“You’re back a lot earlier than I expected.”
“An army of prostitutes gave me a copy of every invoice they deemed questionable, loaded my laptop with the accounting files in record time, and my blitz call to their accounting department for their total matched what they gave me, so I have enough to start the real work now.”
My phone rang, likely Rick’s relentless attempt to learn more about my headline. I ignored my purse, pressing the up button to summon the elevator.
“You have an hour lunch, so you can take that call if you want. If you want something ordered in, just make sure you give the delivery company our suite and floor so it gets to you. We have a no peanuts, no fish, and no shellfish rule on our floor because one of the secretaries has severe allergies. That means no Thai food, Vietnamese food, or Chinese food as a general rule.”
“No Chinese? Why no Chinese?”
“Fish oil is a common ingredient in Chinese food, and it’s safer to just ban it all. If you have Chinese food, you need to air out for at least half an hour before coming up on this floor. Her allergy is truly severe.”
I couldn’t imagine trying to survive in any city with that combination of allergies, especially one that was on an island and reeked of fish when near the water. “That’s horrible. That poor woman.”
“Let’s just say the receptionist has emergency services on speed dial in case there’s an issue. Most everyone does their best to avoid her allergies, but you’d be surprised what contains peanuts without people realizing it—or fish. The fish oil used in Chinese food surprised pretty much everyone. She learned about that by unfortunate mistake.”
“I’ll make sure to avoid any allergens,” I promised.
“Without overstepping my bounds, can I ask about the army of prostitutes?”
“The allegation that Miss Meltrew hired male prostitutes is true. They’re good workers from the looks of it, and they gathered everything I needed within an hour. They also had a good understanding of what constitutes as an accounting red flag. Those files are in this box, and I’ll be doing a full audit of this marketer’s work first. According to the gentlemen, they didn’t do much accounting work, instead handling other tasks so Miss Meltrew could do the actual accounting while they kept operations smooth. I recommended that their HR department invest in their schooling. If they don’t, you may wish to look into hiring them. They made a good impression.”
“Beyond the accounting hiring fraud.”
“That’s not their fault. I believe Miss Meltrew is the one who falsified their qualifications, and HR didn’t vet her selections. Since nothing seemed amiss, no one investigated. I helped them with their resumés, turned them in to their HR department, and went back to work on the audit. Until I have a better idea of what I’m working with, I don’t need to get any more documentation from them. I loaded all of their digital recordings onto my laptop, so I can work from home as necessary.”
“We’ll try to keep you from working from home as much as possible, although it’ll happen. Your office is this way.” Garret led me to a surprisingly spacious office with a desk and a couch, enough filing cabinets to keep most accountants happy, and a dual-screen setup I’d appreciate once I started doing side-by-side comparisons of files. “Come see me down the hall if you have any questions or find anything important.”
“I’ll do that. Thanks.”
Garret left, and he closed the door behind him. My phone rang again, and I dug out my cell to discover Rick’s number gracing the display. Laughing over his persistence, I connected the call and said, “I never said I was the New Yorker, you know.”
“Well, that’s a relief. I was trying to figure out what I’d tell your brother—and I’d have questions about how you managed to seduce an entire accounting department in such a brief period of time. Where did you get that headline? I searched online and but couldn’t find anything.”
“It’s a clue. If a similar headline shows up online, you may be able to narrow down my location.”
“I find myself grateful for your generosity, and I will be making a point of checking New York for interesting headlines. Your brother claims I have delicate and easily offended sensibilities. For the sake of these sensibilities, might you give me a little more information to work with?”
“An older woman hired a bunch of male prostitutes to work