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“You were right to come to me first,” I told her coldly as she approached the desk.
From her bag, she pulled out a folder, and instead of handing it over to me, she rounded the desk and moved closer.
“You’re fine where you are,” I groused, incensed when she ignored me and shuffled even nearer to my side.
“I need to show you where there are clear signs of theft,” she argued with a somber smile that I didn’t trust.
Jaw clenched, I snatched the folder away from her and drew out the receipts. I saw she’d circled some totaled amounts in red pen, and that she’d scribbled a name at the top:Billy.
It was difficult to discern what was going on with the figures, mostly because products were itemized under a single number, and without knowing what each digit represented, I didn’t know what was allegedly being stolen.
Determined to hurry Conor along with his computerization of Aoife’s sales, I questioned the one thing I could make sense of, “You think Billy’s stealing from Aoife?”
“Every second time he rings up a purchase, he isn’t including some items that he gives to the client.”
“You’ve seen him charge the client and serve them more than they’d ordered?”
“Yes.” Louise patted my hand. “Was I right to bring this to you?”
I stared at the receipts then shuffled them together and began tucking them away in one of the sleeves she’d used to keep a day’s worth of tickets separate from another day.
Beneath that was a printout of unsold items at closing and the day’s takings.
Finding myself impressed by Aoife’s turnover, I inquired, “What’s he giving away?”
“The cake pops. They’re a dollar a piece. But in the quantities he’s doing this, it’s costing Aoife thirty bucks a day.”
A vague memory of Aoife discussing cake pops over dinner drifted to the surface. I was pretty sure she’d been talking about them as potential loss leaders.
Staring up at her, I asked, “Why do you think he’s stealing?”
She frowned at me. “Because he is.”
“Cake pops are a dollar a piece, but if I remember rightly, Aoife said to give them to customers. To their kids.
“Billy isn’t charging them because Aoife told him he didn’t have to.” Her mouth gaped as she tried to argue with me, but I merely held up a hand to stall her. “I’ll go through these and will determine if you’re lying or if Billy is stealing, but to be frank, I have more faith in him than I do in you.”
“That’s not fair! I work hard for Aoife—”
“Yes, you do, so why are you here trying to cause her extra stress with a bullshit lie about theft?” As I stared up at her, with her diet version of Aoife’s hair and the green contacts that couldn’t match my woman’s beautiful eyes, I spat, “You saw her this morning. Do you think she looked like she was ready to be dealing with this kind of crap?”
“That’s why I brought it to you!”
“Even though I have nothing to do with the company?” I shook my head. “This was just to have some ridiculous excuse to see me, wasn’t it?”
“I think you’re full of yourself. If I can’t report this to Aoife, then who can I report it to other than you?” she argued, trying to grab the folder from my hands.
I snatched it back. “No, you’re the one who’s full of yourself. If you could leap into Aoife’s skin, you still wouldn’tbeher, Louise.” I held the folder away from her. “This is my wife’s property. I’ll go through it to determine there is no theft occurring on the premises, and you can bet I’ll go through it with a fine-tooth comb.”
Her brow puckered. “Why are you being so mean to me? I was only trying to help.”
“You were trying to throw a colleague under the bus so you’d have a reason to come see me.” I thought about this morning when she’d tried to kiss my cheek in thanks for helping and had ‘accidentally’ brushed my mouth and bit off, “Even if you didn’t, this is a case of Peter and the wolf.”
I was ninety-nine percent certain she was spouting bullshit, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t do due diligence.
“I didn’t want to disturb Aoife,” she whined.
“Well, you didn’t. You disturbed me.” My mouth tightened. “I think it’s time for you to leave.”
