A gruff voice said. “Hi Con. Are you proud of what you did?”
Con frowned. “What? Is that you, Abe?” Abe was the internal auditor who they referred to as “spy.”
“Never mind that. Can you claim to be proud of what you did?”
“Whoever you are,” Con snapped, “your attempt at joking is pathetic. You should learn jokes from me.”
Andrew laughed. “There’s a difference between grade school jokes and grade jokes,” he said.
Con glared at his boss, still holding his phone. “I will hang up on you in six seconds unless you begin to make sense,” he said into the phone.
“A week ago three thousand dollars that was being refunded into the company sundry account you are in charge of went into your pocket. I’ve got the records, Con. You used it for your own purposes and did not issue a receipt for the money that was refunded in cash. You banked it in your account, and sent an email message to your friend Elvis telling him how lucky you were. I’m looking at the message on a screen here.”
Con gulped and was speechless. He got up and walked out through the door to the corridor. “You are looking at the email message I sent on my phone?” Con was speechless for a minute, and his stomach flashed with sudden fear. “Hey, I’m talking to Abe, right? Are you an internal auditor or a spy?”
Con recalled the three grand. He had temporarily transferred it to his account in order to qualify for some bank vetting by a potential business partner because his Dad, who was supposed to lend him business capital, was late in depositing the money and it would probably take more than forty-eight hours.
“I’m cleaning the company, Con. What an appropriate name you’ve got.”
“The name is Connor to you. I intend to return the money within forty-eight hours.”
“And how do you intend to return it? Got some money coming your way?”
Con breathed heavily. “Believe me within forty-eight hours the money will be in the account.”
“And the cycle goes on. You will always use the next deposit to cover the previous amount. I want you to return the money. First, apologize to your boss.”
“What? Come on, you can’t do this! I had problems; I spent it.”
“That does not concern me,” the voice spoke, calm as ever. “I just want the right thing to be done.”
Con thought for a minute. “Okay. I will do it.”
“I will call your boss tomorrow to confirm.”
Con’s idea to pretend he had talked to Andrew evaporated. He felt his heart skip a beat. “Why would you do that? Come on.”
“I have no choice. I’m cleaning up the...”
Con walked back into the office, looking tense.
“For once you look thoughtful, Con,” Claire observed.
“I know what your game is. You spoke to Abe, right?” he spoke to Claire. “Can I speak to you outside, Claire?”
“Hey, why so many secret conversations?” Andrew spread his hands questioningly.
Claire joined Con outside. “You are the only one who knew I had ‘borrowed’ three grand to return it after forty eight hours, Claire. You spoke to Abe! And he’s even spying on emails. You are getting back at me because I no longer want to have casual sex with you. You know why? I found this beautiful girl, and I want to hook up with her. Her name is Lavida.”
“Lavida? Interesting. She’s African American?”
“Does it matter?”
“You are probably a lusty dog trying to sample every female race.”
“You have no right to speak stupid. This is not a lust thing. Mine with you was. I’m really interested in her.”
“That’s what she thinks,” Claire said with a sneer. “I’m going to make your life as miserable as you have made my Friday evenings, Con. Now Abe knows you had borrowed those funds. And does Andrew know you are a cashier Monday to Friday and a rough-edged biker on weekends?”
“There’s a rule against riding motorbikes now?”
“Stay away from the new gal, make my Fridays great as always, and you will be safe, Con.” And with a swing of her hips she walked back into the office.
Con’s phone rang. It was his Dad. “Just deposited the funds in your account, son, and this business better work. What percentage equity is he selling you?”
“Only five percent, Dad. But it’s a very promising business and a year from now my three grand may be worth a hundred.”
Con logged into his account and transferred the funds back to the company account. He would transfer the remaining three to the new business partner’s account later.
He walked back into the office, not looking at Claire, and found his boss just hanging up the phone and now he turned to Con.