Chapter 9 #3
“And I wasn’t planning on buying any more for a while,” he noted, “but, if the opportunity presents itself, and it’s something I feel I need to do, … then you know I’ll still do it.”
“Good enough,” she said. “Just checking that you were okay.”
“I’m glad to hear that your little Kate-Spidey-senses are in full force.”
She snapped, “Don’t even joke about that.” And she ended the call.
But it had completely shifted his mood from anger and revenge-seeking to smiling, and he had no idea how the hell she did it, but she was damn good at it. When his phone rang again, it was his lovely banker friend again. Simon answered this one.
“Look. I know I came on a bit harsh, and I’m trying not to upset you.”
“Too late,” Simon snapped.
“I know. Believe me that I know. But still, I have talked to management. They won’t do anything about the existing contracts. I’m just telling you that they aren’t likely to lend you anything in the future until you clear some of the existing loans.”
“Right,” he replied. “So, I was okay, as long as I was making big, big money and paying you guys back big interest. But now that I’ve paid off a bunch, and I’m actually in a much better position, but not paying you guys as much, I’m looking worse—in the bank’s eyes. Is that it?”
David hesitated, and that rang Simon’s bells.
“I need you to be honest with me, David.”
“Simon, I think somebody put a bug in their ear about you. I don’t know how. I don’t know why. I don’t know who,” he replied. “But it seems to have gotten my manager in a bit of a stew.”
“Interesting,” he muttered in a silky tone. “When you find out who it is, you might want to let me know. I would really love to return the favor.”
“That’s not what you need right now.”
“Maybe, but I have a way of dealing with my enemies all on my own, so thank you for the advice, but no thank you.”
“I was afraid you would say something along that line. You’re pretty-damn creepy when you say that stuff.”
“I’m not the least bit creepy,” he corrected, “but you can bet that I don’t like being threatened or treated as if I’m some criminal if I walk back into the bank looking to get more money. I have never defaulted on anything, so I’m not sure why I’m getting this treatment.”
“And that’s why I think somebody may have mentioned something,” David repeated, lowering his voice. “And before you get on my case, I don’t know who.”
“Well, as I told you already, when you find out, let me know.” And he ended the call.
Simon sat back, steepled his fingers under his chin, and considered that.
This was not something he’d come up against before.
Definitely people were out in the world who may not appreciate what he was doing, but generally it wasn’t for any other reason than the fact that he did a damn-good job at it.
Occasionally he got into a bidding war over a property but rarely. Usually the ones he wanted, other people wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole. But, for whatever reason, somebody was irate.
And that interested him far more than anything else he’d heard in a very long time.
Now it was time for his appointment with his lawyer, so he needed to focus on that.
As Simon walked into the offices of Allen Moore and Associates, Allen greeted him warmly, then waved him over and sat back down, an amused expression on his face.
“Ouch, somebody has pissed you off.”
“Yeah, you could say that.” Simon sat down and explained the series of conversations he had just had with David Sinclair. Allen, his lawyer, knew David all too well.
“Good God, Simon,” he noted, “that’s not like him at all.”
“No, it isn’t. And I don’t understand where this is all coming from. But what I really don’t like is that I haven’t been able to stem it.”
“The fact that they even thought it was a viable thing to do means something is there already.”
“And David thinks it’s personal.”
“Did he hint at that or come right out and say it?”
“That’s what he said, that he thought somebody had put a bug in his manager’s ear about me. And that maybe I was, you know, going downhill, sliding financially.”
“Are you?” Allen asked plainly.
“No, that’s a rumor,” he stated. “I’ve got one building completing within the next six months. I’ve got another one not too far behind that.”
His lawyer nodded. “So, considering the potential profit coming finally on that one payday, and then the second one right behind it, you’re in really good shape,” he muttered.
“And sure, you’ve got quite a few loans, and you’ve extended yourself, but I wouldn’t have thought it was an overextension.
” Allen pondered that. “And is this something you want to take legal action on? It’ll be hard to prove what David told you, unless he’s willing to go to bat on your side, which I highly doubt David will do. ”
“Considering that he phoned me back this morning telling me that he thinks somebody is putting information into his manager’s ears, I suspect he’s trying to backtrack quickly before he ends up on the firing line.”
