Tell Me - Ashe Barker Page 0,31
he’d let her sleep all day and take up any outstanding issues later. Much later. “Sir? Tony? I’ve finished.”
“What? All of it?” He opened one eye to peer up at her.
“Yes. All of it. I’m pretty certain I know what’s been happening, and I have the evidence you’ll need to confront the staff responsible. As I feared, it's probably a matter for the police though rather than for your disciplinary procedures. I have a file for them.”
“A… you have a file for the police?”
“Yes. Fraud is a criminal offence. Your Mr Lister has some questions to answer and so do Mrs Benson in purchasing, and Mrs Reece in dispatch. It’s all in here.” She tapped the envelope file where she had stored the originals of the documents the police would find of most interest. “I expect they’ll want to send their own IT specialists in to crawl all over your systems. It’s all set up ready for them.”
“Who did you say? David Lister, and…?”
“Mrs Benson, she’s been generating ghost purchase orders, and as far as I can make out pocketing the associated payments. She had help from Shirley Reece in your dispatch team. They’re cousins. David Lister knew about it and they gave him a cut to turn a blind eye. It’s been going on for nearly three years, ever since Mrs Benson started here. It’s all in there.” Thea tapped the file she’d placed on his desk. “I suggest we go back to your house. Or if you want you can drop me at home. I need to get some sleep. And you can read through the file before we hand it over to the police.”
“What time is it?”
“Twenty to seven.”
“Shit. And you’ve been working all night. You look ready to drop.”
“I am tired. I just don't like leaving a job like that, once I’ve got into it. Thank you for letting me stay. And for waiting.”
Tony got to his feet, stretching. “You’re the hero of the hour, Mrs Richmond. It was the least I could do. Come on. Home, bed, sleep. Before you fall over. And thank you.” He kissed her on the mouth, then took her hand to tow her out of his office. He grabbed the file from his desk as he passed.
In the foyer he paused to exchange a few words with the temporary security guard he’d borrowed from Kershaw’s. He was frowning as they left the building.
“David Lister was back here late last night, after he spoke to me. He became abusive, and only left when he was threatened with the police. We’ll have trouble from him I reckon.”
“He’ll be scared. But it’s already too late for him to do anything to cover his tracks. That’s why we needed to seal the evidence as soon as I suspected, and prevent anyone accessing it. Standard forensic accountancy procedure and it means I can stand up in court and swear to the accuracy of the data we’ve supplied.”
“Will it come to that, do you think?”
“Well, we have enough to justify dismissal, but there’s always the chance one or more of them might decide to challenge us. Better to have the police investigation to fall back on. And it's good for encouraging the others. You know, show them you won't tolerate thieves.”
“You’re right, but still it leaves an unpleasant taste.” He held the door open for her and they exited into the car park, still grey in the early morning light.
“Mr diMarco! Tony. Do you have a moment?”
“Oh fuck, I thought we’d got rid of him. Thea, this is David Lister.” Tony paused and nodded at the middle aged, slightly dishevelled man barrelling towards them. A sleek BMW was parked in the corner of the parking area, its driver’s door swinging open where its occupant had leapt out to confront the pair now leaving the building. “Good morning, David. Have you been here all night?”
“I wanted to talk to you. Those idiots wouldn't let me in. I told them I work here, I’m in charge of finance. You’ll need me to help sort this mess out.”
“Thank you, but we have it under control. Now if you’ll excuse us…”
“But you owe me some sort of explanation. I’ve worked here for years, I know these systems better than anyone. If there was anything amiss I’d be the first to spot it.”
Tony made to sidestep him. “Thank you, Mr Lister. We’ll be in touch in the next few days.”
“We? Who’s we? And who’s this? What’s she doing here?” He jabbed