Page 53 of Tempest

Ivy, Ryan, and Colin sat silently and waited for Phoebe to begin. They all watched her click the keys on her computer with flashing hands and waited patiently. That’s what one did in the presence of a master. Waited.

Finally, the clicking ceased and she pushed her hair off her neck. “Sorry about that. I wanted to double check some information that came in.”

Ivy leaned forward, and Colin and Ryan followed. “Well?” Ivy said breathlessly. “Who is it?”

“There are two answers to that question. It always takes more than one person to get away with something like this.”

“I feel like I’m in a crime show,” Ivy said. “It’s so exciting. Nothing like this ever happens to me. Unless you count the time that I was involved with the small explosion at the Donut Hole senior year.” Shrugging, she smiled at the group. “Nothing was proven and all charges were dropped.”

Phoebe patted her hand. “Don’t let me forget to give you a quick lesson in print elimination.”

Ryan cleared his throat and gave the women a disapproving look. “If you two are done planning your next crime, maybe we can get back to the crisis at hand.”

Ivy mouthed “party pooper” and pointed over her head at Ryan. “Go ahead, Phoebe.”

Phoebe gave Ryan a smile and continued. “The first issue I’ll address is the salami slicing that was done with the oil productions numbers, which netted someone a five-million-dollar payday. The second issue is the sabotage of the wells, which I believe was done to camouflage the manipulation of numbers. I believe the mastermind of the crime had someone in accounting working for him and someone at the wells. It was a matter of covering up the actual versus the reported. Reported production numbers had to match reported revenue. The sabotage covered up the discrepancy.”

“This was a well-thought-out scheme,” Ivy said as she twirled her hair up.

“It’s like one of those Chinese puzzles. Once you unravel one knot, another one appears. It seemed simple at first. But as with most things, it’s never the first answer,” Phoebe said, as she clicked her computer. “Let’s start with the embezzlement. The person who is physically responsible for adjusting the production numbers at Bellows Energy is one William Underfall. He’s a low-level accountant and the one responsible for logging in the information from the pumps. At first I thought it was a case of simple greed. You know, a way for the guy who gets no respect to stick it to the company that’s using him.”

Ivy cleared her throat. “Does Bellows Energy treat its employees that way?”

Phoebe met Ivy’s gaze head-on. “I haven’t had a chance to run all of the salaries against the national average, so I can’t answer that. I will say there is a wide range in any given department. Why, I couldn’t tell you.”

Ivy looked at her brother. “Daddy always did favor certain people for reasons that made sense only to him.”

“William the low-level accountant can’t be the mastermind…right?” Ryan asked.

“Of course not. People like him rarely are. They just end up as pawns in a much bigger game. I checked all of his electronic communication and social media activity, and I believe his road to larceny was inspired by a dancer at Wally’s, a strip club on the north side of the city. According to his Visa bill, he frequents the place several times a week.”

“Maybe that’s where Daddy met Ms. Sherry Lane.” Ivy snorted.

“No. Sherry Lane worked at an upscale gentleman’s club in Austin called Julie’s. It has several five-star Yelp ratings and lots of positive comments all across the net. It’s a private high-end club that caters to the wants and desires of rich men.”

Ivy shuddered and rubbed her hands along her arms. “I don’t need to hear more.”

Ryan put his arm around Ivy and kissed her head. “So, who did William have the hots for at the club?”

“Petals Hashwell was the object of William’s affection. And, yes, that’s her real name.” Rolling her shoulders, she smiled at the group. “Petals seemed to return some of William’s interest, because she posted pictures of them together on her Facebook page. That tells me that they had something going on outside the normal customer-dancer relationship.”

“So, William wanted to have a little extra cash to keep his girl Petals interested?” Colin asked.

“The mastermind of the embezzlement appears to be the company COO, Davis Vello. I tracked communications between him and William on two burner phones that Davis purchased over a year ago. Why he used a company card is beyond me. But there you go.”

“The name sounds familiar. I think he and Daddy have been friends for a long time. Why would he want to rip him off?” Ivy asked.

“Davis has a new girlfriend who likes the finer things in life. Her Instagram posts attest to that fact clearly.” Looking at the group, she grimaced. “He also has an ex-wife and children he pays support for. I imagine it was difficult for old Davis to keep everyone happy, so he decided to help himself to a bonus. Recently he made deposits into an offshore account in the sum of four and a half million. I’m guessing that William has the other half mil stuffed under his bed,” Phoebe responded. “I haven’t traced it yet, but I will. Maybe he’s got it in bearer bonds and plans to skip the country and take his girl away.”

“We’ve got a greedy COO ripping off the company in cahoots with a low-level accountant,” Ryan stated simply.

“Seems so,” Phoebe said. “Not very exciting when you reduce it down to the bare facts. It wouldn’t even make the evening news, it’s so common. I haven’t determined who at the wells was responsible for the sabotage, but I will. Unfortunately, Bellows Energy contracts out for their security personnel at the well sites. I’ve got a program running to pick up the patterns, but it will take time.”

“Have you stopped them from continuing their extracurricular activities?” Ivy asked.

“I have. I ghosted both of their computers, so what they think is happening and what is actually happening are two different things. I also relieved Mr. Vello of his stash in the Bahamas and returned it to the company. I’ve frozen access to all funds in the company for the time being. You and Colin have to sign off on everything from here on out.”

Ivy stood, went around the table, and gave Phoebe a hug. “I think as the new copresidents of Bellows Energy, we should give you a bonus based on your amazing work.” She glanced over at Colin and saw his total and complete admiration for Phoebe. It was a look that she wanted to keep seeing on her brother’s face.

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