“I wouldn’t be at all surprised,” Allen agreed. “David’s not exactly all that flush with money himself right now. As you know, his ex-wife just started to put the squeeze on him.”
“I know, which is why I was pretty surprised to hear him go this route.”
“It’s not a normal thing to even let you know.”
“No, it’s not,” Simon agreed.
Allen continued. “It was a threat but an implied threat. As in, Hey, we’re not giving you any more money.”
“Big deal. I’ll just go to another bank.
He stated I was already overextended, which, as you just pointed out, I don’t appear to be.
As you know, we went over the numbers in detail for each purchase, for each related loan.
Even if I was overextended, I only have to make it for about six months before some liquid cash comes back in again.
And I know that most people don’t finance these buildings themselves, but I do.
I don’t want to deal with all these people telling me what I can and cannot do. ”
“Which, with the larger cash flow …”
Simon nodded. “Once I have the larger cash flow, I could pay off the bulk of these loans with the bank, which is why I was also surprised that David brought that up because I have, in the last year, paid off quite a bunch of these. Funny how the bank never made any comment about those prepayments. Of course, they’re making less interest now because I paid those off early. ”
His lawyer sat here, strumming his fingers, deep in thought. “That’s interesting. Who at his branch could be causing you trouble?”
“Who knows?” Simon muttered. “And, to a certain extent, I want to say, who cares? But I have to care if somebody’s playing with my finances and my reputation, and maybe it’s just time to change banks.”
“That would certainly put a spanner in their works,” Allen stated.
“I already work with two banks on purpose, so maybe it is time,” Simon concluded. “Although that would certainly draw attention to my accounts, and that’s not necessarily what I want people looking at.”
Allen frowned at him in surprise.
“No, not because I’m hiding something,” he explained, “but it will just trigger all kinds of responses from the other banks, right? They really don’t like it when you pull out money, do they?”
“Nope, they sure don’t. So, how much money could you pull out on a threat like that?”
“Millions,” he stated simply.
“An interesting conundrum.”
“I know. Anyway, I just wanted to know what legal stance they have.”
“None,” he replied immediately. “You already have signed and approved contracts, and you’re making all your payments, so there isn’t anything within the current arrangement that they can do to cause any damage to you.
However, the fact that they are listening to somebody somewhere is concerning because somebody is trying to damage your reputation, and, in your world, that can be very problematic. ”
“You’re not kidding,” Simon muttered, “and I don’t have a clue who it is, which is very irritating.”
“That’s the part that pisses me off,” Allen shared.
“I can do some digging to see who the new manager over there is, and see if that’s the issue.
Maybe David’s job could be on the line, and they’re looking to rein in some of his accounts.
Maybe, from the bank’s perspective, David shouldn’t have secured the loans for you, but it’s not as if he secures them on his own. ”
“But if he’s being blamed for something—” Simon began.
“Then it’s pretty simple. Somebody’s using it to try and get rid of him, and that’s a whole different story.”
Simon pondered that and nodded. “So, if I pull out my money, that’ll put him in an even messier situation.”
“Absolutely. So, you have to consider whether that’s something you really want to do. I mean, are you pissed at David, or is this something completely unrelated that you can get over?”
“I can get over it,” he replied, “but—”
“I know, but you don’t really want to.” Allen had been handling Simon’s contracts long enough to know that he wasn’t the forgetting type.
“I understand, and unfortunately the powers that be don’t really get that, when you piss off people, it pisses them off to the point that they don’t want anything to do with the games that the banks are playing. ”
“You could be right on that. Maybe we have some greenhorn in upper management.”
“If you need more financing,” Allen pointed out, “you’ll go elsewhere. If they want double the collateral to secure the next loan, you’ll go elsewhere.”
“Absolutely,” he agreed, “but the thing is, I don’t need to put down more collateral.
I have personally secured everything I need for the next three years.
So, short of my turning around and buying another building, which is not in my plans, particularly after picking up that last building downtown—”
“I heard you got that one, and I know it was on your wish list for a long time.”