The Happiness Machine

By Rolando José Olivo

The bold detective Jerónimo Ghalia faces the last case of his successful career. He must prove that the happiness machine is a fraud and investigate the alleged financial illicit acts of the international corporation Ultimate Happiness. In addition, there are strange suicide figures, year after year, of those affiliated to this company, which seem to follow a predetermined pattern.

However, the case is not as simple as it seems, ten other researchers have already failed in their attempts to impute Ultimate Happiness, which invests in treasury bills and sovereign funds of several countries and doesn ́t deduct their multiple donations for tax purposes. Likewise, the interests of the police chiefs and even those of the President of the Republic converge, aiming to close the investigation without finding guilty ones.

Although the controversial Jerónimo Ghalia, exhausted and suffering from burn-out, after many disappointments during his difficult work, which led him to see the worst of human nature, when analyzing the content of the Ultimate Happiness course and finding the secrets of happiness, gives a new turn to his life, after concluding this latest investigation and going into retirement...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rolando José Olivo
• Release date: Dec 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005575625

Rolando José Olivo

[e-mail] Ing. de Sistemas con 3 postgrados: Maestría en Economía Aplicada, Diplomado en Gerencia General y Especialización en Gerencia de Programas Sociales (Summa Cum Laude).

Book preview

1. An Unpublished Case

Unlike all previous days, the morning was sunny. The detective Jerónimo Ghalia was impressed and amazed by the unpredictability of the weather. Even more, he had already counted 366 consecutive days with cloudy skies.

Despite the fact that just a year ago, Jerónimo Ghalia had been awarded with the Sherlock Holmes award, granted only to the best detectives in the world, he felt depressed, bored and anguished, for various reasons.

Ghalia didn´t find meaning to life and his activities were routine. Nothing satisfied him, and he could not explain why his life seemed like a huge existential void.

So much so, that he suffered from certain degree of chronic dissatisfaction. Ghalia didn´t appreciate neither feel grateful for what he has done, prevailing feelings of uncertainty and pessimism about the future. Nor could he relax or enjoy life.

In the same way, some of his colleagues told him that he suffered from physical and emotional exhaustion known as burn-out.

Nonetheless, Jerónimo Ghalia refused to go to the psychologist or participate in group therapies, carried out by the police officers, because his ego didn´t allow it.

Inside himself, he could not accept that the winner of the Sherlock Holmes award (a kind of Nobel Prize for criminal investigators) was considered a weak person, who required psychological support.

Although Jerónimo Ghalia secretly conducted an online personality test, and it confirmed that the probabilities of suffering from chronic exhaustion were 87%, being an isolated person (refuses to work in group), disappointed (does not value his work), desperate (feels that he isn´t achieving his aspirations), egocentric (concentrates excessively on his desires, neglecting corporate and institutional objectives), insensitive (tends to treat individuals as objects, minimizing their criticisms, observations and problems), irritated (impatient and intolerant to get along with people) and fearful (afraid to listen other’s problems).

Moreover, after thirty-five years of work as detective, he was still participating in the same activities.

Every morning, Ghalia reviewed the headlines of the main media and the ads marked as priority on social networks.

Subsequently, he concentrated on some cases, looking for new clues and carefully reviewing the reports. These activities consumed him all the time in the morning. While in the afternoon, Ghalia met with his boss and other members of the department. And eventually, he went to the streets to continue the investigations.

However, he preferred to work in his office, and for more than twenty years he had given up participating in interrogations, because he was deeply disappointed with the conduct and unethical behavior of most persons.

Many times Jerónimo Ghalia thought:

-Why question people that are going to lie?

-Is it worth making great efforts to obtain a confession that will later be questioned by the defense or the jury?

Obviously, this detective's work was not charming, and he had witnessed all kind of unpleasant events, ranging from inconceivable scams to the most cruel murders, torture and rapes.

Like other advocates of law and order, Jerónimo Ghalia was deeply disappointed with the human nature, and could not understand why there was so much evil and suffering in the world. For a long time, he didn´t believe in the sense of justice or in the existence of God.

Jerónimo Ghalia knew that exactly 730 days remained until his retirement, and each day he wrote the figure on his schedule. Ghalia didn´t even imagine that this day would be unusual and irregular. He finished reading the news and some reports, and heard the doorbell of his small office.

Quickly, to his surprise, his boss, the commissary Lebrid Spence, entered, who did not usually visit him in the mornings. After a brief exchange of cold and distant greetings, the boss stated:

-Detective Ghalia: Do you know what day is today?

Jerónimo Ghalia replied:

-January 20, 2030.

-Just today, five years ago, our department won the Sherlock Holmes award.

-And a year ago they gave me that award.

