Page 67 of The Inmate
Subject: Re: Greetings
Dear Mia,
I have discovered something very unsettling and I need your advice on how to deal with it:
There’s money missing from the company.
It’s a good amount. Enough that whoever has that money could go on a nice holiday with it. But not so much that Seth would notice without somebody digging around.
I missed the discrepancy up until now because it happenedlastyear. The accountant who preceded me either didn’t notice it himself or else decided not to say anything about it.
Something else is fairly clear to me.
All of the account discrepancies are around sales that Natalie made. Not tiny sales, like a few boxes of product. But large sales to huge companies, where a few thousand dollars could potentially get overlooked.
After I noticed it in last year’s records, I went back and checked the year before. Once again, money was missing. Approximately the same amount.
I spent the better part of the afternoon today trying to figure out what to do about it. Of course, the obvious thing to do is go straight to Seth. Part of my job is to catch things like this, and he has a right to know that somebody is stealing from his branch. But at the same time, this is a very serious charge. Like,jailserious. Natalie could get arrested for the amount of money she has stolen.
Despite everything she’s done to me, I don’t want her to go to jail. I don’t know how things became so contentious between us, but I don’t want anything bad to happen to her. I’ve even forgiven her for what she did to my turtles. Maybe she was having a bad day.
After spending the whole afternoon mulling it over, I arrived at a conclusion. I should go to Natalie first. I’ll tell her what I found. I’ll explain to her that she needs to return the money, or else I have no choice but to turn her in.
I’ve been trying so hard to get Natalie to like me, and this might do the trick. I’m sure she’ll appreciate me giving her a heads-up instead of going straight to Seth. After all, that’s what friends do.
Sincerely,
Dawn Schiff
To: Dawn Schiff
From: Mia Hodge
Subject: Re: Greetings
Why are you giving this woman any chances???? You need to go straight to your boss and let him know she’s been stealing from the company! Promise me you will talk to your boss!!!! DO NOT LET HER GET AWAY WITH THIS!!!!!!!
ChapterThirty-Nine
PRESENT DAY
NATALIE
Seth doesn’t saya word to me or give me any indication of what’s wrong as I march behind him to his office. Seth is the only employee at this branch who gets his own office. It used to bother me, but since I spend a lot of time out of the office, I try not to get too upset about working in a cube. But eventually, I’ll have to relocate to another company where I can get a decent workspace.
“Sit,” Seth says in a clipped tone.
He shuts the door behind me. He always used to shut the door like that when we were about to fool around, and like Pavlov’s dogs, I find myself getting a little turned on, despite everything. It’s completely inappropriate, given how my world is crumbling around me right now, but Seth just really does it for me. Too bad the circumstances didn’t work out between us.
I settle down into one of the chairs in front of his desk. “What’s going on?”
Seth sits in his own leather chair. His hands are clasped into fists. “That detective paid me a visit this morning.”
“Oh.”
“Oh?” His eyebrows shoot up. “Is that all you have to say?”
I shake my head. I don’t know what he’s all worked up about.He’snot the one lying about my alibi.
