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13
Cade sat in the middle of the room, papers scattered around him. The tension at the back of his head increased. He rubbed small circles against his temples and willed the pain to go away.
Not like it helped.
Laura sat at his desk. She clicked through spreadsheets and statements on the computer. “We’ve been looking at this for hours. Pouring over numbers and data. I can’t find any discrepancies in the bookkeeping. It might be time to call Matthew.”
He winced, hating what he was about to suggest. “I haven’t looked in his office.”
She frowned. “Why not?”
“It just seems wrong. That’s his personal space, and I guess I was hoping I’d figure out what the hell was on that flash drive and put all the pieces together without having to invade his privacy.”
“That makes sense, but I think the time has come to take that step. We have statements and payment information, which is great. The thing I’m missing is billing. I need to see theactual estimates and amount billed for each project. If there’s a disconnect, that’s where it will be.”
Sighing, he stood then squeezed his eyes closed as a wave of dizziness slammed against him.
“Are you okay?” Laura asked, her voice suddenly so close, her steady hand on his back.
He opened his eyes and smiled down at her. “I am now.”
She grinned.
Resisting the urge to kiss her again, he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Now that she’d opened Pandora’s box, he’d have a hard time keeping his hands off her. But he didn’t want to move too fast.
“Are you sure you don’t want to call Matthew and ask him about everything? He might have a simple answer.” Hope shined from her eyes. She nibbled her bottom lip in the way she did when unsure of herself or what she had to say.
Dammit, he wanted to capture that lip in his mouth.
He needed some space before things took a turn that kept them in his office for the rest of the day. He took a step back and raked his hand through his hair. “Not quite yet. Let’s head into his office and search for the billing statements. If we can’t find what we need, I’ll make the call.”
Laura offered him a wide smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Let’s go. I have plenty of experience digging around in Matthew’s space. I used to do it all the time as a kid.” She winked and led the way out of the room.
Chuckling, he thought back to any incriminating evidence he may have left at Matthew’s when he was younger.
Laura flipped on the light in Matthew’s office. The dark blue walls matched his own, but Matthew’s desk was a light cherry wood with a matching filing cabinet in the corner. Two leather bucket seats sat in front of the desk, a circular table between them with a potted orchid in the middle. Framed photos of pastprojects hung on the walls, while one from his wedding day sat proudly on the desk.
“Any chance you know where the billing statements are?” Laura asked and settled into the rolling chair in front of the computer. She switched on the laptop then cringed. “Hopefully not on here since we need a password.”
He strode across the room to the filing cabinet and opened the top drawer. “We make out the estimates in triplicate. That way we can give the client the exact same paperwork we keep for ourselves. Might be the only actual paper we use in the billing. Everything else is paid and stored electronically.”
“Are the estimates given during the bidding process usually pretty close to what’s due at the end of the project?” Laura spun the chair to face him.
He tipped his head from side to side. “Pretty close. We’ve gotten better over the years at giving a more accurate bid. We learned quickly that people get pretty pissed if we charge much more than what we quote for our services.”
“And you always keep a copy?”
Nodding, he flipped through the labeled files until he found the one he wanted. He unearthed a jam-packed folder with papers spilling out and laid it on the desk before retrieving another one.
“The more recent quotes will be in this one,” he said, dipping his chin toward the one he’d placed right in front of Laura.
She flipped it open then shuffled through the top few pages. “The pantry isn’t in here.”
He wanted to scream his frustration, but he stuffed it down. “Great. Now we get to sift through all this and see what’s missing.”
“There’s a record of all the company’s projects on the computer I’ve been using. I even set it up in a spreadsheet to make things easier to navigate. I think I sent you the file.”
“Let me grab my computer so we can compare everything.”
