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My last business for the day was to call Walt with a report on what I’d learned since our meeting.
“So Marzetti may know something about this ITN account,” Walt said. “Cooper as well. You think Cooper might be behind it? Maybe with some help from someone on the inside, like that Ana Lopez gal?”
“She could have been the one to plant the money,” I said. “Ana works in the accounting department, so she’s there all the time. And Ana could have gotten hold of Marzetti’s access code and created the account.” I sighed. “This is all speculation, of course. But there’s no doubt that Brad is the only one currently authorized to create the account, and the money was in his file cabinet.”
“But this thing with Marzetti—”
“I know. If Marzetti found a suspicious account similar to the one Brad discovered, it seems likely we’re talking about the same account. Which would mean the account existed before Brad began working there.”
“And Cooper did nothing after Marzetti told him about it? More than a little suspicious,” Walt growled.
“Which would mean Cooper was involved too. Or . . . .”
“Or what?”
I shook my head. “I’m going to sound like a conspiracy theorist. What if Cooper raised the issue, but someone higher up chose to ignore it?”
“Why would they do that?”
“I don’t know. Unless someone in upper management is part of the embezzlement scheme.”
“If that were true, they could have set Brad up to take the heat off themselves.”
“We’re doing a lot of speculating here,” I said. “We need to get some facts.”
“We also need to keep after them about that audit.” Walt’s tone was brusque. “Plus, from what you’re telling me, we need to get a computer forensics specialist in there to examine the system. We need to do it fast, before . . . .” He paused. “I don’t know what, but we need to do it fast. You’re making me paranoid.”
“Since nobody’s sued or prosecuted anyone yet, we can’t even get a court order to examine the system,” I said. “All we can do is pressure the company to do the right thing and try to find out what we can, however we can. Have you tried talking to Hirschbeck about this? Maybe he’ll be more receptive to you than me.”
“I gave Hirschbeck a buzz earlier today,” Walt said. “He tells me Jones is arranging the audit as fast as she can. As for the computer forensics, he’s balking. In any case, it all has to go through headquarters in Philly, but the audit’s supposed to be in the works.”
“Right. And the check is in the mail.”
“I hear you. Thing that worries me is, if this does go higher than Cooper, maybe whoever it is will pull strings to make sure Brad stays on the hook for it.” He paused. “If Hirschbeck’s doing his job, he should eventually learn the truth, but you know how corporate counsel are sometimes. He may be lazy or turning a blind eye to his client’s shenanigans. He might even be involved. You know this guy. Do you trust him?”
“Not entirely,” I said. “We do have a history. I dated him while we were in law school. It ended ... badly.”
“He dumped you?”
“No!” I blurted the word louder than intended. “I dumped him, after finding out that he snuck into our evidence professor’s office and stole a copy of the final exam. While looking for notes from another class, I found it in his papers after we took the exam. When I confronted him about it, he acted like there was something wrong with me.” The memory made me nauseated. “No, I don’t trust him.”
“Well, that’s not a ringing endorsement, is it?” Walt said. “I take it your history hasn’t made dealing with him any easier?”
“I guess he’s pissed about how it ended. I knew I could never respect the man again. So I broke it off. I don’t think he’s ever forgiven me. Which is a hell of a thing, considering I did nothing wrong. I never ratted him out. You’d think that would be worth something to him. Jerk.”
“Male pride,” Walt said. “You took the high road, and he resented your implication that he wasn’t good enough for you.”
“Well, he wasn’t.”
“I can be the contact, if you’d prefer.”
“No, Walt,” I assured him. “I’ve dealt with difficult people before. It’s part of what we do. I can handle this.”
“I know you can. But if you keep hitting a brick wall with this clown ...”
I smiled. “I’ll let you know.”
“Good. So what’s our next move, kiddo?”
