Mystery at the Hedge Fund

by Eleanor Kittering

  “I got a text from Jennifer.” Jill said. “She spoke to her husband and says we should call today to set up an appointment.”

  “Well, that was fast. We may discover how to get our money to work for us, finally.” Mandy said.

  “Yep, it will be nice to get a regular paycheck, while we do more pleasant things.” Jill said.

  Jill called Michael to ask for a good time for them to come over. He said later in the afternoon was good. After she hung up both Mandy and Jill were excited about the prospects of this venture.

  Chapter Two

  Mandy and Jill arrived at the hedge fund. It was located in a nice building along Route 3. They parked their car in the parking lot and proceeded towards the building. Once inside, they were greeted by an elegant lobby and the elevator led them to a modern office. Michael waited for them in the lobby. Although tall and thin, with wiry but thick brown and grey hair, it made him looked much younger than his years.

  “Hi there, pleased to meet you, I'm Michael Winnans.” He shook hands with Mandy and Jill and ushered them into the main office. The main office consisted of a large space with offices receding into the wall. The offices had a glass wall which showed the occupants. There was one larger office and a couple of smaller offices. Everything exuded elegance and although minimal, the office had great esthetics.

  “This is where the magic happens. We make sure people get the maximum return on their investment. And here is our fearless leader.” Michael joked.

  A very handsome man came out of the larger office. He had black hair and blue eyes. He reminded Mandy and Jill of Pierce Brosnan in his Remington Steele days.

  “Hi there, I'm Jake Wylan.” More hand shaking. “I'm the owner of our humble business here.”

  “He's joking, we're not so humble.” Michael said jokingly.

  “Well, we try to conduct business without artifice. Maybe that's a better way of putting it.” Jake said.

  “Oh yes, we definitely don't try to put on airs. We're honest and let people know what they're in for. But we're also good and we make money for our clients.” Michael explained.

  “You're lucky Jennifer put you onto us. Michael here is as best as they come.” Jake said.

  “Well, I just try to do my job.” Michael said.

  “Now who's trying to be humble?” Jake joked. “Please, let me introduce you to the other fine people who make up our organization.”

  They walked over to another of the offices. A thin woman with light brown hair, in her late 20s sat inside, looking at one of her computer screens. She was taking notes every couple of seconds. Jake knocked on the glass door and she looked.

  “Hi Cathy, I can see you're busy but just wanted to briefly introduce you to two of our new prospective clients, Mandy and Jill. They're friends of Jennifer and Michael here is going to introduce them to the world of investing.”

  Cathy stood up and walked to the door and shook hands with Mandy and Jill.

  “Nice to meet you, and welcome to Wylan investments.” Cathy said. She was very cordial and friendly and you could see that if she managed your money, you would immediately feel trust. Jake continued the tour.

  “Thanks Cathy, just showing Mandy and Jill around the office.”

  Next they came to another office. The man in there had short medium brown hair, wore glasses and a little on the chunky side. This was Timothy Burns, Tim to his friends. Jake knocked on the glass and Tim looked up. Jake introduced Tim.

  “Tim here is our resident guru on cryptocurrency and all things technological. This is a field that's so new that you need a dedicated person working on it. Tim, Mandy and Jill are our new prospective clients, recommended by Jennifer.”

  “It's a pleasure to meet you.” Said Tim. “I hope you like our facilities and portfolios.”

  “Well, we're new to this, but hope we can get our money to work for us.” Mandy said.

  “Well, that's what we do best, I'm sure we can be of service.” Tim said. Jake took Mandy and Jill away while Tim went back to his office.

  “Even though we work with a smaller pool of people, we are expanding and attracting new talent to our firm. We hope to expand our operation with ten investment experts by year's end. In that room over there, you see our technical crew. They keep the wheels rolling and make sure we're up to date on the latest market changes.” Jake said.

  On the other side of the room, there was what looked like a computer lab, with six people looking at giant screens, looking at their screens, and interacting with their computers on a regular basis. This was the home of the technical crew. Since the stock market ran on computer algorithms nowadays, if you didn't employ this technology, you weren't a player. You needed fast and dedicated computers to do the trades and keep up with the trades.

  Jake eventually brought the tour of the office to a close. “I want to thank you both personally for taking an interest in the firm. I am certain Michael will give you the best advice possible on how to invest your money. I look forward to seeing you again.” He left Mandy and Jill with Michael and he headed back to his office.

  “Jake likes to make sure new customers feel we take their business personally. Being a small boutique firm we can certainly do that.” Michael said. They followed him to his office where he invited them to sit. In large cushy chairs, they were seated as in an informal meeting and Michael proceeded to ask them some questions.

  “So, this money you have to invest, is it currently held by another firm, is it already existing assets, or is it strictly cash?”

  “It's strictly cash. We received a reward from an insurance company for preventing massive fraud. We received a half million dollars each. We want to take that money and see if we can make money with that amount or what we can actually do long term.”

