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

Karen took another slug of wine.

‘And you get a third of that eight and a half?’

‘Course, that’s how it works.’

‘Hang on a sec; I thought this thing wasn’t all about recruitment; in fact recruitment alone is illegal, right? It would make it an illegal pyramid scheme. A Ponzi scheme, I think they call it in the States.’

‘It’s not all about recruitment! And it’s not a Ponzi scheme! That’s an awful term that’s used to describe a myriad of business ideas, and usually wrongly. You’ve sold products already, right, and on level two you will have better and more expensive products to sell with bigger margins and more money coming straight back to you. It’ll be a breeze.’

Karen exhaled and sat back in her chair. Fact was, she knew where she could get the money if she had to; she had a big unused number on her credit card, big enough anyway. Then she said, ‘Hang on a minute, are you saying that with each level the investment goes up and up?’

Greg took a moment to answer, and said, ‘I can’t discuss that, not until you reach each level. It’s confidential information; you are getting way ahead of yourself. I sign confidentiality agreements too, you know, and I try and keep them.’

‘You are going to have to discuss it, Mister Orlando! Or I’ll pull the plug on the whole thing right now.’

That didn’t really surprise Greg for he knew she was a headstrong young woman, and a full time detective at that. She was used to asking questions and getting all the facts. He blew out and sipped wine.

‘All right, but if I tell you, it’s strictly off the record, and you didn’t get it from me, and you must not tell anyone else, okay?’

Karen nodded, said, ‘Fair enough.’

Greg sniffed and began. ‘You have to remember that the extra benefits are always worth far in excess of the initial cost.’

‘How much, Greg?’

‘And you will learn new things and systems and methods way ahead of anything you know now.’

‘For fuck’s sake, Greg, how much?’

‘It’s err... fifteen thousand to take you on to level three.’

‘Bloody hell, and?’

‘Twenty-five to take you up to level four, and err... fifty to take you to level five.’

‘Fifty thousand pounds!’

Greg nodded.

‘Don’t tell me you have “invested” fifty thousand pounds to get on to level five? Please tell me you didn’t do that?’

‘Course I have! There are no free lunches for anyone.’

‘How the hell did you manage that?’

Greg smirked, looked full of himself.

‘Easy-peasy, I paid for it out of accrued earnings, and when the time comes, you will too. It’s dead easy to invest money when you’re making money.’

She sat back in her chair, swigged wine, blew out, and said, ‘I’m absolutely amazed. Staggered really. How many people are on level five?’

‘Far more than you think. This is going viral, worldwide, and remember, you are still in at the beginning, it’s huge already, but it’s going to get monster!’

‘I am going to have to think hard about this.’

‘Course you are! But remember, you brought this up, it wasn’t pressure from me, to tell you the truth I wasn’t sure you were ready for level two, still don’t to be honest, so there’s no hassle to move up, not from me, there never will be, you proceed at your own speed, if you want to stay on level one and build up the cash pile to get onto level two at some point in the future, feel free to do so. That’s how it works, and why it works. There is never any pressure whatsoever in the Future Growth and Prosperity Program, there really isn’t, that’s the beauty of the whole system, so don’t try to run before you can walk.’

That sounded like company speak to Karen, Greg Orlando parroting from the extensive manuals and information advice they specialised in, and he said, ‘Do you think your boss will join?’

‘Walter? No, not a chance.’

‘Not Walter! Mrs West, or whatever her name is.’

‘Oh her, dunno, she might do, she did seem genuinely interested.’

‘Be nice if she did.’

‘Why’s that?’

‘She’ll have all sorts of contacts. It would be a great feather in your cap if you could introduce her. She is exactly the sort of person Kit Napoleon would like you to sign up. Big kudos for you.’

‘We’ll have to wait and see on that one.’

Greg emptied the bottle into their two glasses, and said, ‘Do you want me to stay tonight?’

She glanced at the two empty bottles on the table.

‘You’ll have to now, won’t you, you can’t drive home after drinking that lot!’

‘Great,’ he said, ‘just going to the bathroom.’

He jumped up, and as he crossed the room she shouted after him, ‘If I didn’t know better I might think you planned all along to get me pissed!’

Greg guffawed and said, ‘You know you love it.’

And she was alone with her thoughts for a few minutes. Love it? Love what? The wine? Greg Orlando? Kit Napoleon? The Future Growth and Prosperity Program? A combination of all four? God knows! And then he was back. Standing her up. Kissing her hard, getting her excited. Hell! He was a big man. Geez!

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF town Walter hadn’t been home long. He’d stayed in the Royal Oak longer than he’d intended. There were a couple of guys in there who told a cracking story, and fact was, he hadn’t laughed so much in years. He’d have to try and remember some of the less filthy stories to tell Karen.

He crossed the room, careful not to trip over the vandalised carpet. Wortley’s cheque hadn’t yet arrived and Walter didn’t fancy ordering a new carpet until he had the cash in his hand. He sat down and turned on the TV. Walter didn’t possess satellite television, didn’t feel the need to pay a vast subscription for something he wouldn’t watch too often, but there was some cricket on