Free The Two Sisters of Borneo by Ian Hamilton Page B

stinks,” she interrupted.
    “Meijer acted within their legal rights,” he said.
    “And what rights do we have?”
    Visser paused. Ava could feel him measuring his words. “Under Dutch bankruptcy law, the secured creditors have the right to pursue recovery of their funds by any means they choose, as long as they remain within the law. I can tell you that Meijer has remained within the law. Unsecured creditors are exactly that, Ms. Lee — unsecured. They have no rights beyond filing a claim with the trustee and waiting for the trustee to collect and disperse what he can. I can assure you that we will collect what we can and we will make sure it is equitably dispersed.”
    “There will be nothing to collect,” Ava said. “You know that already.”
    “There is a lot of inventory.”
    “Being sold at a huge discount,” Ava said.
    “You know, there is one avenue open to you . . .” Visser said carefully.
    “What is it?”
    “Well, you could buy back your own inventory. If it’s discounted sufficiently, perhaps you could resell it in the marketplace at its normal markup and recoup most of your funds.”
    “We could try to sell it into a market we don’t understand, where we have no contacts, and where all the potential customers would know soon enough that our situation was desperate. What kind of sense does that make?”
    “I was offering a suggestion, not making a recommendation.”
    Ava checked her notebook. There was no information on Meijer beyond an address. “Meijer is simply a finance company, correct?”
    “Yes.”
    “How are they disposing of the assets? They can’t be familiar with the market either.”
    Visser hesitated. “You would have to speak to them.”
    “And how would I do that? Do you have a contact name for me?”
    “You can call Johann Meijer himself at his office,” Visser said, and gave her a phone number.
    Ava wrote it in the notebook. “It’s his business?”
    “Not entirely. Johann’s father, who founded the company, is still active, but he’s passed on most of the day-to-day operations to Johann.”
    She pushed her chair back from the desk and looked out the window. Rain spattered against it, driven by a wind that hadn’t eased since she’d arrived. She stood and looked out towards the street. The only visible form of life was a young woman scurrying along the sidewalk, her head lowered to her chest, her umbrella turned at an angle to deflect the rain. Just watching her made Ava shiver.
    “Thank you for your help, Mr. Visser. I’m not sure if I’ll come to the meeting tomorrow or not. I’ll probably wait until the morning to decide.”
    “I’ll be there regardless, and if you aren’t, chances are I’ll be alone.”

( 9 )
    What a mess, Ava thought. Worse, it was a mess she felt virtually powerless to do anything about. If everything Visser had told her was true — and she couldn’t think of any reason why the bankruptcy trustee would lie to her — then her coming to Amsterdam had been a complete waste of time and money.
    She looked down at the few notes she had taken. In the past she had seized goods in lieu of money as she tried to get her clients’ money back. She had then proceeded to do exactly what Meijer Finance had done. She had paid off warehouses so they couldn’t block access to the goods. She had identified any other creditors who might be lurking and bought them off too if it was necessary. And finally she had sold the goods at prices designed to salvage the money her clients were owed, with no concern for their real market value. Meijer’s behaviour was understandable. Not that it made it any easier to accept.
    She stared at the phone number Visser had given her for Johann Meijer and then picked up the phone.
    “Meijer,” a woman said.
    “Yes, I’m calling about some furniture I understand you’re selling.”
    “Furniture?”
    “Yes, I’m told you’re disposing of some inventory.”
    “This is Meijer Finance Company. We don’t sell