political corridor. For example it remodelled both the headquarters of the PC on the right and la Piz on the left – the two main political parties currently cooperating in an uneasy governing coalition.
"For your information, ServiArquitectos is powerful and cash flow rich, unlike its competitors. This derives from its having signed many long-term service contracts before the financial crisis, all with ferocious cancellation penalties. While it's the smallest of our three clients, it employs the most people today.
"No, that's not quite correct. It does its best not to employ people, as Ana instructed me when I arrived. In the best, or worst, Spanish tradition it pays its people as self-employed contractors. This puts the social security burden on each contractor, which effectively makes each one an 'unemployee', and in so doing minimises the financial liabilities for the company. As you will discover if you stay here for any time, this is a pernicious practice made worse by successive governments that have imposed far too high contribution rates that are wholly unrelated to what the self-employed actually earn or can realistically afford. To me this is offensive, though I'm just an ignorant American."
He shrugged in disgust.
"The third is MMH, which has interests in many forms of media. It originally started publishing books. It expanded under Franco into newspapers, radio and eventually television. It has been hugely profitable in the past. It is highly politicised, a die-hard supporter, according to Ana, of the right. It grew rapidly after the PC was first elected to power and now has its fingers in many digital initiatives. MMH spends a lot, particularly on advertising and communications. In recent years, though, it has been decreasingly profitable. As with CE, it is desperate to find anything that it is owed. Like CE, our analyses show there is much potentially to recover, but not much is coming back."
He sat back. "Now you have some broad background. Any questions? Or shall I order some more tapas first?"
"I'd go for the latter," volunteered Emilia.
Caterina nodded her agreement "Is there any fish? Fish, not shellfish?"
"Often they do good fish, but not always. It's best when it comes piping hot from the kitchen. I'll find out."
He left their table.
Emilia said, "So, what d'you think?"
"Are you asking me about Felipe, Ana, or work? Yes, I saw your eyes, Emilia. I know you. Okay; the work. To be honest I'm fascinated. From what Davide said, and what Felipe describes, instinct says we should find something. But I have no idea what to start looking for. I guess it'll be back to what we've done before, searching for improbable correlations. What about you? What's your impression?"
"Like you, I'm interested, perhaps even more so after what Davide told us at the weekend. I think this could be fun."
Emilia looked at Caterina. She was about to add a different comment when Felipe returned with assorted forms of fish.
Emilia smiled invitingly at Felipe, saying, "Where do we start? Do you have any preferences? I mean with the data!"
Caterina squirmed. Emilia could be so consistently crass. It was almost one of her charms.
Wednesday: Madrid
Marta had exited the taxi with markedly more success than on Saturday before meeting Inocenta. It had helped that she was dressed for business, austerely at that. She wanted to give no overt encouragement to her contemporary.
Alfredo's law firm's Madrid offices were located in the smartest area of the city between calle Serrano, one of the best shopping streets in the capital and the Paseo de la Castellana, the broad multi-lane highway that splits Madrid more or less north to south. A bit further on was the American Embassy with the Cuerpo Nacional de Policía protective armoured car outside. Beside this stands an elegant mansion, which Banque Paribas occupies. In contrast, the concrete block in which the law firm resided was dull.
She had taken the elevator to the
"For your information, ServiArquitectos is powerful and cash flow rich, unlike its competitors. This derives from its having signed many long-term service contracts before the financial crisis, all with ferocious cancellation penalties. While it's the smallest of our three clients, it employs the most people today.
"No, that's not quite correct. It does its best not to employ people, as Ana instructed me when I arrived. In the best, or worst, Spanish tradition it pays its people as self-employed contractors. This puts the social security burden on each contractor, which effectively makes each one an 'unemployee', and in so doing minimises the financial liabilities for the company. As you will discover if you stay here for any time, this is a pernicious practice made worse by successive governments that have imposed far too high contribution rates that are wholly unrelated to what the self-employed actually earn or can realistically afford. To me this is offensive, though I'm just an ignorant American."
He shrugged in disgust.
"The third is MMH, which has interests in many forms of media. It originally started publishing books. It expanded under Franco into newspapers, radio and eventually television. It has been hugely profitable in the past. It is highly politicised, a die-hard supporter, according to Ana, of the right. It grew rapidly after the PC was first elected to power and now has its fingers in many digital initiatives. MMH spends a lot, particularly on advertising and communications. In recent years, though, it has been decreasingly profitable. As with CE, it is desperate to find anything that it is owed. Like CE, our analyses show there is much potentially to recover, but not much is coming back."
He sat back. "Now you have some broad background. Any questions? Or shall I order some more tapas first?"
"I'd go for the latter," volunteered Emilia.
Caterina nodded her agreement "Is there any fish? Fish, not shellfish?"
"Often they do good fish, but not always. It's best when it comes piping hot from the kitchen. I'll find out."
He left their table.
Emilia said, "So, what d'you think?"
"Are you asking me about Felipe, Ana, or work? Yes, I saw your eyes, Emilia. I know you. Okay; the work. To be honest I'm fascinated. From what Davide said, and what Felipe describes, instinct says we should find something. But I have no idea what to start looking for. I guess it'll be back to what we've done before, searching for improbable correlations. What about you? What's your impression?"
"Like you, I'm interested, perhaps even more so after what Davide told us at the weekend. I think this could be fun."
Emilia looked at Caterina. She was about to add a different comment when Felipe returned with assorted forms of fish.
Emilia smiled invitingly at Felipe, saying, "Where do we start? Do you have any preferences? I mean with the data!"
Caterina squirmed. Emilia could be so consistently crass. It was almost one of her charms.
Wednesday: Madrid
Marta had exited the taxi with markedly more success than on Saturday before meeting Inocenta. It had helped that she was dressed for business, austerely at that. She wanted to give no overt encouragement to her contemporary.
Alfredo's law firm's Madrid offices were located in the smartest area of the city between calle Serrano, one of the best shopping streets in the capital and the Paseo de la Castellana, the broad multi-lane highway that splits Madrid more or less north to south. A bit further on was the American Embassy with the Cuerpo Nacional de Policía protective armoured car outside. Beside this stands an elegant mansion, which Banque Paribas occupies. In contrast, the concrete block in which the law firm resided was dull.
She had taken the elevator to the
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