and leave me to it…”
Tony grinned. She was wearing an old T shirt of his, and was without doubt the sexiest auditor he’d ever seen. But she was right. She needed her own stuff.
“Okay. I’ll drive you home. You can change, get anything else you’ll need, and we’ll go to Dart. The warehouse will be open, that part of the operation is twenty four seven. And security of course…”
She shook her head. “Your security team are suspects the same as anyone else. You need them out of the picture too, until my audit is complete. Can I suggest you ask Stephen for a couple of his men, just to manage the building, and give your team a couple of days off too? Full pay, obviously.”
“Obviously. Right. You can phone Stephen from the car. Let’s get moving.”
*****
Tony felt redundant. Thea had hardly lifted her gaze from first one terminal, then the next for the last five hours. She was working her way through all his systems, jotting down notes, checking input data against invoices, even requesting that cheques be recalled from their bank.
“I think that’s how the money was syphoned off. Online transactions are easily tracked, the payee electronically recorded. Cheques are easier to fudge. A number, an ambiguous payee name. That‘s how I’d do it.”
“You?”
“Yes, me. If you want to work out how a thief has managed to steal from you the best place to start is to try to work out how you’d have done it. You know your system’s weaknesses, where would you head for? And be sure, if your financial controls are not watertight, if there’s a way to defraud your company someone, at some time, will do it. Dart isn’t secure. It will be, soon. But right now… no.”
Tony gave her a wry smile as he picked up the phone to call his head of finance. Thea could deal with his systems and root out his bad apples. He’d deal with the suspensions.
*****
“Mr diMarco, there’s a David Lister at the front desk. I explained that the company is closed but he insists.”
“Right. I’ll come down.” Tony replaced the phone when his temporary security manager, seconded to Dart by a somewhat startled Stephen Kershaw, hung up. He glanced at Thea. “My Finance Director’s arrived. I’ve been expecting him. He took the news of his suspension hard.”
“You can’t let him in.”
“Got that. Do you want a sandwich or anything, while I’m down there? I think there’s a Polish deli open on Sundays.”
“Chicken salad please. No mayo.”
Dismissed, Tony left her to continue her investigations while he went down to placate his irate corporate accountant.
Another two hours passed. And another two. Thea was still hard at it. Tony had fielded dozens of calls from anxious employees as news of the suspensions circulated, but now the flow had dried up. It was just the two of them. Well, more accurately, Thea, and him keeping her supplied with tea. She was a demon with the IT, over-riding passwords, isolating first one part of his network then another, narrowing down the area they had to search. By ten thirty that evening he was exhausted, but she still looked to be going strong.
“When do you want to pack it in for the night?”
“When I’m finished.”
“We’ll come back tomorrow. Look at it fresh.”
“I don’t want to look at it fresh. I have it now. Almost. Another few hours…”
“You mean you want to work through the night?”
“Yes. That’s best. That way nothing gets lost. Or forgotten. No chance of anyone tampering.”
“The office is locked up, the systems offline.”
“A clever thief might be able to get in remotely. And by now they all know we’re onto something. The thief must be panicking. Really, I’d prefer to stay here and see this through. You don't have to though.”
Tony leaned back in his chair and placed his feet on his desk. “If you’re staying, so am I. Shall I order up a pizza?”
Thea just smiled, nodded, and returned to her work.
*****
“I’m done. We can go home now?” Thea tapped Tony on the shoulder not sure of the protocols in awakening a sleeping Dom. Especially one who has been made to stay at his office all night while she combed through pretty much every file in his system. He’d been sweet tempered about it, keeping her supplied with junk food and occasionally massaging her neck for her. But he’d wanted to go home, and she had refused. That would have consequences, and right now she was bone tired. She hoped