Page 55 of Defiled Innocence

Glancing over it, there’s nothing weird to me. It’s a list of vendors and the amounts we’ve paid over the last quarter. Flipping to the second page, I see another list from the last quarter of last year.

“What am I looking at?” I ask when he seems determined to make me figure out this puzzle on my own.

“In quarter four of last year, a new vendor appears to be used that’s not on the approved list.” He taps the top of the paper.

“Do you mean this Finity company?” The first sheet is full of the vendor payments.

“Yes. It appeared in quarter four, but only sporadically so it wasn’t questioned. When we did the year-end reporting, it didn’tlook overly odd. However, when I went over this last quarter, it has appeared nearly weekly for the entire quarter.”

“Okay, but what is Finity? What do they do for us?”

“Lia,” he sighs. “That’s a question I ask you. The bookkeeper only writes checks and makes payments that are requested through you or anyone else that has financial permissions.”

“Okay, well, I don’t know who this company is, and I’ve never sent a bill over to be paid for them. There has to be a mistake.” I try to hand the papers back, but he refuses them.

“Here.” He slides a stapled packet of pages to me. “These are all of the invoices that have been paid to Finity. If you’ll notice, there’s an initial at the bottom of each invoice.”

“These are Lucas’ initials.” I run my thumb over the letters scribbled in the corner. “This isn’t making any sense. Lucas never dealt with the finances here. Other than to look at the quarterly reports, he never even looked at the books. Why would he be sending invoices for payment, and these invoices don’t even show anything? Just the name and one line item with a date on it. How was this categorized in the books?”

“According to the bookkeeper, she was sent an email from your brother with the first invoice telling her to categorize it as an office supply expense.”

He reaches across the desk and pulls the first bundle of papers he handed me and flips to the last page. “In this last quarter that amounts to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”

My throat closes around a groan. Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

“Did you try to find this Finity company?” The question barely has any sound to it when it’s asked.

“Yes. I found nothing. There is no business listing for that company.” His chair creaks when he leans back, having given all the news he prepared for me.

“You’re suggesting Lucas was embezzling money from the foundation.”

“I’m only pointing out a discrepancy.” He splays his hands out as though he’s not making any accusations.

“Have there been any invoices sent over since his death?”

“No.”

“All right.” I drop all the papers onto my desk. “If he was doing what is being suggested, there shouldn’t be anything else going forward.”

“I would assume not.”

“Can you direct the bookkeeper not to send any more payments to this vendor, and if any invoice shows up for it, to direct it to me?”

“Of course. However, I don’t recommend letting the matter simply die.” He catches his choice of phrasing and winces. “Sorry. What I mean is if this is discovered in a government audit, the foundation could lose its tax-exempt status.”

“What do you suggest then?”

“I think we should do a full forensic audit to be certain there are no other issues. It would also help be certain that it was in fact Lucas or if there was someone else involved.”

“Have there been any strange donations in the last quarter? Something that might offset the expense?”

His brow pulls tight. “Not that I noticed, but that would also be found during the audit.” He leans toward me, sympathy playing in his eyes. “If there is an embezzlement issue here, you are obligated to report it. There is also a possibility of recovering the funds if you file a claim with your fidelity insurance. It covers this sort of thing.”

A throbbing takes over my head and all I can hear is the beating of drums in my ears.

“I need to sort this out before I make any decisions. Give me a few days to look all of this over. Maybe there’s something I’ll see that you missed.”

His brows lift. “I doubt I missed something.”

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