“You don’t say. But anyhoo, let me show ya around.” Shirley waved her behind the counter. “We’re not a real big outfit, but we manage almost forty trucks and drivers. The bigger building out back is where they load and repair the rigs and such. The office here is just these few desks in the middle, where our dispatchers are working—once they get off the phones later, I’ll introduce ya—and the three offices off there to the right.” She pointed to the one in the corner. “That’s Silas’s office. He’s nice as far as bosses go. His door is always open, and he’d rather be out here shootin’ the breeze with us or out in the garages with the guys. The door there is for our assistant manager, Judd Downey. He’s the complete opposite of Silas, and I would suggest keeping your head down when he’s here, but he manages a couple other companies too, so he’s only here Mondays and Thursdays.” Shirley walked over to the middle office. “And this is yours until the regular accountant comes back after his mother’s medical procedure. Which kinda came out of nowhere, so I’m glad we could find you on such short notice.”
Yup. Lucky break.
Dani stepped into the small windowless room. Tan walls. A few cream filing cabinets lined one wall and a bookshelf the other. The desk chair tilted slightly to one side. Her back hurt just looking at it. “So this is where I’ll be working?”
“Sure is. I’ll get ya set up for payroll and benefits, but we’ll have to wait for Chris Grantham, the IT guy, to come in later today to get you into the computer system. We still keep some paper files too, so I can show you those. I used to do a lot of the billing and accounts when we were a smaller outfit, but we’ve grown so much in the last seven years since the merger, and it got to be too much to do it all.”
“That’s gotta be good for business and job security.” Dani tried to ignore the ugly space and focus on Shirley.
“Yeah, once we joined Continental Transport, it tripled our business. Then Connor Drews was hired as an accountant. He came in and changed everything to digital books, which I never really learned. Otherwise, I can’t exactly tell you what Connor does except for the times he helps cover the front desk for me when I’m running mail in.”
“My guess is once the IT guy shows me the accounting system used, I’ll be set.” Basic accounting systems all had the same pieces. Money in. Money out. She just had to find the person cooking up the numbers. And in the meantime, hopefully, the heavy wooden door would mute the sounds of her screams of boredom.
After doing the initial paperwork with Shirley, and the IT guy, Chris, walking her through the computer accounting software basics, Dani was all alone in her office. The place could use a plant or two. Not that she could keep them alive, so better stick to artificial. Surprisingly, after a small adjustment, the office chair was comfortable and offered good lumbar support.
Ugh. How did I get to the place of being excited about lumbar support?
Better figure this embezzling thing out as soon as possible. She’d gotten out of finance and accounting for a reason.
The next few hours, she ran reports to get a feel for the way things were run and to become familiar with the main vendors and accounts. But if she didn’t leave these four walls soon, she might fall asleep. She grabbed the salad Lily had packed for her and wandered back out to the open office area. Shirley introduced Dani to two of the dispatchers.
“This is Van Hoyt.” Shirley nodded to the freckled man with a gray-and-red handlebar mustache and beard. Sandy-blond and silver hair stuck out from the edges of his trucker cap. “He’s been workin’ here about as long as I have. But this one here?—”
“Now, Shirley, don’t be calling me old and giving away all my mystery,” said the other dispatcher. Where Van was shaggy and quiet, almost hiding behind all that facial hair and hat, his counterpart was completely bald and boldly stood and stuck out his hand for Dani to shake. His bright-blue eyes crinkled in the corners. “I’m Owen Rice, and may I say it’s about time we brought someone on board with a little style to brighten up the place.”
He was a smooth one. After shaking her hand, he pulled a chair over for her and kept them entertained with hilarious stories of his bulldog, Cordelia, as they ate their lunches. Van was quiet, but his subtle additions to the loud stories Owen told were hilarious. Shirley’s gaze often drifted over Van’s way, but he didn’t seem to notice. Dani was tempted to see if there was a matchmaking opportunity, but she couldn’t let herself get too close. Not when someone here might be embezzling. And she couldn’t let anything cloud her judgment. She needed to show the ASAC that she could be responsible and close this case quickly.
As she stood to go back to her office, two men in stained coveralls walked in.
“Shirley, you shorted me two hours last paycheck again.” Unlike Van and Owen, there was nothing friendly in this man’s expression when he stomped over. His buddy with a crew cut behind him had a cold, calculating look but said nothing.
Shirley might be on the short side, soft and round in shape, but there was no give in her attitude. She pulled back her shoulders and didn’t cower under the first man’s stare.
“Now, Kenny Henshaw, I’ve told you before, if you have something to say, you don’t come barging in here rude-like. And I did not short you anything. You came in ten to fifteen minutes late every day for that pay period. It adds up. If you don’t like it, try getting here on time.”
The mechanic sputtered. “Well, I was only late because I was on company business. You can ask Judd. He can vouch for me.”
Shirley fisted her hands on her hips. “Well, Judd’s not here. It’s Tuesday.”
Kenny seemed to take notice of Dani. “Who are you? I don’t remember inviting you in on this conversation.”
“Oh, hush. It’s not Danielle’s fault you stomped in here and started hollering. If you wanted this to be a private conversation, you shouldn’t have bellowed out all your complaints like this was a picket line or something.” Shirley waved them away. “Now, you and Jim get yourselves out of here and back to work. If Judd confirms your story, I’ll adjust your next paycheck. But I won’t do anything until then.”
As soon as Kenny and his friend Jim left, Shirley shook her head. “That man will do more to get out of work than anyone I know. Anytime I go out to that garage, I see him sittin’ on his duff.”
Owen nodded. “Or working on his own car. I’m pretty sure he’s using company materials for his souped-up Camaro after hours.”
“So you don’t think Judd really had him working on something?” Dani asked them.
Shirley stood and threw away her empty Diet Coke can. “I can’t imagine what it would be, but sure as shootin’, I’ll be asking him before I give that man another dime beyond what his clocked-in hours say. And speaking of which, I guess I should get back to work myself.” She winked at Dani and settled back at her desk.
Dani went to her office. She could see the numbers on paper and figure that out. But she also had to meet all the players at SL Trucking, which meant she needed an excuse to go to the garage and see the workers out there. Because the sooner she figured out this case, the sooner she could move on to bigger cases and make an actual difference.
Seven
How weird was it that at one point, Michael had dreamed of working in a hospital, and now he could hardly stand to be in one? Maybe because it was a reminder of life before his mother died.
Whatever it was, he needed to get over his unease, since they’d left their deep dive into Donner’s finances once Renegade Mercy General Hospital downtown called to say Isaac Carter had woken from his coma. He didn’t want to waste any more time.