-And if we go back twenty years, we have solved 599 of 612 serious cases.

-More than one hundred are international, with jurisdiction in several countries of the European Union.

The commissary Lebrid Spence interrupted him:

-Very well!

-You are still the same!

-You may be depressed and unmotivated, but your memory and intellectual abilities do not fail!

-For this and other reasons, we have not agreed to retire you prematurely.

-But: Look yourself in a mirror!

-Listen well!

-In other times, you solved more than fifty cases per year!

-Now you only concentrate on one or two per month!

-And only work on what you consider…

Visibly annoyed, Jerónimo Ghalia took the floor:

-Did you come to scold or fire me?

-What do you want?

-Don´t make me waste my time!

-I am busy!

-I want to close the Strauss and Gross case as soon as possible!

-Maybe I will ask for my early retirement again!

-Even if you reject it over and over again!

Lebrid Spence continued the conversation:

-Colleague Ghalia, I came for an extremely delicate matter.

-I didn´t come to argue.

-Listen well!

-Let’s negotiate!

-Do you want early retirement?

-Yes!

-I can grant it to you!

-And something else!

-Good for you!

-That's right!

-But, you must dedicate full time to a new case.

-Possibly, this will be the most difficult case of your career.

-When finished, you can retire with the gold medal of honor of merit.

-Even the President agrees!

-I have given instructions to remove you from the other investigations.

-Listen well!

-I insist: This is very important!

-And we need you, our best detective...

Nonetheless, the personal and work relationships between supervisor Spence and detective Ghalia were not at their best moment.

Spence, one of the best police chiefs in the region, had been in charge of the department for six years, didn´t get along with the controversial Ghalia and tried to deal with him as little as possible. In addition, he had also given up on forcing Ghalia to go to psychological consultations and group therapies.

Jerónimo Ghalia immediately thought that he was facing a clever political move of his rival, because Spence could grant him with retirement, either because of an impressive achievement or due to a resounding failure in a capital case. Although, what he didn´t understand was the offer of the golden medal of honor of merit (the last ones had been awarded to military, who dismantled terrorist training centers and drug laboratories abroad).

Likewise, he recalled that no detective has been awarded with the gold medal of honor of merit.

On this occasion, his great curiosity prevailed over his pessimism and bad humor. He decided to ask about this new case.

The commissary Lebrid Spence stated:

-I know you check the news, but there are matters that we have silenced.

-Do you remember the charlatan Eugenio Newsfield?

Jerónimo Ghalia replied:

-Of course!

-The owner of Ultimate Happiness.

-He is the crazy guy who gives courses with the happiness machine!

-And he does all kind of business!

-He swears that he invented the happiness machine!

Lebrid Spence stated:

-Last year several students of Ultimate Happiness committed suicide.

-This month others have committed suicide.

-The President is alarmed because most of his collaborators and officials are addicted to this strange cult of the happiness machine.

Impatiently, Jerónimo Ghalia asked:

-What happened to the investigations?

-Don´t you have infiltrators in these courses?

-What are the connections between the deaths and the messages of Ultimate Happiness?

Lebrid Spence expressed:

-We have been investigating Dr. Eugenio Newsfield for a long time.

-We haven´t been able to get any subliminal message or that incites violence or suicide!

-We haven´t found links between deaths and the happiness machine.

-Listen well!

-I insist: You have a great challenge ahead!

-You must prove that Eugenio Newsfield is a murderer!

-You must also destroy the happiness machine!

-You must prove that the happiness machine is a great scam!

-If you successfully complete the investigation, you will get your decoration, a promotion to the rank of chief commissioner, and a better pension.

-You have until tomorrow to answer!

Jerónimo Ghalia stared at Lebrid Spence. All kind of thoughts wandered in his mind, On the one hand, he had the golden opportunity to retire through the front door of such an unpleasant profession, and on the other hand, there were also great chances of failing in this assignment. Beforehand, he sensed that Eugenio Newsfield was very clever (a kind of James Moriarty) and was not going to leave evidences. He asked:

-Commissary Spence: Have you found evidences of fraud and tax evasion in Dr. Newsfield's business?

The chief Lebrid Spence replied:

-No!

-Rather, he correctly pays all his taxes and makes multiple donations to foundations, schools, hospitals and other organizations.

Jerónimo Ghalia continued asking:

-Who finances or has financed Dr. Newsfield?

-Are there links between the deceased and the organizations that have benefited from their donations?

-Are there relationships between financing enterprises and companies that receive donations?

-Is Dr. Newsfield triangulating funds or laundering money?

-How much taxes are deductible for charitable contributions?

The commissary Spence replied:

-Listen well!

-The investigations are underway.

-We still do not have answers to these concerns.

-But the generosity of Dr. Newsfield is