So, what exactly did Reacher Gilt and his cohorts do?
I don’t think the book makes it very clear what Gilt did, exactly, to end up with control of the Grand Trunk, but you can infer most of it through the text. What it looks like is that when the Grand Trunk was being formed, the people were in desperate need of money and Reacher approached them with the offer of cash flow in exchange for 40% of Grand Trunk’s stake. Mr. Dearheart and his fellow engineers accepted, but them, not being too keen on the ways of accounting and money, were probably also grateful for Gilt’s offer to manage the money through certain “accountants.” Gilt raised the cash flow by approaching several representatives of various companies, who basically embezzled funds from their own companies for a stake in the Grand Trunk (which was obviously going to be a serious cash cow). Through some creative accounting on Reacher’s side, Mr. Dearheart and friends realized that they still needed more money for the Grand Trunk’s completion, and, probably not understanding how publi
