Seattle Cinderella Part 14

Events of the morning flashed through his mind. It was the day he'd first introduced Annie to Walter. Walter had not been very pleased that they'd gotten him help. Then later in the morning, Walter had left to pick up a prescription. Brent only remembered because he'd been annoyed that Walter had stuck a sticky note on the monitor, and Brent had thought it wouldn't be good for the screen.

Sure enough, the crumpled sticky note was also in the pile of paper on the floor.

Brent didn't remember the time, only that it was later in the morning. The time on the receipt for the key appeared to be in that time frame.

His temples throbbed as he tried to recall everything that happened. Luke had been out on a sales call, and Brent had teased Luke about taking Cindy's new car. Then Evan had called both him and Luke into the lot to check a dented car, and Annie had gone back to help Cindy with something.

Walter had been alone in the office, giving him access to both Annie's and Luke's keys.

But there was no reason for Walter to steal a car. Walter wasn't a thief. He was a CPA and made a good income. Brent didn't know how many other businesses besides theirs Walter handled, but he knew Walter's schedule was very busy.

It also made no sense that he would hide a stolen car in Annie's garage. Walter didn't know Annie. Although, since they used Annie's services, her address was listed in their account files as a vendor.

Brent flopped back in the chair and pressed his hands over his eyes. He was only letting his mind play tricks on him because he was desperate to prove that the thief wasn't Annie. It wasn't possible or likely that Walter would steal Luke's wife's car. He wouldn't call Walter a friend, but he was certainly more than an acquaintance. He'd been with them, and well paid by them, since they started the business when Luke and Brent graduated together from business college.

But among the many things he'd learned over the years was never to a.s.sume and to be careful to whom he gave his trust.

He scooped the rest of the papers from the floor and sorted them like Walter should have, either into the shredder, the receipt box, or what was really trash, but he put the receipt for the keys in his pocket.

Before he saw Walter again on Tuesday, he needed some answers.

Even though he took the later shift, Brent arrived at the office at opening time, the same time as Luke.

He stood behind Luke while Luke unlocked the building and punched in the alarm code. "I've called Annie in this morning. I don't care if you fired her. I unfired her."

Luke spun around. "You, of all people, should know the reasons for that. Even if she didn't steal Cindy's car, which in my opinion is still not resolved, she's messing up our accounting. Walter only has limited time to fix it, and it's time to wrap up the fiscal year and submit everything for taxes."

Brent's stomach clenched as he pulled the receipt for the keys out of his pocket and handed it to Luke. "One issue at a time. I found this in Walter's garbage. It's a receipt for two keys. Annie and I went to the key kiosk yesterday after church. I showed the man Walter's picture and the receipt, and he remembered the keys because he had a hard time with the Mustang key, and Walter was in a hurry."

"Are you saying that Walter stole Cindy's car and then hid it in Annie's garage?"

"That's what it looks like."

Brent could see Luke's confusion as he tried to make sense of what he'd just been told. He didn't want to believe it either, but the facts were there. And as horrible as it was, it was what he wanted to be true, to prove Annie's innocence.

"I know it doesn't make any sense, but I have proof he copied both keys, and he was back with the originals before anyone noticed they were missing." Now more than ever, he was glad he had the key. If it had Walter's fingerprints on it, it wouldn't necessarily prove Walter's guilt in the eyes of the law, but it would in Luke's and Cindy's eyes, and right now that was what mattered the most.

At the sound of a car entering the parking lot, both men turned to watch Annie's car back into the parking spot nearest the door.

"I asked her to give me ten minutes to talk to you before she got here."

Luke swiped his fingers through his hair. "With Annie being Cindy's stepsister, I'm trying to be gracious. But I still don't feel good about having Annie come back. Everything is messed up enough without making it even worse."

Brent steeled himself. "The mess isn't Annie's fault. We've figured out that the reason for the computer problems is a software issue. She made a backup file, I had the backup program disc, and we opened it on her mother's computer. Everything worked so I've asked her to check it against the current file on our office computer. If we find our missing data, then the simple solution is to buy a program upgrade."

Luke shook his head. "It can't possibly be that simple."

Brent could only hope that what worked in theory would work in fact. "It can. She's bringing her mother's computer in with her today because we know it works."

"You're sure about this?"

Annie cut the engine and opened her door. "As sure as I can be. Help me carry in the old computer and we'll know for sure."

Luke's face tightened. "Be warned. I intend to watch everything she does. Like a hawk."

Brent had to agree. If the situations were reversed, he would have felt the same way. He sent up a prayer that he was right and pushed the door open. "I wouldn't have it any other way. The sooner we get started, the better."

Chapter 11.