  “Well, with that kind of money, it would make the best sense to build it up, so you have bigger funds to draw from in the future. Right now you can get a decent yield on the amount of money you have, it would be best to re-invest it until you accumulate a large sum to invest. This will then give you something akin to a modest salary. Right now, you can get money regularly, possibly after a year, but it would not be a large salary per se. However, if you save the money and re-invest, by the time you're at retirement age, you'll have a nice sum you can draw a comfortable salary from and live well till the end of your days.”

  Mandy and Jill looked at each other. They began to realize their money would be locked up for a long time. They both had the same thought. Did they really want to do that??

  Mandy was the first to speak. “I see. So when you say long term, you're talking decades, not one or two years.”

  “Precisely. Even in the best-case scenario, let's say, for a moment, you could earn ten percent return on your money, which would be extremely generous, but it will make for simple math. That means that on $400 thousand dollars, you would get a return of $40 thousand, minus taxes. You'd be left with something like $27 thousand after all was said and done.

  “To be honest, ten percent return is rare these days, so it would probably be more like 5 percent, which would leave you with $14 thousand, not exactly a salary to live on. But in a couple of decades, with the power of re-investments and compound interest, you could acquire a couple of million, and now that would something that would be closer to yielding a real salary on a yearly basis. And you want to get this type of money when you're older, when employment is more difficult. If you own your home and your expenses are low, by then, you could live well.” Michael explained.

  “Well, you've given us a lot of food for thought. We definitely want to invest the money, but we need to figure out if there are any expenses right now that we need to address and then after we do all that, we'll get a better idea of how much money we'll have invest.” Mandy said.

  “That's perfectly fine. Take your time and we can speak at a later date when you're ready to do the investments.” Michael said.

  “Thank you so much Michael. We truly appreciate everything you h
ave told us. It's definitely a lot process, but we'll try to touch base with you tomorrow. We are serious about investing our money. Speaking with you has opened our eyes to the reality of getting our money to work for us. Is tomorrow ok with you?” Mandy asked.

  “Sure, give me a call and let me know what you want to do.” Michael replied.

  “Great, we'll do.” Mandy said.

  As Mandy and Jill left the building, both were feeling relieved at being back outside. They got in their car and started to head home.

  “Well, that was a little overwhelming.” Jill said.

  “You're telling me, I didn't know what we would get such a small return on our money.”

  “Well, most people are looking for a long term investment.” Jill said.

  “I guess. What I was hoping for was to get money coming in and not have to get a day job. As it stands, it appears that investing our money will be great for our retirement, but not necessarily great for the time being.” Mandy said, a little disappointed.

  “Well, look at it this way, it's not like we need to do this right now.” Jill said.

  “Yes, but as time goes by, that money will just be sitting there and we may go through it before we get a chance to get it to work for us. That's why I would rather do something as soon as possible.” Mandy said.

  “I think we should go to Joanie's and chill out for a while.” Jill said.

  “That's a great idea.” Mandy said and steered the car in the direction of Joanie's.

  Chapter Three

  The next day, Mandy woke up with a clear mind. She decided that perhaps she would put aside money to tide her over for the rest of the year while she looked for work, or created a work situation and invest the rest so that she would have money in her old age. The cats were already meowing and asking for their food, so she didn't have too much time to hesitate. After she fed the cats, she called Michael.

  “Hi Michael, we decided to invest the money, however we wanted to fine tune our present money so we have something to live on while we make new arrangements in our lives.” Mandy said.

  “I'm sure we can come up with a plan that will satisfy your needs and maximize the earning potential of the remaining money.” Michael said.

  “Ok, great, how about we see you around three this afternoon?” Mandy asked.

  “That's a great time, I look forward to seeing you.” Michael replied.

  They both hung up, and Mandy called Jill to make her aware of the appointment time.

  “Hi there. I just called Michael and told him we'd be there at 3PM. I figured the sooner we get on this, the less time we have to wonder and pontificate what we can do with the money, while it continues to sit there.” Mandy said.

  “Well, I'm getting a bit of the investment collywobbles, so maybe sooner is better than later.” Jill said.

  “I have a good feeling about this, especially as the years go by.” Mandy said.

  “Yes, that's what got me as well. Sure, we can make money now, but it won't be much. But if we let it build up, we'll thank ourselves when we get old. It's not like either of us work for a large company that has amazing benefits and we've stockpiled a long lasting of nest egg. But this gives us a beginning.” Jill said.

  “Oh, I understand. If it wasn't for my husband setting me up with this house and his finances, I would have been in a bad position after he died. So, even though I've been freelancing and temping for years, I've had a roof over my head and a place to call my own. Not everybody can say that, so I'm grateful. But I definitely don't want to be working part time at a retail store when I get old, just to make ends meet. So, investing now is a good plan.”

  “I'll call you later as it gets closer to three and we'll either meet there or get together for lunch and then go to the investment firm.” Jill said.

  “That sounds good to me. Meanwhile, I'm going to take the cats out for exercise, I think they're going stir crazy from being cooped up in the house.” Mandy replied.

  “Yeah, it's a great day out, I'm sure they'll love running around the park.” Jill said.

  “Yes, I'm going to take advantage of that.”

