“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？”