Liner Notes for The Mystery Of The Undistinguished Go-Karter
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A double length story this month. Having scrapped my initial idea for a serial in 2020 I gave myself extra time to write this back-up series by:
Firstly not overlapping by having two stories in December; and
Secondly not starting with a double length story, so that I hadn’t invested an extra week into the work in case it turned out that Lacey Lee wasn’t going to work.
I’m pleased to note that this does seem to be working so that’s okay.
The police do not like it if you investigate a serious crime. (In fact they don’t like it if you involve yourself in anything that they consider to be police work, which is fair, though as they have extensive powers to make that displeasure tangible it can swiftly become somewhat unfair.) This is true even if you are a private detective; perhaps even more so. Private detectives who come into contact with the police will have either made a case more complicated, solved it making the police look silly, or committed a crime. So when I had a client walk into Lacey’s office claiming there has been a murder I gave her the sensible suggestions: turn it over to the police.
This would have been a very short story rather than the double length one I was hoping for so I immediately backtracked on that.
So the first part isn’t a murder investigation which would have put Lacey into a backseat position. Though I did consider that; having her refuse to take the case but be inevitably dragged in by friends, family, colleagues, lovers, the police and of course, two rival criminal gangs, all assuming that Lacey knows something about a crime she’s desperately trying to avoid being entangled in.
Actually that sounds like a lot of fun. Sorry I didn’t write that.
Karting. I am not a karter though I have dabbled. The landlord’s story about gaining two metres on the driver in front is a true one; being just shy of 2m tall it’s something of an uncomfortable squeeze to get in. As a non-driver I also don’t have the reflexes and situational awareness that drivers do. Or to put it another way, I suck at go karts.
The money laundering process I put here is a fairly straight forward, low level one. A cash business gets dirty cash in from dubious sources. (If you wonder why you wouldn’t just spend the cash, try buying a house or a car with bundles of fivers, or pay tuition at a private school, foreign holidays or even rent with twenties.) They pay tax on the money, putting it through the accounts, so it’s legitimate. Then they pay their suppliers, wholly owned by the dubious cash owners, who pay themselves a handsome salary.
The way to stay off the radar with such a money-laundering operation is to cheerfully pay all tax in full, not trying to hide or shuffle it away. A money-laundering operation does not need to show a profit from the legitimate operation, leading to strangely niche suppliers that never seem to be open, fast food take aways that don’t actually supply any food, and occasionally shops that offer good quality goods at an excellent price because making money off the stuff for sale isn’t what they’re trying to do.
Don’t be too paranoid when you spot somewhere like this, some businesses are just weird and bad at what they do.
Lacey not only solves the case in this one she actually turns the target in to the police. When that wasn’t her client’s objective.
What I’m saying is: When you hire Lacey Lee she will solve the case in her own way and decide on the resolution using her own judgement. Be warned.
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