Spoiled Fruit Page 5

  Adeline looked slightly chagrinned. “I will find out exactly what has taken place.”

  “Thank you.”

  As they walked further into the huge apartment, they were greeted by a lovely young woman introduced to Anna and Carolyn as Elsa. “Ma’am, I’ve brought in all your favorites. I took the liberty of informing all concerned that you would be in residence for at least a week. The car, of course, is available, but if your friends would like separate transportation, I will be happy to arrange an individual car for each.”

  “That won’t be necessary. We will be together for any outings. Elsa, is the front door set for Mrs. Harris and Mrs. Cooper?”

  “I’m so sorry, ma’am. Normally we would have all of that in place long before your arrival, but your security people in Florida were absolutely uncooperative. They informed me that it would be taken care of on arrival. Eugene will be available to input the information for your friends just as soon as it is convenient. Again, I’m so sorry.”

  “There is no call for concern, Elsa. I am quite pleased. This is actually the answer I was hoping for.”

  The young woman’s face showed a combination of relief and confusion.

  “Very well.” Elsa took a deep breath, plastered a smile on her face, and tried for a cheery voice. “Would you like refreshments?”

  “Please.” Adeline only needed to glance at the girls to read their wishes. “May we have something light, in the sitting room? I will show Mrs. Cooper and Mrs. Harris to their rooms. Thank you, Elsa.”

  Carolyn and Anna followed Adeline as she gave a tour of the apartment.

  It might have been the most beautiful place either of them had ever seen.

  As Adeline led them through each room, she pointed out things of interest and things that might come in handy for the girls as they stayed for the week.

  In the great room, but to be honest they were all great, there were floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over the city. “Is that the park?”

  Adeline smiled. “Yes. I am very fortunate that I bought when I did. I won’t say it was right when the UN had come over to this area, but it wasn’t long after that. Buildings like mine were scooped up rather quickly in those days.”

  “Buildings like mine? You own the whole building?”

  “Technically it is owned by one of my interests, but for all intents and purposes, yes.”

  “You own a building this size in this area?” Anna’s eyes were huge.

  Adeline smiled. She had been trying to explain her circumstance to the girls for a little while. She now thought that maybe it was a little clearer. “I am indeed very blessed.”

  “Blessed. Yes, that is one way of framing it. And I was planning on you sleeping on a mat in a tent in some godforsaken forest. What was I thinking?”

  Adeline looked crestfallen. “That you are my friend and that Jordan would enjoy the trip. Please do not let these trappings trap us. I haven’t changed. My circumstances have not changed. Please do not allow my inviting you into this small part of my life to change the important part. The adventures I am sharing with the two of you girls.”

  Carolyn sounded firm. “It will take a little getting used to — you know, the limos and the fine dining and the lux everything — but I’m willing to give it a good try. That’s just the kind of friend I am.”

  Anna and Adeline joined her in laughter.

  “So when did the UN move into this area?”

  “In 1951 I believe.”

  “And this building was here then?”

  “It didn’t look just like this. This has been a multidecade process. It is a work in progress still. The building has paid for itself many times over. I was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time, a pattern in my life I have enjoyed for a very long time.”

  “I’m happy for you. I feel the same way about my little house. My husband and I were driving by. Saw the for sale sign in the window. The couple that was moving out liked us. We were really very lucky. There weren’t many neighborhoods that blended back then.”

  “I love your house, Anna. It is beautiful, and more importantly, it is truly a home.”

  “Thank you. It has always been a true home for me and mine.”

  “And me as well, if you will recall. Your generosity in sharing your home played a major role in my rehabilitation. I thought I was relatively healthy when we returned from Las Vegas, but I must say that your care and concern is what brought my health to the level I now enjoy.”

  Anna beamed. “I like that. Thank you.”

  Elsa knocked gently on the door.

  “Ma’am, your refreshments are in the sitting room when you are ready.”

  “Thank you, Elsa. We haven’t quite completed our tour. Please let Cook know that we will be dining in this evening.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “If you girls don’t mind. I’m sorry I just made that decision without even speaking with you first, but I did so for a reason. If you will indulge me, I have a guest coming by this evening, and I wanted us to talk with him without any prying ears.”

  Carolyn smiled. “I can’t speak for Anna, but for me, as we are in a totally new environment that I know nothing about, I am more than comfortable with you deciding where we will eat and what we will do.”

  “Me too.”

  “Very well. Shall we have our refreshments? I can give you the rest of the tour after we eat. Does anyone need to freshen up?”

  “Just a powder room would be great.”

  Anna and Carolyn were each directed to a powder room.

  As Anna entered, the mirror took her breath away. An ornate combination of silver and glass, the art deco-inspired masterpiece was huge and truly beautiful. The sink beneath it was black. Stone. And matched the black stone flooring. It was stunning. Around the corner was the toilet bowl, positioned so that it couldn’t be seen from the room’s entrance.

