The Inspector Walter Darriteau Murder Mysteries - Books 1-4 by David Carter (best finance books of all time .txt) 📕

must have opened new and quite separate bank accounts for each fraudulent application?’

‘Yes.’

‘It isn’t so easy to open bank accounts these days,’ said Karen.

‘It is, if you are good at forging documents, and have a sizeable deposit to pay into the account in the first place.’

‘How many loans and bank accounts are we looking at?’ asked Walter.

‘Eighteen.’

‘So he must have at least eighteen different bank accounts out there somewhere,’ said Karen.

‘Yes,’ said Walter, ‘and pound to a penny they will all have been cleared out by now.’

Mrs Cresswell didn’t look happy at that thought.

‘Can you give us details of all the bank accounts?’ asked Walter.

The woman briefly smiled and passed over a pre-prepared list.

‘We’ve looked in his bedroom,’ said Walter, ‘and we didn’t find eighteen chequebooks, eighteen pay-in books, eighteen sets of bank statements. Could he have kept them here?’

‘Bit of a risk if he did,’ said Mrs Cresswell. ‘I’ve searched his desk. They are not there, but you are welcome to look.’

‘Later,’ said Walter.

‘I wonder why he stopped now,’ said Karen.

‘Maybe he’d reached a target figure for the amount of cash he needed to raise,’ said Walter. ‘What did you say the total amount was again?’

‘£263,838.’

‘That could be for a house or a flat somewhere,’ suggested Karen.

‘Yes it could, but if he has bought a property in the UK we will find it,’ said Walter.

‘Unless he’s using forged ID again,’ said Mrs Cresswell, ‘which let’s face it, is highly likely.’

‘More likely that any property could be overseas,’ said Karen. ‘And that will be all the harder to track down.’

‘Don’t say that,’ said Mrs Cresswell. ‘This business could go kaput and all the staff lose their jobs unless at least some of this money is recovered.’

‘We have no evidence he has been active overseas,’ said Walter, ‘so let’s not jump to conclusions.’

Mrs Cresswell gave a look that said, that’s something, I guess.

‘Have you any idea why he might need a substantial amount of money?’ asked Walter.

‘None. The guy kept himself to himself. Didn’t really talk or mix with the rest of the staff. Didn’t socialise hardly at all. He was quiet and good at what he does, the model employee, if you will.... until this.’

‘We’ll need to take all these documents with us.’

‘Okay, but we’ll need copies.’

‘No, you make copies of all of them, and we’ll come and pick the originals up, say tomorrow morning, that okay?’

Mrs Cresswell nodded.

‘Did he have his own computer?’ asked Karen.

‘No. We just have the one central system that we all access.’

‘And could he have forged the documents using your system?’

‘Yes, he could, and simply deleted the docs once he had printed out what he wanted. We have good colour laser printers here. They do a great job, but there’s nothing untoward like that saved on the system, I’ve checked.’

Walter picked up a forged utility bill. ‘Could this have been done on your laser printers?’

She pursed her lips and nodded. ‘Quite possibly. There’s no reason why not.’

Walter stood up and said, ‘I think that’s it for now. I’d like to see his desk, and while I am doing that, Karen can have a quiet word with the staff, and then we’ll get back to the station and crack on. If you find out anything else, give me a call.’

‘Oh, I will, Inspector, I will.’

Thirty-Seven

Jun Woo was an excellent studier, and she put that skill to good use by studying in great detail the Hong Kong Police Force website. She knew she must be a minimum of 152 cm tall and weigh at least 42 kg. She passed on both, not by much, but a pass was a pass.

She knew she would be expected to do seven pull-ups, not a problem to her, and run 800 metres in a maximum of four minutes twelve seconds, which she could comfortably do, for she was built like a middle distance runner, slim and wiry.

She had always possessed good stamina, an attribute she boosted by playing squash with her cousin at every available opportunity. But she also knew she would be expected to vertical jump 45 cm and that was the one she was struggling with.

Fact was, she was slightly below the figure, and to help with that she began exercising her calf muscles in the hope that she would make the grade. Everything else she was fine with. A fluent multilingualist, an essential attribute for the HKPF, bright and logical, she could solve the intelligence puzzles quicker than almost anyone, while academically, she was as good as it gets for a young woman. She needed to be confident too, and in that she possessed all the confidence of youth. That would not be a problem, and finally, she must be able to demonstrate excellent communication skills, and there, as spokeswoman for St Mary’s Debating Society, she was used to communicating before a sizeable audience. Fact was, she enjoyed it. The more pressure heaped upon her, the brighter she shone.

The problem was the blessed vertical jump; that would be her downfall, if she were to fail.

She attended two interviews, completed two written examinations, and all had gone well. The final hurdle was the physical fitness test and for once she was nervous at the outcome.

Her parents had still not warmed to the whole idea. It was an anathema to them. Their bright and precious daughter was simply far too good to be a beat policeman, or policewoman, everyone said so, and even her friends thought she had made a slightly strange choice, and even a downright wrong decision.

The running proved easy, the pull-ups a satisfactory pass, and then on to the vertical jump, where, she failed. The instructor glanced at his records and noted that she had passed everything else with flying colours, he noted too the comment written on her records by the Regional Commander of Hong Kong Island that said: This girl is the brightest of her generation. It would be in everyone’s interest if she were to pass all examinations.

Reading between the lines