“Ok, we'll talk later.” Fred said.
After Mandy hung up with Fred, she thought about everything she had to do today. She thought whether bringing the cats to the investment firm or not was a good idea. Since she wasn't there to impress anybody, just to gather information, she didn't care if the cats came along. Sometimes animals take people off their high pedestals and bring them down to earth. She figured this may work in her favor and she may get more information out of Cathy. The best way would be to let her do the talking, start it off with the financials and then some random notes about Michael, and see what that generated.
As the time grew nearer to go on her appointment, Mandy wondered if she should bring both cats. She felt bad she had been leaving Lana behind and wondered if it would affect her later on and create fights between her and Roger because she would feel jealous Roger got preferential treatment. Mandy figured she really wasn't going there to invest her money, she was going to there to investigate Michael's death. There was no need to impress people. Even if she intended to invest her money, she was the customer, it wasn't necessary to impress people to take her money. So she decided on taking both cats. She took out both leashes and both knew this meant they were going out.
“Ok you two, we're going to visit people at an investment firm.” Mandy said to the cats, knowing full well they didn't understand.
Both cats came running. Lana was happy at being taken out along with Roger. Roger heard Mandy and said, hey, I might be getting my opportunity to see the investment firm when people are actually there. So, both cats were happy to be going, but for different reasons.
Mandy opened the car doors and everybody climbed in. Once everybody sat in their places, she drove off. It wasn't a far drive, but easier to do it by car, particularly with the cats. She got there in almost no time, parked the car in the parking lot and let the cats out. Then she went through the ritual of putting on the leashes and everybody headed to the investment firm.
Once inside, she told the receptionist she had an appointment to see Cathy. The receptionist told her to sit. Mandy and the cats sat quietly and it gave Roger a chance to observe the place during the day. He looked up at the ceiling and saw the vent opening had its cover again. He didn't know how Colin did it, but he remembered the cover being off when they left last night. Colin was tidy, making sure not to attract attention. The woman told Mandy to go on into Cathy's office. Mandy strode the short distance with the cats and sat down. The cats sat down beside.
“Oh I see, you brought your cats.” Cathy said. Mandy sensed Cathy was a little harried.
“Yes, I bring them everywhere with me, especially Roger, the big one, since he got hit by a truck.” Mandy said.
“I'm sorry to hear that. He looks ok.” Cathy said.
“Yes, I was lucky nothing happened to him. All he has developed is a strange meow, but other than that he seems normal.” Mandy explained.
Cathy continued looking through her desk and her computer. Finally at one point she told Mandy.
“Mandy, I'm sorry if it looks like I'm looking around for stuff, but the truth is Jake just informed me of your appointment fifteen minutes ago. I haven't had time to prepare anything and I don't have access to Michael's notes. Ever since his death, the police seized everything and a lot of things are on lockdown.” Cathy said. Mandy saw this as a great opportunity to steer the conversation towards Michael.
“Oh, that's ok Cathy. Frankly, I was surprised to get an appointment so quickly. I'm sure it must be hard on the company with the sudden death of Michael. Has this affected your work a lot?”
“Well, it was the last thing I expected. Although I admit, I kind of lived in his shadow, because of his star status as an investment advisor. However, he was a nice guy and treated people fairly. This will probably bring me some opportunities as we're obligated to pick up the work, but certainly, I never wanted more work and opportunity under these circumstances.” Cathy said.
“Have you been working here long?” Mandy asked.
“No, I'm the junior partner. I worked as an analyst at another firm, but started to work on investment possibilities as a result of my analyses. So, that's how I started to advise people on how to invest their money. I joined here because I thought I could focus on more analysis and advising, but since this is a new firm, we don't have as many clients as my old firm did. So, hopefully now, I'll get a chance to deal with more clients.” Cathy continued.
“Well listen, why don't we do some preliminary work today, let me know of what you think are good investment opportunities, considering the money I have, and we can do a more in depth work in the future.”
“That sounds great Mandy. I didn't want to give you the run-around, I like to be honest with my clients. With more time and what I learn from you today, I feel our next meeting would be fruitful. Also, we should talk to Tim. He's very much the expert on cryptocurrencies and I think he could add valuable input to other investment s we can set up for the future.
Cathy explained to Mandy the various options she had, not unlike Michael. However she had a different approach and Mandy could tell Cathy would work hard to make sure she got the best bang for her buck. She trusted her. After a half hour conversation, Cathy decided to check on Tim and see if he would like to meet with Mandy. Meanwhile, Roger sat there, listening to Cathy and seeing how she might fit into this whole murder situation.
“I just talked to Tim and he's got some time he to speak with you. He can explain the whole cryptocurrency options much better than I ever can.”
Mandy went over to Tim's office along with Lana and Roger.
“This is new. It's not everyday I get to speak cryptocurrencies to clients and their cats.” Tim said kiddingly.
“They go everywhere with me these days.” Mandy said.
“Well sit down and I'll give you an introduction to cryptocurrency and see if it's for you.” Tim said. He spoke for fifteen minutes, and seeing that Mandy's eyes were glazing over, he decided to stop right there.