  As Anna rounded the corner, her eyebrows almost met her hairline. The toilet was silver. The etchings on the tank matched the patterns on the ornate mirror she had just seen. The tank obviously was a décor piece as well as a functional one. The tank was about two feet across but at least six feet high. It was almost a shame to use it for its assigned function.

  While Anna was taking care of business, Carolyn was investigating another powder room. Much more masculine than the one Anna was enjoying, the room that Carolyn utilized had faux, or perhaps real, leather walls with a huge silver-coated animal skull on the wall. Carolyn leaned in close to get a better look. Maybe it was a real skull dipped in silver. It certainly looked like it. Upon further investigation she decided it was a bit stylized to be the real thing, but it was certainly gorgeous. The sink was a heavy silver affair with a generous bowl and deep-red granite counters. The toilet bowl appeared to be made of the same deep-red granite on the outside, with white porcelain on the inside and a lid of hammered silver that changed the look completely. Whatever soap was in the dispenser was going to be used in her bathroom back home from that point forward. The smell energized her and made her smile. She would have to remember to ask Elsa for the product information.

  The rest of the tour went by in a blur. All Carolyn had noted was that the penthouse was huge. Multiple levels. Everything was beautiful and luxurious. The public rooms were much more ornate than the private rooms, those being the bedrooms and the kitchen.

  When Anna commented on that very observation, Adeline did not take affront to it, but rather, smiled warmly. “I’ve never thought about it before, but seeing it again with new eyes, I would guess that the décor says a great deal about my personality. The public image and the personal side are very different, aren’t they? I believe that it speaks volumes about the true me. I would perhaps argue that at the very core of my being, I am more comfortable in the simple rooms. A simple life. I am a simple person.”

  Anna joked to keep the mood light. “A simple person with Charlotte Thomas sheets.”

  Carolyn questioned, “Charlotte Th
omas?”

  “She makes sheets for the gods. They have about a million thread count. Okay, maybe it’s just a thousand. She even weaves gold into those suckers. I saw it on television once. Each sheet takes up to twelve weeks to produce or something like that. A normal sheet takes about a minute and a half.”

  Adeline laughed. “I always buy cheap sheets. I like them crisp.”

  Anna nodded. “Yeah, well say the same thing for me. Got a great set on sale at Macy’s the other day. I don’t even know how I would go about buying some of that high-end stuff.”

  Carolyn laughed. “Buy your lottery ticket, and maybe someday you will find out.”

  Adeline seemed circumspect. “While I enjoy some of this, to be frank, some of it is much more trouble than it is worth. Look what it has done to my older children.”

  Carolyn agreed. “Good point.”

  Anna nodded. “I like having enough money to pay my bills and put a bit away. I don’t need to be rich. Rich is a headache all of its own. But I do like being able to pay my bills. There was a time I couldn’t.”

  The girls found themselves in a beautiful room full of bird’s-eye maple and books. Refreshments had been placed on a long table up against the wall to the left. The table itself was a work of art, and the dishes it held were equally grand. The fruit was cut in interesting patterns, with garnishes that made Anna smile. “Look at these apples; they are cut into little ducks.”

  Carolyn walked over. “Look, we have ducks, we have roses — what was that, a watermelon? A dozen roses carved out of watermelon. How did she find the time?”

  “Cook knows me. She is well aware that I will want light refreshment upon arrival. She is quite talented, is she not?”

  “I’d love to know how she does this. I wonder if I could. Wouldn’t the family just be beyond amazed if they came over to my little house and I had a spread like this? They would be speechless, and in my family, a loss of words is never a problem.”

  “Shall we ask Cook for a demonstration?”

  “I wouldn’t want to impose. People don’t like you messin’ around in their kitchen.”

  “I’m certain she won’t mind.”

  “If we have time, maybe just the ducks and the — oh my goodness, look at that little hatchling coming out of that cantaloupe. And look over here. Looks like she peeled an orange all in one piece — how in the world? — and then used those peels for decoration. Look at the pattern. Part cut, part weaved. This is so beautiful I don’t even want to touch it. This puts my little strawberry Santa Clauses all to shame.” Anna continued to inspect the tray.

  Carolyn had moved on to the meat platter. “Look at this. She took cheese and rolled it, then arranged it to look almost like a sliced pineapple. Oh, and the ham looks like a pink rose. Very pretty. We will have to remember to thank her for going to all this trouble.”

  For the first time in decades, Adeline took a moment to truly appreciate the amount of effort her house staff undertook. Certainly it was their job, and they were well paid, but she would do well to remember that she was blessed to be surrounded by some gifted individuals.

  While the girls looked over their choices, this time with an eye toward eating them, not admiring them, Adeline walked to the doors and closed them.

  When they were all settled, she started to explain why they needed a new plan.

  “I was advised just before departure from Florida of some very interesting details that we were unaware of when we decided to confront my children. Christophe has been learning a great deal, but he has been sharing some information as well. He has spoken to several of my financial people about his parents’ dealings. He has some details, some things he has suspicions of, others were just rumors, but we have been able to do some research and have found some rather substantial discrepancies.”