Annie had never felt the burn from someone's glare like she did from Luke as the men exited the building. The lack of trust stabbed into her heart, yet she could understand it. Until a few months ago, she hadn't been a good person in his eyes. She had a lot of wrongs to right, and she was doing her best, but it was going to take time.

Still, she felt like a puppy dog abandoned in the rain-and it must have shown because Luke's expression softened, and he dragged one hand down his face.

"I'm sorry," he muttered from behind his hand. "Brent just showed me some evidence that links Walter to stealing Cindy's car." He reached into her backseat for her mother's huge old monitor, while Brent opened the other door to get the tower. "The reason we hired Walter is because he's my uncle's friend, and my uncle recommended him. I can't believe he'd do such a thing. Not that I want to believe you would have done it either. It's been tough for everyone."

She wanted to feel better about Luke's apology, but she couldn't help but notice the omission of the mention of her struggles with their accounting work.

With his head stuck into the car, Brent hadn't been able to hear a word his friend had said, nor could he say anything in her defense. Annie hadn't realized until that moment how much knowing that Brent was on her side meant; Luke was not only Brent's business partner but his best friend.

Letting Luke go inside first with the big monitor, Brent followed carrying the tower, and she went inside last with the keyboard and mouse.

Even the fragrant aroma of fresh coffee as she walked inside didn't defrost the cold in her heart. She wondered if she'd ever make Luke believe in her again.

Behind her the coffee machine beeped to signal the end of the brewing cycle as they started setting up her mother's computer.

"Coffee...," Luke and Brent mumbled in unison.

Annie nodded. Maybe a cup of coffee would give her brain a kick start. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had a good night's sleep.

Brent stopped to attend to a customer who came in for a prebooked rental, so Luke crawled under the desk to finish plugging in the computer cables. Annie poured three cups of coffee, needing to do something with her hands before the nervousness made her crazy. By the time Brent was done, both computers were booted up and ready to go. She pulled her flash drive out of her purse and was ready to insert it into the USB slot when her mother's monitor went purple then black.

Brent raised one hand to the back of his neck, and Luke leaned his forehead against the wall.

"Wait," Annie said. "It's nothing. It's just a loose connection. I only have to wiggle it, and it will be fine."

She leaned over the back and around her mother's monitor but couldn't reach properly because of its size and the awkward angle. Squeezing her lips together, she stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth and reached a little farther. She'd almost wiggled it into place when she felt her feet start to slip on the tile floor. A flash of stars blinked across the back of her eyes when her hip banged down into the corner of the desk. To prevent herself from knocking herself out on the desk, she dropped her flash drive and grabbed the desk with both hands.

Brent ran to her, wrapping his hands around her waist to steady her as she righted herself and stood. "Are you okay?"

As she gazed up into his eyes, the pain flitted to the back of her mind. She should have been thinking about the computer, but all she wanted to do was kiss Brent. With all the lights on.

Behind them Luke cleared his throat.

Brent's hands fell to his sides, so she turned and reached to the desktop for her flash drive, but it was gone. Her breath caught at the sight of coffee splashes on the desk beside her cup.

"No...," she muttered. Her stomach dropped into her shoes as she picked up a pen and poked into the coffee. Sure enough, she felt the lump of her now-ruined flash drive at the bottom.

"Have you got anything on there that doesn't have another backup?"

She shook her head. "No, but this was brand new."

Brent checked his wrist.w.a.tch. "The office supply store at the mall won't open for two more hours."

She reached for her purse. "It's okay, I still have my old flash drive. It doesn't have as much memory, but it's fine for what we need."

His head tilted to one side. "You need two flash drives?"

"I have lots of photos," she mumbled then inserted her old flash drive into Walter's computer. "I'll recopy the file I need and we'll be fine. I just have to find what folder it's in. When I saved it a few days ago I did it as I shut the program down and saved it to the E drive, but there has to be a folder for backups here somewhere. I'll just do a search on the same doc.u.ment type."

The results netted a few obvious backups with varying dates, but a large file caught her attention. "I think I found it, but there's another one named with a number that has a file creation date of just a few days ago. The file is huge. I'm going to see if this is better."

After copying and transferring both files, she opened the larger one and immediately found Brent's invoice. "Here it is. Everything is fine."

"No, that's the wrong amount." Brent leaned closer. "It's the right date and customer, but the amount is wrong."

"Let me check the other file." She closed the numbered file, opened the properly named one, and pulled up the invoice in question. "Here it is. The amount is different."

Luke stepped closer and also leaned down for a better look. "How can that be?"

Her mind ran a million miles an hour in circles, as she hoped what she thought wasn't true.