“I think I'm over-saturating you with this information. It's probably for the best if Cathy sets you up in the future with regular investments and we can try a bit of crypto investments.”
“Well, it sounds very interesting, but it's very new to me. I appreciate you seeing me on such short notice. I imagine Michael's death must have upset everybody's schedules in the office.”
“Michael's death is a great loss. I considered him a friend in the brief I've known him.”
“I'm so sorry to hear that.”
“Yes, over time, I've gotten to know Michael, and I knew he had his idiosyncrasies, but he was a very human and fair guy. I think a lot of his problems stemmed from the fact his wife just didn't understand him.”
“Jennifer?”
“Oh, yes, I forgot you knew her, she recommended you. Well, I don't know how friendly you are with her.”
“I haven't seen her for decades. It was a lark I ran into her after all these years.” Mandy said.
“Well, then I guess I can be honest with you. Jennifer originally married Michael for his money. She was just a regular girl, and then she meets this very wealthy guy. I think she was star struck, but not by the man, but his money. She started doing activities she never did before and entered a world she never knew before. After a while that wasn't enough for her, so eventually she set her eyes on Jake. He had more money than Michael, better looking and Michael put in a lot of hours at the firm. Which meant Jennifer felt bored and needed a playmate. Enter Jake. Jake was quite taken by Jennifer's looks and she was certainly taken with his pocketbook, so a romance blossomed between those two. And they have been carrying on now for some time. I wouldn't be surprised if it was too much for Michael and that's why he did away with himself. I'm sorry to dump this on you, but I know a lot of people will put Michael down for what he did, all I'm saying is there are wheels within wheels and other events were happening in his life that may have steered him in that direction.”
“Well, thank
you for sharing that with me Tim. Like I said, I don't know Jennifer well, so it's good to get a view of another party on the situation.”
“Sorry for unburdening myself in that fashion, but Michael's death has affected me considerably. Since you were recommended by Jennifer, and in light of what happened to Michael since, I just wanted to give you a broader picture of details in the background.”
“Oh no, I appreciate it. Listen Tim, thank you for your time, I will consider cryptocurrencies at my next appointment with Cathy.” Mandy said.
“My pleasure. If you have any other questions, feel free to call me.”
“I definitely will.”
Mandy left Tim's office, her head buzzing not with the idea of cryptocurrency investments, but with Tim's perception of the Michael situation. She would have to discuss with Fred what he had just told her. Roger also studied Tim while he sat there listening to him. Definitely the wife needed some more looking into. She screamed gold digger, but he had heard a couple of conflicting stories now. Which one was the right one? Time would tell, he guessed.
Chapter Thirteen
Mandy got home as quickly as possible. She was flabbergasted by what Tim had told her. Jennifer had not made that kind of impression on Mandy, so why did Tim see her in that light. Mandy wondered if she and Tim had issues in the past. Maybe he had a buddy issue, where Tim thought of himself as Michael's buddy, and Michael couldn't hang out with Tim because when Michael wasn't at work, he spent time with Jennifer. Or so Michael said.
Truth is, of late, Michael spent most of his time with Lucy. She wanted to discuss what Tim told her with Fred as soon as possible. Once she got home, she fed the cats and made sure they had enough water. Luckily bringing both cats didn't create any ruckus at the investment firm. However, Mandy told herself, when people want your money, they're willing to put up with many things. So, maybe it wasn't as innocuous as it seemed. Maybe they thought of her as a crazy cat lady. Well, she would agree with the cat lady part. Mandy didn't think of herself as crazy. She simply loved her cats.
Meanwhile, in another part of town, Fred had his own share of problems questioning Chester Brady, Michael's old employer. Chester came off as the obnoxious greedy financier who valued money above everything else. He had no people skills or common social sense for that matter. However, he had a knack for making money. Michael left Chester's firm because Chester was difficult to work with. No matter how much money you made for the firm, Chester always made you feel you weren't pulling your own weight.
When a lot of Michael's clients started to deal with Chester, they jumped ship to work with Michael again. So Chester vented his hostility at Michael, accusing him of stealing his clients. He even tried to sue him at one point. In Chester's mind, Michael was a conniving backstabber who used his firm to make contacts and left for another firm with those contacts. Fred arrived in the afternoon to question Chester about his relationship with Michael.
“Mr. Brady, when did Michael work here last?”
“Oh, about a year and a half. During that time he amassed a number of clients which he took with him when he left here.”
“Did that make you upset?”
“Upset? He stole from me, what do you expect. I'm not going to lie to you, there were a lot of times I wished the guy dead, but I'm not crazy, I'm not going to hire thugs to kill the guy. And now look what happened. That freakazoid killed himself. I didn't know about his kinky hobbies, but it seemed like it backfired on him. You know what, I kinda feel relieved.” Chester said.
“Mr. Brady, it's possible Mr. Winnans suffered an accident, we are still investigating.” Fred said.
“Look Captain, I just want to put it out there, I didn't kill the guy. Sure, I hated his guts, but I didn't kill the guy. It's not good business. I tried to do it in a court of law by suing him and it didn't work. I figured, if the law wasn't going to look out for me, I was beating a dead horse. Even I know when to cut my losses and move on. But I still hated the guy.”