  Anna put down her orange. She had figured out how Cook had carved it into a flower. Basically cutting a zigzag pattern round the widest part of the middle, then rounding out the edges to look more like a petal, then cutting the peel away from the flesh. It wasn’t one of the fancy carvings, but it was very pretty.

  It sat on her plate next to her carrot flowers, her lotus-flower tomatoes, strawberry butterflies, and cucumber roses. She passed on the tomato crabs, but was determined to make those for Jordan as soon as she got home.

  All of that left her mind just as soon as Adeline had said the word discrepancies. Forensic accounting. The thought had always fascinated her. Maybe she would see how it was done.

  Adeline continued, “Roland and my financial team have been working on this nonstop.”

  Carolyn tilted her head. “Roland? I thought his bailiwick was security, not finances.”

  “It is.”

  Anna shook her head. “Sounds like your kids have been naughty.”

  “It looks that way.”

  Adeline took a sip of her drink. She followed that with a deep breath, then dove right in. “Christophe shared with my financial team that he is under the distinct impression that his parents’ spending habits might have gotten the better of them. While I have been fortunate enough to not only survive the recent turns and twists in the financial world, it would seem my children have been less successful. It would seem that they did not take the advice of the professionals they employ. On the contrary, they have boldly ignored them. At their own peril, I might add.”

  Anna shook her head. “I’ve heard a lot of young bucks in the financial world have jumped off buildings in this very city. It doesn’t make the news like it did in the eighties and nineties, but it still makes the news.”

  “That trend does seem to go in cycles, does it not?” Adeline was quick to pick up on Anna’s true concern. “Where my children are concerned, I do not fear that possibility. Each of them is too self-important to jump off a building. Suicide would be far less likely than homicide.”

  “We’ve seen that in action.” Anna wanted to bite off her tongue as soon as the words came out of her mouth. She was very sure that Adeline would be insulted by her comments.

  “Very well stated.” Adeline nodded once.

  Evidently Adeline had thicker skin than the other girls were aware of.

  “After a very long and difficult confirmation process, we know the following. Firstly, my children are not as wealthy as they once were. They have, however, been very successful at hiding their losses. Their lifestyle has not changed markedly. They continue to live in their homes, they own several other properties for personal use, and they still jet around on private planes with the truly beautiful people, or so they are considered. They dine with royalty, literally, and the glamorous people of that ilk, although as it turns out, my children are not only fake, but they are also now officially frauds.”

  Anna had stopped chewing. “What does that mean, exactly?”

  “It means that they were victims of several things. A rather large and well-publicized Ponzi scheme. They lost an enormous amount of money. That alone would be enough to push their financial life into a spiral not easily corrected, but instead of taking a step back to reevaluate the situation and to conservatively regrow their assets, they panicked and threw good money after bad.”

  Carolyn put down papaya carved into the shape of a fish. “If that Ponzi scheme is the one I’m thinking of, the guy is in prison, and his family and the others involved are pretty much decimated. How could your kids continue in it?”

  “There are any number of suspect investments floating in all levels of financial endeavor. Some mature into something quite valuable. Some never mature. Some are never meant to be anything but what they are, a scam. The secret is not in finding an outlet for your investment dollars. It is in finding a project that is both potentially astounding and also just. I have found that those who invest in anything that is untoward, although profitable, find that they are swept away by negativity rather than opportunity.”

  Carolyn was confused, and it showed. “I’m lost.”

  “My children invested in a Ponzi scheme.
Do you know what that is?”

  “When they take the money from a new investor to pay off an old investor and build a house of cards.”

  Adeline nodded. “Close enough for this discussion. Unfortunately the amounts of money are truly unknown, but Madoff was sentenced to many years in prison and seventeen billion dollars in restitution. That will give you an idea of the amount of money these people are involved with. I have it on good authority that Madoff was good, but not the best, and that although the government is aware of other players, they dare not move on them. Our world economy is not strong enough to withstand the ramifications.”

  “Are you kidding?”

  “Unfortunately, I am not. I was once involved in a Ponzi scheme myself. This was years and years ago when I did not know any better. Fortunately I was able to withdraw my funds before the bottom fell out, but I know several who were not as lucky as I was and who suffered enormous losses.”

  “I don’t remember hearing anything like that in the news.”

  “There are an alarming number of financial shenanigans that are never uncovered for the public to see.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because for the most part people are very emotional when it comes to their finances. They make emotional rather than rational decisions. If you tell the average person just some of what is going on in the financial world each day, they would panic.”

  Carolyn sounded a bit defensive. “When that money being gone means you aren’t going to be able to feed your children, you get scared.”

  Anna smiled. “I read an article once that said that Donald Trump and his daughter were walking down the street. She is such a beautiful young woman, inside and out, from all that I can see. Anyway, she told her father to give a homeless person some money. He chuckled and said that the homeless person probably had a larger net worth than the Trumps at that moment.”

  “How can that be?”

  Adeline tried to explain. “People think of the economy as they do their personal bank account. That perception has little to do with the reality of the economy.”