She opened the main file on Walter's computer then opened a summary from a few months ago from the numbered backup. "The two profit-and-loss summaries for the same month are different in these versions. The difference is over a thousand dollars." After pointing to the differences, she opened the previous month on both versions and found the same discrepancies.

Her stomach began to churn. "I need to do some more checking."

While both men watched, she pulled up files from the previous tax year. As she saw more discrepancies, the tension in the room grew palpable. As if he were reading her mind, Brent laid his hands on her shoulders and pressed his thumbs into the knots in her back.

Whenever a customer came in, Brent left to look after them, leaving Luke to watch her.

After more checking, when Brent had once again returned, she sucked in a deep breath to say what she had to say. She didn't want to, but she had no choice. "It's the same thing. The profits are lower in the numbered file. In both versions the money going in is the same, but in the file that was hidden, more came out."

Brent pulled his chair closer and sank into it. "If you're saying what I think you're saying, then this is..." His voice trailed off.

Behind them Luke remained silent.

"Embezzlement, "Annie choked out. "The version here"-she pointed to the backup she'd opened on her mother's computer-"is the working version that everyone would see. The one with the number, the hidden one"-she pointed to Walter's computer-"looks like this is the one submitted to the government." She hit a few more b.u.t.tons. "This one shows a lot of money being paid to a holding company." She didn't have to look hard to confirm that the holding company had a fict.i.tious address and contact information and was paid in cash. "It's all untraceable, but the debits and credits are all done so it looks legitimate on the surface."

"How much money is gone?"

"From what I've seen, it's approximately the same every month, which would make it look like a recurring expense. It looks like twelve to fifteen thousand dollars a year."

Luke shook his head. "Embezzlement means jail. While that's a tidy sum, it doesn't seem enough to justify taking the risk of being caught."

"Maybe it is," Brent said. "What if he's doing the same to every place he works at? He's here only half a day, twice a week. He does work for over a dozen businesses regularly, plus he wraps monthly for more. If he's getting away with the same thing everywhere, that's potentially"-he paused while he did the mental math-"a quarter of a million dollars a year that he could be skimming. Plus the car. But that doesn't make sense. The car is so traceable, and the police look for a stolen car."

Annie straightened in her chair. "I think that's exactly why he stole it. Neither of you suspected anything was wrong. But an outsider who's an accountant would look at things differently and see inconsistencies. What happened until now when things didn't balance?"

Luke sighed. "Walter always fixed it."

"Yeah," Brent muttered. "Did he ever fix it. We trusted him. Every time, he kept right on without missing a beat, and we were none the wiser."

Annie glanced at the monitor as the screen saver came on. "But when I started making corrections and adjustments, he knew it wouldn't be long before I figured it out. I think he stole the car and put it in my garage to get me out of the way."

One corner of Brent's mouth twisted. "But it was found the same day, and we didn't have you arrested. That's got to be hitting the panic b.u.t.ton for him right now."

Both men stood then nodded at each other.

Annie stood as well. "What are you going to do?"

Brent rested one hand on her arm. "We have to call the police and go talk to him." He turned to Luke. "Who's going to stay to take care of things here? We've got a business to run."

Luke ran his fingers through his already messy hair. "I'll go. He was a friend of my uncle before he died. I'm the one who should confront him."

Using the business line, Luke called the police. At the same time Brent used his cell phone to call the bank to freeze their account, even though Annie suspected that Walter probably had never forged a check. It was cleaner to dip into the cash and change invoices and expenses to make everything balance.

Before Luke left, he approached her. He rammed his hands into his pockets and made direct eye contact while he spoke. "I don't know what to say. I'm really sorry. I should have believed Cindy and trusted you. I have to go. The police are going to meet me at Walter's office in ten minutes."

She could tell his regret was sincere-there was no question about forgiving him. As he left, Annie wondered if Cindy's trust had slipped a bit as well. Annie wouldn't blame her if it had.

The only one who had trusted her while her life was turning upside down was Brent, who clearly had a thing for her, but she couldn't return his affections because to do so would have cast doubt on him as well. But now she could.

She turned to face him.

He smiled down at her with stars in his eyes.

It made her feel like a giddy teenager.

She raised her arms and slid her hands around his back. "Thanks for being the only one who supported me."

Brent's smile grew, and he rested his hands on her hips. "I knew you didn't do anything wrong."

Her heart fluttered, knowing he was going to kiss her.

His eyes closed and his head began to lower.

The buzzer signaled a customer walking in.

Brent released her, stepped back, and cleared his throat. "Hold that thought. I'll be right back."

She did indeed hold that thought, trying not to grow impatient while Brent dealt with his customer.