The tiny turtle figurine. It’s back on my desk.
No. It can’t be. It can’t be. I threw it out. Twice. I didn’t just throw it out, but I brought it all the way to the garbage in the break room. There’s absolutely no way a janitor could have thought I mistakenly threw it away and brought it back to my desk. It was a stretch last time, and now it’s an impossibility.
Somebody put this turtle on my desk on purpose.
“Natalie.”
Who would do that? Who would torture me this way? It couldn’t be some random person on the street. It would have to be somebody who works at this office who has access to my desk. Or at least, somebody who has a way to get a key to the office…
“Natalie.”
I’m vaguely aware of a sharp voice calling out my name. I turn my head, and Seth is standing behind me, a few feet away. There’s a dark look in his eyes.
“Natalie,” he says flatly. “I need to talk to you.”
“Does it have to be now?” I look back at the turtle, then back at him. “Because I—”
“Yes. Now.”
I can tell from the look on Seth’s face that he’s not messing around. What now? I can’t deal with any customer complaints right now. I’ve got much worse concerns.
“In my office,” he adds.
“Fine,” I say. “Let’s go.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
ONE WEEK EARLIER
To: Mia Hodge
From: Dawn Schiff
Subject: Re: Greetings
Dear Mia,
I have discovered something very unsettling and I need your advice on how to deal with it:
There’s money missing from the company.
It’s a good amount. Enough that whoever has that money could go on a nice holiday with it. But not so much that Seth would notice without somebody digging around.
I missed the discrepancy up until now because it happened last year. The accountant who preceded me either didn’t notice it himself or else decided not to say anything about it.
Something else is fairly clear to me.
All of the account discrepancies are around sales that Natalie made. Not tiny sales, like a few boxes of product. But large sales to huge companies, where a few thousand dollars could potentially get overlooked.
After I noticed it in last year’s records, I went back and checked the year before. Once again, money was missing. Approximately the same amount.
I spent the better part of the afternoon today trying to figure out what to do about it. Of course, the obvious thing to do is go straight to Seth. Part of my job is to catch things like this, and he has a right to know that somebody is stealing from his branch. But at the same time, this is a very serious charge. Like, jail serious. Natalie could get arrested for the amount of money she has stolen.
Despite everything she’s done to me, I don’t want her to go to jail. I don’t know how things became so contentious between us, but I don’t want anything bad to happen to her. I’ve even forgiven her for what she did to my turtles. Maybe she was having a bad day.
After spending the whole afternoon mulling it over, I arrived at a conclusion. I should go to Natalie first. I’ll tell her what I found. I’ll explain to her that she needs to return the money, or else I have no choice but to turn her in.
I’ve been trying so hard to get Natalie to like me, and this might do the trick. I’m sure she’ll appreciate me giving her a heads-up instead of going straight to Seth. After all, that’s what friends do.
Sincerely,
Dawn Schiff
To: Dawn Schiff
From: Mia Hodge
Subject: Re: Greetings
Why are you giving this woman any chances???? You need to go straight to your boss and let him know she’s been stealing from the company! Promise me you will talk to your boss!!!! DO NOT LET HER GET AWAY WITH THIS!!!!!!!
Chapter Thirty-Nine
PRESENT DAY
NATALIE
Seth doesn’t say a word to me or give me any indication of what’s wrong as I march behind him to his office. Seth is the only employee at this branch who gets his own office. It used to bother me, but since I spend a lot of time out of the office, I try not to get too upset about working in a cube. But eventually, I’ll have to relocate to another company where I can get a decent workspace.
“Sit,” Seth says in a clipped tone.
He shuts the door behind me. He always used to shut the door like that when we were about to fool around, and like Pavlov’s dogs, I find myself getting a little turned on, despite everything. It’s completely inappropriate, given how my world is crumbling around me right now, but Seth just really does it for me. Too bad the circumstances didn’t work out between us.
I settle down into one of the chairs in front of his desk. “What’s going on?”
Seth sits in his own leather chair. His hands are clasped into fists. “That detective paid me a visit this morning.”
“Oh.”
“Oh?” His eyebrows shoot up. “Is that all you have to say?”
I shake my head. I don’t know what he’s all worked up about. He’s not the one lying about my alibi.
“Is there anything you want to tell me, Natalie?”
Seth always calls me Nat. The fact that he’s repeatedly calling me Natalie makes me think he’s pissed off at me. That and the way his face is red and his knuckles are white.
“No…”
He slams his palms flat on the desk. “Santoro said you stole money from the company. Dawn knew all about it, apparently.”
All the air seems to leave my body. I open my mouth, but no words come out. “I didn’t…” I manage.
“Dawn wrote all about it in an email, apparently,” he continues like I hadn’t spoken. “She was about to confront you about it. About the money you stole from me…”
“No,” I breathe. “I didn’t steal anything…”
“That huge house you have in Boston…” He shakes his head. “I never understood how you were able to afford it. Or all those fancy labels on your clothing… those insanely expensive shoes…”
“Seth…”
“I always noticed how flirty you were with the last accountant we had,” he muses. “Now I finally get it. And of course, it explains why you were so nice to me.”
“Seth!” My eyes bulge out. “You can’t possibly think that I would ever—”
His eyes are filled with rage. “I know what you’re like, Natalie. I’ve seen you bullshit customers. I’ve seen the way you do whatever you have to do to get what you want. I just… I never thought…” He heaves a breath. “I never thought you’d mess with me to get what you want.”
“Because I wouldn’t!” I cry. “Seth, please…”
He holds up his hand. “I don’t want to hear it. You’re on unpaid suspension. Since we don’t have an accountant right now, I’ll go through the accounts myself today. Figure out how much you ripped us off for.”