Page 151 of The Highlander's Holiday Wife

“You could use a spot of nagging, lad. You’re looking worn around the edges.”

Braden rolled his shoulders, working out the kinks. “It’s been a long day. Besides, you don’t need to scold me. I have a wife to do that now.”

“Samantha doesn’t strike me as the scolding type.”

Braden smiled. “She can be bossy, though. I like that about her.”

“If you like her so much, then why are you at work—literally the day after you got married, I might note.”

“It’s complicated.”

Logan snorted. “A Kendrick specialty.”

“True, but you didn’t come down here to discuss my marriage. What’s amiss?”

“The Penwith Foundation ledgers. I think I’ve finally cracked the damn things.”

Braden expelled a relieved breath. “Thank God. Samantha’s been a bundle of nerves, waiting for something to break. Have you got names?”

Logan waggled a hand. “I’ll get to that. Right now, it’s the how that I’m most interested in, not the who.”

“Which means?”

“Someone has devised a rather elaborate system for washing money through the foundation and skimming it off, too.”

“Ah, so my fellow board member, Mr. Haxton, is skimming?”

“Probably,” Logan replied. “That’s been happening from the daily accounts for some time, although not in huge amounts, and it’s been carefully done.”

“So Mrs. Girvin suggested.”

“The real problem, however, lies in the foundation’s main operating account, the one holding the bulk of donor contributions. There’s a smaller account for minor donations, but that one is fine. It’s that operating account that’s gone sideways.” Logan shook his head. “I had to go back three years to find the bloody pattern.”

Braden frowned. “Before Roger Penwith was murdered.”

“Yes.”

He leaned forward. “Explain.”

“For three years, a growing number of anonymous contributions have been made to the operating account. Some of the more recent donations are significant, while others are small enough that I wondered why they weren’t placed in the minor account set up for that.”

Braden shook his head. “I’ve reviewed the foundation’s contributor lists. We don’t have any anonymous donors, and certainly not ones who’ve made significant contributions.”

“I asked Samantha that question last week,” Logan said. “Didn’t give her any details, since I wasn’t yet sure what was going on. She confirmed your point.”

Braden crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “Isn’t that interesting?”

“Indeed, especially when you look at what happens to those donations.”

“And that is?”

“Some of it flows into the daily expense accounts.” Logan twirled a hand. “You know, clothing for the boys, school supplies, food, mercantile goods, and so on.”

“And that’s where the skimming occurs?”

“Indeed. But the bulk of the anonymous contributions are, over time, siphoned off from the operating account. As far as I can tell, those funds are never utilized by the foundation.”

Braden snorted with disgust. “Haxton.”

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