Her Unexpected Admirer Page 0,49
remain confident despite his harsh words. “I think I’ve found the issue but I’m going to send you the data, as you requested, and you can take a look at it yourself. Let me know if I’m correct or if I should continue digging into the numbers.”
With that, she clicked off of the phone, not willing to give him a chance to respond. He would just be nasty anyway. She compiled all of the reports into one file, attached them to an e-mail, then entered the information that would encrypt the data. Her fingers still hesitated over the “send” button, worried that her father would once again find fault. But she felt pretty certain that this was the evidence that Davis was looking for. So in the end, she pressed the send button, then sat back and waited.
She was too impatient to wait for very long so she pulled up more spreadsheets, looking specifically for the name on the previous invoices but she went through the others as well, not wanting to miss an accomplice. An hour later, her father called her back and snapped right into her ear. No greeting, just his nasty tone of voice saying, “These are all fine, Kate. Do I need to fly over there and show you what you should be looking for? This is ridiculous. I sent you to a very good school and you should know better how to research this information.”
Kate listened, her whole body deflating with the news that she’d been wrong. Again.
When he finally finished his insulting rant, she was slouched in her chair, her forehead resting on the palm of her hand. “I understand,” she told him, her hand shaking from her disappointment. Davis was coming back to Seattle tonight and it would have been thrilling to tell him that she’d found his embezzler. “I’ll keep working.”
“And hurry up! This is getting embarrassing, having you sift through the man’s confidential company files for so long.” With that, she ended the call, still unwilling to deal with him.
Looking around, she was tired, hungry, fed up with bad coffee and ready to pull her hair out. She didn’t want to look at another invoice or receipt again, so disgusted that she’d failed once more. And she’d been so sure! It all made sense because the numbers were so off! How could she have been so wrong? What did those discrepancies mean if they weren’t the embezzler?
Enough! She needed a break. She’d been in the office since early this morning and she needed to just take a break and get some fresh air.
She took all the files with the information and stuffed them into her tote bag, then grabbed it and hurried out of the stuffy office. She had to get out, to breathe fresh air. She couldn’t believe she’d been so wrong! She’d really thought she’d stumbled onto something this afternoon. There were too many reports to all fit into her tote so some of them were in her arms. She was hurrying out of the office, walking quickly down the hallway just looking for escape.
Kate had almost made it to the end of the hallway when she heard the familiar voice. She stopped and looked into the big office, saw Davis behind the desk. He had his hands on his hips and his jacket draped over the back of a chair. “Yes, I understand,” he said, looking up. When he saw Kate standing in the doorway, her hands and tote filled with papers, he gestured for her to come inside but put a finger to his lips, telling her to be quiet. “That’s good to hear,” he responded.
“Kate is a good accountant,” her father’s voice was saying, and Davis’ eyes snapped up to Kate’s, “but she missed this issue completely. Why don’t I come out there and I can take a look, see what else she’s missed? Maybe I should go to the Denver office again and sift through the data. Kate’s just not up to this challenge.”
Davis watched as Kate’s whole body deflated even more. Her blue eyes, normally so full of fire and life, looked like she’d just been whipped. And she probably felt like it too although her wounds were on the inside, where people couldn’t see them.
He’d wondered why she lacked confidence even though she was obviously smart and creative, picking up on things more quickly than others he’d come into contact with. Now he understood. Her father! Of all the people who should be