"How could it be Gina's? They would have to have fed six people to get the bill that high, and there's no way in hell that Alex would have approved her spending any money if Nicholas was involved." Jamie set the report down, her stomach turning. "Unless she used this code to hide it, but still... the amount doesn't pan out."
"Sure it does. One bottle of really great wine would make the bill over a hundred dollars. They had a bottle on their table. I rememb
er, because it was what made me question her being sick. Going to lunch with one of our shareholders is reasonable, but drinking too? No way. Not being ill." Paul cut in and tapped the table. "We need to talk to Alex. Now."
"You're right." Jamie got up and walked to her desk, dialing his direct number and circumventing going through Gina.
"Hey. What's up?" Alex asked. “Perfect timing, Liam just left and I’ve got about ten minutes before my next meeting.”
"Can you come to my office for a quick pow-pow? Like five minutes tops."
"What kind of pow-wow?” he chuckled seductively. “Wait. Are we on speakerphone?”
She laughed. “No speaker, but Mark and Paul are in the room with me.”
“Okay. I have five minutes. I need to glance over my next client’s financials to make sure I'm ready for the questions he's going to hit me with. I'm running to the restroom and then I'll be there."
"Alright. Thanks." She hung up and glanced up at the guys. "He's coming, but we have to be really quick."
"You wanna do the talking?" Paul asked.
"No. You do it. I brought up Gina last week, and he wasn't really too receptive to talking about it. Mark's his brother, so he'll blow him and me off without a second thought. You do it. He'll have to listen." Jamie took her seat and lifted her thumb to her mouth, needing to nibble on something. She turned to Mark, remembering the dinner date. "Oh shit. I meant to ask if you had plans for dinner. Alex and I are taking that Kristin girl out tonight, and I'm not playing third wheel. I need you to go with us."
He shrugged. "Sure, as long as you guys aren't trying to set me up. She was in love with Alex for far too long for me to really consider even trying with her. If she liked him, she's not going to like me."
"I like you both." Jamie reached out and squeezed his hand as Alex walked in the door.
"I knew it! You do like him." Alex winked and took the only free chair at the table. "What are my best employees up to? Need me to sign something?"
Jamie got up and closed the door. "No, we wish. Paul, go ahead."
"Alright, well, I think Jamie told you that we've been working on the accounting files for the last few weeks."
Alex nodded. "I appreciate that. Remind me at bonus time that none of you are accountants, and yet have done a great job on this I'm sure."
"It's been painful." Mark shook his head and smiled.
"Right, well we found the new ID and Jamie checked and found out that you approved it, but there have been additional charges that aren't making much sense. After looking at everything, we think it was created by Gina as a way to put false charges through to your expense accounts," Paul finished and crossed his arms over his chest as he paled visibly.
"There was a large charge for lunch the other day that’s over three hundred dollars. It was the day that we went to La Grigila to scout out what she was up to." Jamie sat back down and let out a sigh. "The bill had to have been hers and Nicholas', because the three of us only spent a third of what their bill was, and I used my company card. This is a different card. I can call La Grigila to confirm if you want."
Paul waved his cell phone. “I already did. They’ve emailed to confirm it was a different card charged.”
"That's not good." Alex nodded toward the table. "Can I see the charges?"
"Of course." Paul picked up the packet and handed it to Alex. "The highlighted parts are the additional charges we're seeing from this ID."
"A candy store?" Alex glanced up at Jamie. "I wouldn't okay us spending money on candy."
"I realize that. I told you something was going on." She brushed her fingers by her lips as her heart constricted in her chest. "I think we have a low-level fraud on our hands, boss."
"What's your process for signing off on new IDs?" Mark asked.
"I usually review everything I sign my name to, but in the last few years I really haven't reviewed much. Gina's been with me so long that I just sign what she puts in front of me." He shook his head and studied the paper some more. "Shit."
"It's better to figure this out and be able to document that you've let her go, rather than have the auditors find the fraud and then call us out on our lack of controls," Paul offered; it was helpful, and yet felt so incredibly harmful.
"Why would Nicholas call for the audit, unless he didn't know about Gina digging into the accounts?" Jamie tried to think through how everything lined up. "He and Gina have been dating. If it's his fault and she's doing things for him, then why push us to audit our own files? It just doesn't make any sense, and yet it can't not be connected."