a week with the Globe group, that’s enough clout for us to call the shots.’

Tom didn’t see it that way; if Murtagh got mad he might start being a journalist, start questioning things. All that they needed was someone to ask a few simple questions and the whole overseas property market would come crashing down around their heads. Still, there was no stopping Tania Sherry when she got the bit between her teeth.

‘So how do you propose getting on the TV? You can’t just ring up the stations and tell them that you’ll be taking over from Murtagh from now on.’

Tania smiled smugly. ‘I didn’t tell you; that’s all sorted. Mickey Macken, the racing guy, he’s promised to get me on the business show tomorrow, and on the property show on Tuesday. I’m going to be billed as Doctor Sherry, the property doctor.’

‘Mickey Macken! That jerk? How do you know him?’

‘Don’t be so judgemental, Tom, he’s not at all like people think; he’s a lovely man. He was in with me on Wednesday while you were off enjoying yourself in Bulgaria. Can you believe this; he’s going to buy ten apartments from us in our next project? You see, I’m working hard selling apartments here while you’re off on your travels.’

‘I meant to warn you about Macken, Harry and Walter had an episode with him a few weeks ago. I was going to tell you about it at the time but it slipped my mind.’

‘What kind of an episode?’

‘He did the same thing with them; he booked ten apartments and then went off touting them among his hangers-on and cronies. He has to get a grand per apartment of a commission, insists on it, but no sign of a deposit or anything. When Harry pressed him for deposits he got stroppy with him, more or less said that he had lots of power and could make things difficult for Sunspots.’

Tania pondered this new information for a moment; then she brightened. ‘But he’s getting me on TV, that’s something. Anyway, what harm if he doesn’t have customers for the bloody apartments, maybe we can use it to our advantage.’

Tom had the feeling that he was playing catch-up again. ‘I’m sure you have an angle Tania, what are you thinking?’

‘I can wind Macken round my little finger; I suggest we make him the front man for our advertising campaign in Bulgaria, make it look as if he is endorsing the project, or even almost appear as if he’s the developer. That way, people will have a lot more confidence in it, you know, he’s a very famous name in sport and all that.’