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I paced in front of the windows.
“I want to see everything you’ve found. There has to be some mistake.” Leave it to Easton to defend me blindly.
“Initially, I only looked at the difference in the balance. The lump sum was what was a red flag. After further investigation, the withdrawals have been in smaller increments over the last few months,” Drew said.
“Define smaller,” I demanded.
“Some are in the thousands, some in the hundreds of thousands, and only one or two in the millions range.”
“Then it would take a hell of a lot of withdrawals to add up to several hundred million,” I spat.
“I’m sure once we go through all your projects, everything will align.” Drew folded his arms over his chest, sounding pretty sure we wouldn’t find that very thing at all.
I didn’t take money without approval, but if Drew’s information was correct, the numbers wouldn’t lie. I wracked my brain for how this possibly could’ve happened and came up empty. Had I somehow caused Carter Energy to be in the position we were in?
“Give me all the information. Maybe when I see the amounts it will trigger something.”
“It should all be easy enough to trace since you say you got approval for everything. You keep copies of all of that, right?” Drew asked.
“The balance sheet is what seems to be off. I’ll check it against my own reports, but that binder is in Houston,” I said, irritated I’d left it behind. I wanted answers now.
“I should have an electronic copy of everything.” Easton looked at me with absolute trust as if he knew I’d be vindicated.
Drew stroked his chin. “Didn’t you go ahead on that project in Ector County you found without consulting anybody?”
Easton and Mr. Carter had been out of town, and I’d needed to move fast. We’d needed that lease, and I’d been burned before by waiting too long. How the hell did Drew know about that anyway?
Easton’s brows pulled together. “What is he talking about?”
“I couldn’t reach you or Harris. It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up, and it’s a damn good thing I didn’t. That well has turned out to be the most profitable we’ve drilled this year.” I pointed at him. “You signed off on it when you got back.”
“I did no such thing. The only property we have in Ector County that I’m aware of is a track of about one hundred wells in the southern part. I think I’d know about our most profitable asset for the year.”
Drew clapped his hands. “Since you say Easton signed off on it, there’s no issue. Unless you’re counting that it happened after the fact.”
“I didn’t have time to wait,” I insisted again.
“I guess you didn’t have to since you were CEO,” he said acidly.
“I continued to operate the same way we had been because it worked. And I certainly didn’t abuse my power.”
Drew and I glared at one another.
Easton rubbed his hands up and down his thighs. “If that’s all, I’ve got a lot of data to wade through.”
“We’re good for now.” Drew handed him a thumb drive. “Here’s what I’ve gleaned so far. I’ll have more for you later. I’m going to pull the files and run the code again. It should be the same, but I’d rather check twice.”
Easton stood and slapped his shoulder. “Thanks. Send me that bank account number. I need to deposit some money before Mom and Dad are overdrawn.”
“I’ll text it to you soon.” He turned to me. “It’s good to have the whole gang here.”
“If your father were here, then the whole gang would be together,” I said.
“Right. I’ll see myself out.”
Chapter Twenty
Easton