“Mr. Brady, at this point this is merely an investigation, you are not a person of interest. We're interested in finding out if you observed a pattern of behavior for Mr. Winnans.” Fred explained.
“That I recall, no, he never engaged in any of his crazy antics here and nobody here saw him doing any of this stuff. I had no idea the guy was so off the wall. But considering he stole my clients, I don't put it past him.”
“Well, I think I have enough information. Thank you very much for your time Mr. Brady.” Fred said, relieved he had all he needed and hopefully never had to talk to Chester Brady again.
“Sure, don't mention it. I just wanted to make it clear I didn't kill the guy.” Chester said, as though maybe Fred didn't hear him before.
Fred made it back to the police station saying to himself, what a terse atmosphere existed at Chester Brady's office. No wonder his clients were leaving him. Maybe his new employees were dealing with the people and he stayed away from the clients. It seems he had no grasp on how to handle people. Unless you were a bar of gold or a financial asset, Chester Brady had no interest in being your friend.
As Fred checked his messages, he noticed one from Mandy. He figured he'd call her to find out how her part of the investigation continued.
“Hi Mandy, got your message. How's it going?”
“I definitely came upon some interesting information.”
“Well, let's hope your investigation was better than mine.” Fred said.
“How'd it go with the Chester Brady meeting?”
“Well, let's just say Chester Brady is not going to get any humanitarian awards any time soon.” Fred replied sarcastically.
“That bad, huh?”
“Yep. So, what did you discover on your end?” Fred replied.
Mandy explained to Fred what Tim had told her about Jennifer and how surprised she found this revelation from Tim.
“So Tim is painting her as a massive gold digger?” Fred asked.
“Yes, but when I talked to Jennifer, she told me they had an open marriage and Michael accepted her seeing other people. She knew he was seeing someone else as well.”
“Maybe Tim didn't get the memo.”
“It seemed like jealousy or something. Maybe he secretly wanted Jennifer and she didn't want anything to do with him, because she chose Jake instead. Or maybe he doesn't like Jake.”
“It's even possible he knows something about Jennifer nobody else is aware of. In any event, I'm still looking to see if there's a will or is there's a life insurance policy with a big payout for Jennifer. Unfortunately, it's sometimes the people we suspect the least that cause the most damage.” Fred said.
“I've learned that the hard way.” Mandy said from her previous experiences.
“Again, this is the value of having someone like you interviewing these people. They say things they would never say to the police. When we did our preliminary investigation on the day Mr. Winnans died, people were either freaked out or felt sorry. Nobody gave any more details beyond that. You found this whole other angle nobody spoke about. Thanks Mandy.”
“Well, I'm happy to help. It's so strange how people you knew in school change. Sometimes they change into someone so different, you'd think they're a completely different person, like in that movie 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers'. It's truly a sci-fi experience.”
“I've unfortunately had that experience. There are a couple of friends from high school that are now doing time in the county jail. And you'd never see that coming from when we were kids.” Fred said.
“Yes, that truly is a sad experience.” Mandy replied.
“Well Mandy, I'm going to deal with a hundred other things people are questioning me about. If I remember anything else, I'll call you.”
“I think I'm going to have lunch with Jennifer and see if she mentions anything else about her relationship or seems overly eager to get a payout.”
“That sounds like a good idea. Meet with them, keep it friendly, you don't want these people to sus
pect you're working with the police.”
“So far, all my contacts with Jennifer have been kept on a friendly basis, no skullduggery, just two friends talking.”
“I trust your judgment. We'll see what Jennifer has to say.”
During this whole conversation, Roger had been playing the proverbial fly on the wall, listening to see they mentioned anything else they could add to his observations. So far, in his mind, there were a couple of people that could have done it. He just needed to tie one piece of evidence to one individual and he'd figure out who killed Michael Winnans. Or the person that encouraged him to do his thing at the office. There were still a couple of loose ends. But he needed to get back to the investment firm, now that he had been there during the day putting a face to the different locations.
“So, now that you were in the office during the day, did you discover anything new?” Lana asked.
“Well, I gotta go back and investigate the offices of the people Mandy met with today. They think I'm just a dumb cat, but I heard every word they said. Everybody there tied into Michael in some way, and he affected different people. When one person affects different people different ways, there's bound to be a reaction from somewhere. Need to figure out if anybody had a grudge to bear.”
“Well, I can tell you this, after the last time, I don't want to sneak in there again. It's too uncomfortable and easy to get hurt.”
“I understand, I never meant for you to slip and almost fall. Me, I'm used to getting hurt in some investigations, because criminals usually aren't nice people. They don't like people snooping. But it's my job to snoop.”
“You're not going to die on me, are you?” Lana asked, scared.
“Nah, things are easier when people think you're a cat. You're not that much of a threat. When people are hiding something, and they meet somebody that looks like a cop, they're either going to hide or knock the cop out and run. With a cat, they shrug their shoulders and laugh to themselves they thought somebody caught them.”
Mystery at the Hedge Fund Page 10
