Page 2 of Miss Treated

His face flushed as if he’d never considered the question. “No, absolutely not. He’s only been here for a month, and the expenses have been up for the last year.”

I was relieved. Family working relationships were difficult enough without adding a possible thief in the mix. “I can update you weekly, or more often if you’d prefer.”

“Weekly would be good. I’ll have my assistant set up a standing Friday morning meeting.”

“Terrific.”

“How long do you estimate this assignment will take?”

I would need to go through the books and meet with everyone involved to understand their roles and the company’s processes. “It could be six weeks, it could be twelve. It really depends on what I find and the cooperation I get from your staff in providing the information I request.”

“What do you need from me to get started?”

“To start off, I would like a list of everyone in your accounting department and their functions. I take it all of your accounting staff are located here in San Diego?”

“Actually, most of our billing is done out of the New York City office. But I can make arrangements for you to travel there and meet with my billing manager.”

Blood drained from my face at the mention of New York. The last thing I wanted was to have to travel back to a city which held so many painful memories, a city with the one person I never wanted to see again. But I could suck it up. It would be a business trip. And I needed this assignment and the recommendation I hoped came out of it in order to get a fresh career start.

“Yes, an in-person meeting with the billing manager would be ideal. Another thing I’ll need is back-end database access to your financial system through SQL.” Since the paper trail often told a story told by the people keeping the paper, it was important I be able to query the system itself.

“I’m impressed you know SQL.”

It was a language used to program or pull data from a relational database, and I prided myself on my technical ability to do so. “It’ll enable me to pull records without having to rely on anyone. If you don’t want to give me production access, a copy of the database is sufficient.”

“I’ll get you access by the end of the day. I’ve never worked with someone investigating fraud. What’s your plan?”

“It’s a fair question, Mr. Chambers. I’ll start by looking at all processes and identifying areas of risk. As an example, do you have petty cash?”

“We do.”

“Then I would examine it, already knowing petty cash is an area of high risk for fraud. I’ll also look at the controls you have in place. Approvals, documentation, etc. I’ll see who has access to what.” It was like a puzzle, but the first step was to identify all of the current processes. “I’ll furthermore look at your financials and billing practices. Do you, for example, have a lot of write-offs? How is cash collected and applied from the clients? What do you do with overpayments or retainers? All of those questions will lead to my next steps and determine where I needed to dig deeper.”

There were other things to look at when it came to the person committing the fraud, but I wouldn’t go into the details right now. Best to start with the processes and the risk assessment.

“Sounds like you have a very thorough plan.”

I did. While my personal life might’ve been a train wreck, I’d always excelled professionally. “You’re in good hands, Mr. Chambers.”

“I’ll have Dominic make the introductions. And again, no mention of anything outside of this being a normal audit to anyone but me. Am I clear?”

“Crystal.” I kept my tone firm. I was no longer a people pleaser, easily intimidated. Instead, I was a badass forensic accountant with an incredible knack for finding fraud.

“Terrific.” He glanced at his watch. “Dominic should have been here by now.”

A knock sounded on the door before it opened. In walked the man with unforgettable dimples. My tampon savior from the lobby.

“Kelsey, please meet my son, Dominic Chambers. Dominic, this is Kelsey Maxwell, the auditor I told you about last week.”

Pretty Boy’s eyes sparkled with recognition as he stepped forward to offer his hand. “Lovely to meet you, Kelsey. My friends call me Nic.”

“Nice to meet you too.” At least he didn’t mention how we’d met earlier.

The moment his skin touched mine, it happened again. A spark. He held on a moment longer than was comfortable as if maybe he felt it too. Finally, I snatched my hand away, hating I was affected by such a silly thing.

“Nic, would you please take Kelsey on that tour of the office I mentioned? Perhaps you could take her to lunch today to welcome her.”

Dominic’s voice was smooth as butter. “It would be my pleasure.”