Page 34 of The Lady and the Footballer
“Something like this?” he suggested and lifted a note with barely legible printing, the faded ink partially smeared off.
It was Lily’s turn to lean forward to see what he was looking at.
“Is that a bribery letter?” she asked, her words nearly hushed.
“I believe it is,” he said with a self-satisfied smile. “To our friend Mr. Pritchard. This would explain quite a bit.”
Lily bit her lip as she reread the letter.
Mr. Pritchard,
I heard that your family is experiencing some hard times. Please accept this small token of my appreciation for further endeavors and use it to help support your wife.
I will speak to you soon.
“That’s it?” she said with some disappointment. “That could refer to anything – not necessarily bribery. No one has signed it?”
“No. But it’s better than what we had before,” he pointed out. “It suggests foul play.”
“We can assume,” she countered. “This doesn’t tell us everything.”
“No,” he agreed. “It doesn’t.” He looked up at the regulator clock on the wall, its pendulum swinging back and forth in perfect time. “Do you have a few more minutes to keep looking?”
“A few more minutes, yes,” she said as they worked in perfect concert through the desk drawers, finding ledgers and papers.
“What about these?” Lily said, lifting a box holding organized paper. “These seem to be receipts. If we can find the recording of his notes regarding receipts Mr. Lockwood submitted and compare them to the receipts themselves, it might tell us something.”
“Let’s see how quickly we can do this,” Colin said, lifting the box and carrying it over to a clear desk. “I’ll read the date and amounts to you while you check them,” he said to Lily once she approached, carrying the oil lamp. She nodded and he read them out as she checked them off, his voice, even when reading dull amounts off of receipts, deep and throaty, causing all kinds of tingles to run through her entire body.
“Well?” he said when he finished. “Do they match?”
“There are a couple of receipts you read to me that match Mr. Lockwood’s records. They are higher than what is written on the ledger, but the dates correspond.” Her breath caught. “That’s it, then, I think? If that is repeated month after month?—”
“Then someone is scaling off the top. Pritchard, do you think?”
“He must certainly be involved.”
“I agree,” Colin said grimly.
“What do we do now?”
He ran a hand through his hair. “I am not entirely sure. I want to say that I should confront him, but what will he do? Whether we are right or wrong, I am likely to be kicked off the team just for bringing it forward. Who will they believe, a man who has worked for the club for years or a new upstart to the team who happens to be a foreman at the mill?”
“Well, there is proof,” Lily argued. “And I would back you up, tell them I was with you when I found it.”
“Would that not cause trouble for you?” he asked. As they spoke, they drew closer to one another. Lily turned her head slightly upward to look into his eyes. Her breath quickened at the proximity of his face, the stubble lightly lining his chin. Lily wondered what would happen if she moved an inch closer.
“Yes, of course it would,” she said, licking her lips. “But if it would protect you?—”
“I’m not worth it.”
She was startled, taken aback. “Why would you say that?”
“Look at who you are and who I am,” he said. “We are worlds apart.”
“Not right now,” she whispered, taking the chance and looking up at him. “Colin?—”
She wasn’t sure what would have happened next – would he have leaned down and kissed her? Would she have been brave enough to have stood on her toes and been the one to initiate the contact?
