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

refuse a friend a favour, and never take money from a friend, unless it is absolutely necessary, all that kind of code.’

‘How much are we talking?’ asked Karen.

‘Hundreds of thousands,’ said Jess. ‘Never got to the bottom of it, not completely.’

Walter sighed. ‘Caveat emptor. Buyer beware, a fool and his money are easily parted, and all that. Dreadful, yes, illegal, no, not by the look of things. This Kit Napoleon chump probably has a team of lawyers going through everything with a fine nit comb, to make sure that everything stays just the right side of the line, the right side of the law.’

‘He does,’ confirmed Karen, remembering the legal eagle, Roland Barraclough, she had met at Church Stretton.

‘We can’t prosecute Napoleon for accepting monies, it just won’t stick,’ said Walter.

‘Well you should be able to! Evil slugs like him shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it. It’s plain wrong!’

‘He’s a conman, and a very good one at that,’ said Walter. ‘He knows the law inside out, as good conmen usually do, and he knows what he can get away with, and what he can’t.’

There was a short silence and Jessica said, ‘So what about blackmail? Isn’t that illegal?’

‘Course it is,’ said Walter, sitting up straight.

‘He was blackmailing your father?’ asked Karen.

‘He was. Because even with dad, the penny finally dropped that Kit Napoleon was just an out and out swindler, and one day dad simply stopped paying him.’

‘And Napoleon began blackmailing him?’ said Karen.

Jessica nodded.

‘About what?’ said Walter.

‘It’s not something I’m proud of, this is very difficult for me.’

‘About what?’ repeated Walter. ‘We can’t stop him, we can’t put him out of business, or put him away, without knowing the full facts.’

‘Dad always liked younger women, and they flocked to him. He was so smooth, slim, and still decent looking, and well spoken and funny, and he flashed the cash, and dashed about in an open topped car, and spent money everywhere he went on girls girls girls.’

‘Underage sex?’ clarified Karen.

Jess coughed and sniffed and fidgeted and looked uneasy and then she said, ‘No, not exactly.’

‘What?’ said Walter.

‘He met one of my young friends from the model agency. She’d just finished doing a shoot for young teens fashion.’

‘How old was she?’ asked Karen.

‘Fifteen.’

‘And they had a relationship?’ asked Walter.

‘No! Not a sexual relationship. I’m fairly sure not.’

‘A close friendship?’ suggested Walter.

‘Yes. Very close.’

‘What’s the girl’s name?’

‘She goes by the stage name of the Schuft.’

‘The Rascal, right?’ said Karen, ‘in German.’

‘Pretty much. She’s going to be huge, and it’s a very apt name. Mark my words, she’ll be the next big thing in the modelling business, this girl is very special indeed, the Schuft is coming. She’s going to be a super-supermodel.’

‘So what happened exactly between your father and this Rascal girl?’ asked Walter.

‘She fell in love with him, simple as that, big time, or at least she thought she was, in love with him, that is, and Walter, it wasn’t the first time for her either, and I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, just how it was, and he knew that she was crazy about him, and he knew he had to do something about it, so stupidly, he took her out to lunch at some swanky London hotel, ostensibly to tell her it was going nowhere, and that she should find a boy more of her own age. I don’t know whether he told her or not, but I do know they came out of the hotel together, arm-in-arm, and he appeared to be comforting and consoling her, and she looked really upset, and somehow, by accident or design, I know not which, Napoleon just happened to be there with his wife, and he snapped the not so happy couple coming out of the hotel and climbing into his sports car.’

‘What happened next?’ asked Walter.

‘Three days later a letter arrived at dad’s London apartment containing a photo of dad and the Schuft close up together. On the back was written: The Press would make a meal of this! Suggest payments recommence! You have one week.’

‘Did he sign it?’ asked Walter. ‘The photo?’

‘No. But it’s his writing, I’m certain of that, and I’m sure you could prove it too.’

‘Have you still got the photo?’

‘Yes. Course. I had thought of burning it, especially after dad suddenly fell ill and died, but something made me keep it, something inside me told me that one day it could be important.’

‘Can we have it?’

‘I guess.’

‘And a signed statement?’

‘As I said before, Walter, I owe you and your team big time. You can have whatever you need.’

‘I don’t want you to do anything because you feel you owe us.’

‘I’m not. I’m doing it for dad, and for what is right.’

That at least made sense in a curious kind of way. They talked a great deal more about Kit Napoleon and the ways he had devised of seducing cash from the unwary and the unwise, from the great and the good, and though it was all very interesting, and helped build up the greater picture, there was nothing else there that added anything concrete to building a case against him.

Walter looked at the time on the dash.

‘Your train,’ he said. ‘I’ll see you to the platform.’

‘I’d rather you didn’t, Walter. I so hate goodbyes.’

Walter and Karen could understand that, and in the next second Jessica was getting out and dragging her bag with her, and she leant in and said, ‘Thanks for giving me my life back, I’ll call you in the next couple of days.’

AFTER SHE’D GONE WALTER went to speak, but before he could say anything Karen jumped in first.

‘Don’t tell me! I know! You said he was a conman all along.’

‘I wasn’t going to say that.’

‘So what were you going to say?’

‘I was going to compliment you.’

‘Really? About what?’

‘About knowing what the Schuft means. I wouldn’t have had a clue.’

Karen grinned and said, ‘Schoolgirl German. I was struggling to remember, but the word rascal appears quite a lot