give you more detail on that, but the gist of the matter is, we suspect pretty substantial embezzlement is going on.” His expression goes dark as he delivers that bad news. “We have no idea who is responsible; we don’t know if it’s a single actor or more than one person, and we don’t know if the other owners are even aware there’s a problem.”
And the plot thickens. I hate to admit to myself that I’m actually getting excited about working in the middle of this mess.
“Because this is a closely held corporation, a family business, we want to be careful about not stepping on toes. This operation is entirely covert. If and when you make site visits, you will go as a customer, as an undercover employee of some sort, or maybe even a vendor. But under no circumstances will any of our team let anyone at Blue Marine know what we’re up to. And that includes the person who hired us, Hal Jorgensen.”
Ozzie pauses to let that sink in. It seems like everyone’s on board by the way they’re nodding, so I nod too.
“Hal will be aware if and when we put someone in place, but that person will not interact with him; and on the off chance that they do interact with him, it will be as a new employee or a new vendor would with a business owner who they’ve never met before.”
Ozzie’s waiting for something, and I notice that everyone around the table is nodding all over again, so I go ahead and nod more too, although I don’t really know what the hell he’s talking about. Who is he going to put in place over there?
“Lucky, why don’t you give her a rundown of what you found. And anyone else who has something to add, feel free. We want to give Jenny as much information as she needs to get her job done.”
I lift my finger, and everyone stares at me.
Ozzie lifts an eyebrow at me.
“Can I ask one question first?” I say, trying not to sound meek, but failing badly.
Ozzie gestures at me. “By all means. We don’t stand on formality here. If you have something to say, just say it.”
“Do we know exactly what my job is going to be? Or is it something I’m going to have to figure out later, once we get deeper into the financials?”
Ozzie looks at Lucky. “Lucky, why don’t you answer her question.”
I turn to face the man who will now be telling me whether this is a job I can handle or not. This is way more interesting than stringing together code for a company I kind of hate.
Lucky opens up a folder in front of him. It’s very thick. After thumbing through a few papers, he pulls one out and places it on top.
“This is just a little report that I typed up for you. It needs to stay here in the file, but this will give you an idea.” He slides the folder closer to me and points at the first paragraph as he reads aloud. “After going through the financial records of Blue Marine Incorporated, I discovered some irregularities, not only in the accounting used but in the numbers reported, particularly with respect to the charges being assessed by certain service providers. For example, recycling of waste oil, a service that must be utilized by Blue Marine by law, is costing 79% more than the industry average.” He pauses to take a breath. “Similarly, janitorial services for the stores are running 159% higher than the average. However, during a site visit, I saw no evidence of any janitorial service being used that’s worth the premium being paid. On the contrary, I found a store in need of these services.”
I interrupt his recitation. “So, you suspect that someone is creating dummy companies and taking money for themselves, skimming off the top?”
“That’s my theory. That’s the one I’m running with, anyway, until I get more information.”
I nod, encouraging him to continue.
“I have access to the server remotely, using Mr. Jorgensen’s username and password; however, I don’t know if that’s enough.”
I shrug. “It might not be.”
“What do you mean?”
“They could be using the local drive of a single computer that isn’t networked in or viewable via the server. I wouldn’t know without getting onto or into the actual computers themselves.”
“We could get you into the computers if you need that kind of access,” Lucky says.
I nod. “Are you thinking of dropping a virus in there