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Chapter Sixteen
Running a hand through her hair,Holly wished she had a hairbrush on her. She had done the motion so many times that morning she'd managed to get tangles in her dark brown hair. Nothing a good brushing wouldn't get out, but since her hairbrush was back at the house, she would just have to wait until later.
Besides, unless something suddenly changed in the books in front of her, she was just going to keep repeating the habit over and over again. It was something she had started doing as a kid, and no amount of stress balls or fidget items had ever been able to cure her of it. When she got stressed, she started playing with her hair.
And boy was she stressed.
She was in Nelly's office at the inn, finally sitting down and going over the accounting books. The inn may not have been in its prime at the moment, but it still should've brought in more money than it was. Summer had always been busy enough to keep them afloat for the entire year. There was no reason her mother shouldn't have been able to hire people to help ease her burden.
Except, the money didn't seem to be there. It should've been there. The inn had been solidly booked; as far as Holly could tell, the accounts should have reflected that. But they didn't. No matter how many times Holly went over page after page of numbers, they just didn't seem to be adding up to her.
Finally, she picked up the office phone and called her cousin Roger who managed most of the inn's accounting. He answered on the second ring, and unlike the last time she had called a family member, he actually sounded pleased to hear from her.
They made small talk at first, and Holly filled him in on everything with her mother. Roger promised to come visit her and check on her soon, which was more than anyone else had done. But then, Roger was one of her mother's closest cousins, and he had always kept an eye on things.
"Now, since you're calling me from the office and not your cellphone, I'm guessing you didn't intend for this to be a personal call?" Roger asked.
Holly smirked. He was so much like her mother. He knew how to be polite when needed, but he wasn't afraid to cut the crap either. And when it came to running a business's finances, that was the exact attitude he needed. "I'm going over the books for the inn's finances, but it's not adding up or making sense to me. As far as I can tell, we've been booked pretty solid for the last couple of months. Maybe not sold out like we used to be, but more than enough to get by. But it doesn't seem like the money's all there?"
"I've been wondering that myself," Roger admitted. "I went over everything multiple times, and every penny seems to be accounted for, but the account balances aren't growing like they used to. Nelly kept assuring me everything was fine, but numbers don't lie."
"Now I see why you called me," Holly said as she ran a hand through her hair again. Money was missing from somewhere. All the books added up, which meant something was happening to it before it got logged. If the money didn't get logged, then it wouldn't be noticed if it went missing. But how was money not getting logged? And where was it going?
Roger and Holly went over some of the numbers together. And, like he said, everything added up--except it didn't. Not when Holly pulled up the booking information from the last couple of months. With how many rooms they had sold each night, their recorded income should've been a lot more than what was reported.
Was Nelly's depression to blame? Holly wondered. With all the stress and fatigue, had she somehow mischarged people? Or spent the money on things and forgotten to log it all? She shared her thoughts with Roger, and he was just as stumped as she was.
"It's not like this is Nelly's first year running the place. You know as well as I do she handled more of the back end of the inn even when your dad was still alive. Keeping the books and managing everything was always her strong suit. I can't see her making massive mistakes like this, not unless there's more going on with her than just depression and fatigue."
Holly agreed. A couple of mistakes here and there, Holly could understand in light of the current circumstances. But this was more than just a couple of mistakes. And as far as Holly could tell, it went back more than just a few months too, though she hadn't gotten a chance to go too far back into the books.
Holly turned the office chair, so she could stare out the window as she spoke with Roger. Even between the two of them, they couldn't quite figure out where the money had gone. It obviously hadn't been used to maintain the inn. Nor had it gone to hiring more staff.
So, where was it?
Holly's mind kept going around in circles, not getting her anywhere. She opened her mouth to say something to Roger, but the moment she did, that thought slipped right out of her mind. Instead, she focused on a man walking across the property toward the pier that held their boathouse at the end of it. They used the boathouse to store all the water toys and other items for the inn when they would take out guests on water excursions.
Leaning forward and squinting, Holly tried to make out who the man was. But, try as she might, she didn't recognize him. As far as she knew, he wasn't one of the inn's employees. And if that was the case, then who was he? And what was he doing heading out to the end of the pier toward the boathouse?
"I'll have to call you back," Holly told her uncle. As much as she wanted to get to the bottom of the inn's finances, this was a bit more pressing. If someone thought they could sneak around in broad daylight and steal from them, they were about to get a good shock.
Cell phone in hand, Holly headed out there. She probably should have just called the cops right from the office, but with her luck, if she had done that, it would have ended up actually being an employee she either hadn't met or hadn't recognized. Still, she kept her phone ready, just in case.
By the time she reached the boathouse, the door was open and the man had gone inside. Either he'd had a key, was the world's fastest lock pick, or someone had forgotten to lock it. Any of those options were likely, and Holly made sure to make as little noise as possible as she slipped inside.
It didn't take her long to find the man wandering around a bunch of boxes that were lined up along the left wall. He had a clipboard in hand. He kept glancing at the clipboard, then at the various boxes. The man looked very much like he knew what he was doing and like he belonged there, but up close, Holly still didn't recognize him.
Finally, she stepped forward and stood just a few feet away, arms crossed in front of her chest. Doing her best to look intimidating, she glared at the man. "Can I help you with something?" she asked. Her voice was firm and demanding.
The man jumped and whirled around to face her. His eyes were wide, darting from side to side for a moment. Then, he seemed to regain his composure a bit. He smiled broadly at her, but Holly could tell it was forced. His dark brown eyes were fixated on her, and Holly could see the panic in them.
"You must be Holly," he said in an equally fake voice. He might've been able to fool other people, but Holly saw right through his false calm. "I can't believe this is the first time I've met you. I'm Dean. Randy's business partner?"
Holly narrowed her eyes. She didn't think he was lying, and she vaguely remembered Randy telling her his partner's name was Dean, but with how he was acting, she wasn't quite sure what to believe.
"We had some of the stuff for the marina delivered here. It was easier to store it at the inn until we needed it, you know? I'm guessing Randy didn't tell you?"
Holly shook her head. He hadn't even hinted at anything like that. For all he'd let on, he had cut ties with the inn and the family. If Dad had been alive, she could've seen him asking to borrow some storage space in the boathouse. It wasn't like things were packed tight in there. It only had enough room for two boats, but it did have a lot of space for storage as well.