  Mandy took out the leashes that she used when going out with the cats. Lana had taken to walking outside on a leash really well, and walking two cats on two leashes was no worse than walking a dog. She definitely got a lot of looks when they saw her walking down the street. A lot of people wanted to pet the cats and/or talk to her about the cats, what breed, how long had she had them, that sort of thing. She always enjoyed talking about the cats. And she felt safe with Roger.

  “Hey, does anybody want to go to the park?” Mandy asked, showing the leashes to the cats.

  Roger saw this and said to Lana “It looks as if we're going to the park.”

  “Oh great, I love going out there and just running. Beats staying in the apartment all the time, like I used to do.” Lana said.

  “I don't think that's ever going to happen. Mandy never stays home long and she has no problems taking us with her. We better go over and rub her legs with our fur.” Roger said, just to be on the safe side.

  Mandy proceeded to put the collar on both cats. She went to the car, both cats got in and proceeded to drive to the park. The cats sat in the back, familiar with this scenario. In their minds, they had visions of what they liked to do best. Roger saw himself chasing birds. Lana saw herself running with Roger, chasing birds with him. She really liked Roger. But she noticed one thing. Roger was definitely strange. He didn't act like other cats. He did a lot of cat-like things but a lot of the time, when they sat around, he sat around staring into space, lost in his own world. But he talked to her, tried to be pleasant to her and they talked a lot when together. And they mostly did everything together. But something about Roger made him different from other cats and she couldn't put her paw on it. She thought that sooner or later she would figure it out.

  Finally arriving at the park, Mandy parked nearby. “Alright you two, time to have fun and run around.” She made sure that she had the leashes until she got the park proper. The cats leapt out and Mandy start walking with them towards the park. She crossed the street and she noticed something happening down the block. An old woman was being harassed by a man. It looked as though he was trying to take her bag. The old woman held on tightly to her bag and the jerk kept pulling and yelling obscenities at her. Finally he managed to pull the bag away from her and started to run off.

  Mandy looked around for police and started to yell, “Help, police. Purse snatcher on the loose.”. Roger sensed the danger in the distance and squirmed trying to get loose. Somehow the link attaching him to the link got loose, which left him free to run. And run he did, after the purse snatcher. He gained on him too, something inside of him just kept saying 'catch this guy'.

  Mandy yelled in the distance “Roger, come back. Roger honey, don't run away.” She started to run after Roger with Lana. Lana couldn't understand why Roger chased this man. What was he going to do when he caught him? There were a lot of things that Lana didn't understand about Roger. She figured this is yet another part of a strange Roger. Lana ran along with Mandy, since Mandy didn't run very fast. But Roger definitely ran very fast, like a cat on a mission. He gained on the man that was running.

  At one point, the man kept running, realizing he was being chased by a cat. A mean looking cat. He crossed the street into the park, hoping to lose the cat in the park, or the cat would get tired. Roger was very close now, and as he saw the man cross the street, he leapt in an effort to bridge the street sooner and catch the man. However, right at that time, a truck, seemingly coming out of nowhere, came down the street at a steady clip. It crashed into Roger in the middle of his leap, sending Roger flying and banging against a tree in the park and from the tree, landing on the ground with a lot of force.

  Mandy saw these events happen from the distance and yelled “Roger! Roger, are you alright?” The man in the truck stopped and looked to see what happened to the cat he had just hit. Mandy and the t
ruck driver went over to the park, Mandy fearing the worse. The truck driver apologized,

  “Ma'am, I'm so sorry about your cat, but he came out of nowhere, I didn't see him until I actually hit him.”

  Mandy said “It's not your fault, he was chasing a purse snatcher, he's just very impulsive and ran without looking and without knowing that crossing the street is dangerous. He just leapt across the street.”

  “I did see a guy running before I hit the cat. I guess that was the purse snatcher.”

  “Yes, that was him, but now all I'm concerned is if my cat is alive” Mandy said, holding back the tears that Roger might be dead. This conversation continued while they looked in the area where Roger fell. Lana had her own investigation going, looking around and sniffing the ground for a trace of Roger's scent. She caught a whiff of his scent and started pulling Mandy in that direction. Mandy said “Lana, do you know where he is?”

  Lana pulled Mandy and they came upon a part of Roger sticking out of the bushes. He wasn't moving. Mandy ran to the spot Roger stuck out, with Lana following.

  “Roger honey, are you alright?” Mandy noticed he was still breathing, just unconscious. This gave her hope. Lana yelled “Roger, Roger wake up”. All Mandy heard was Lana's concerned meows.

  While this was going on, Colin, Roger's guardian angel, had rushed to the scene of the accident. Although Mandy and Lana were not aware of him, Colin stood there, healing Roger and bringing him back from the brink. For those of you just joining us, Roger used to be a New York City detective. After a mob hit, his guardian angel made a deal for him to live out the remainder of his time as a cat. However, there was a catch, it being once he became a cat, he wouldn't remember he was a man or a detective until he finished his time here.

  So now Colin was trying to undo whatever harm had befallen Roger, allowing him to continue his time on earth. It was taking all of Colin's skill to bring Roger back from the brink. He'd been hit pretty badly. But Colin persevered and was successful in healing the all the injuries, particularly the life threatening ones.