She pulled up records for another project and studied the invoices, comparing the sub-contractors and suppliers. There were three different suppliers used for the GDK job that weren’t used for the other project. She tried another job site. Then another.
When she found a job site using those same three suppliers, she dug deeper into the project notes and found another similarity—Bruce Geller was the project manager.
She audited all of Geller’s projects for the past six months and found in every case the same three companies appeared. Even more odd, the invoices were for different services or supplies, but nearly the same dollar amounts every time. Always totaling around ten thousand per project. Each company with a P.O. box instead of a physical address, and at the same Zip Code, meaning the same post office.
None of the other project managers used them.
When Thomas returned from his meeting, Nevvie asked him into her office and closed the door. She knew Bruce Geller was a long-time employee, and what she proposed wasn’t good.
“What’s wrong, Nevvie?” He settled across the desk from her.
“How did you know something’s wrong?”
“You look sick to your stomach. Spill it, baby girl.”
“I need to ask you about these three suppliers.” Nevvie showed him the project expenditure sheets she’d printed and pointed to the highlighted items. He frowned, studying them.
“You need to tell me what you think. I trust you.”
“I could be wrong. I don’t know this business like you do, but there’s a weird pattern.” She pointed out Geller’s other projects. “No other project manager uses these three suppliers. Every job Geller manages, these invoices appear in some combination, always totaling ten thousand.”
“Son of a bitch.”
“I’m not saying he’s doing anything wrong,” she hastily added. “It could be a freaky coincidence, or a legitimate expense.”
“He bought a brand new boat last month, Nev. Told me they inherited some money. His wife doesn’t work.” He looked at the papers. “Shit.”
“Tell me I’m wrong, Tom.”
He shook his head, his face grim. “I can’t, because I don’t think you are.”
“Wouldn’t Maggie have caught this?”
“No. She’d spot obvious things, but this wasn’t obvious before we changed stuff around. Especially since she was one of several people sharing the duties. She’d have no reason to think Geller would cheat us or that those weren’t legitimate expenses. He probably spread them around to different people. If we didn’t question them at the project level, accounting wouldn’t have a reason to question them.”
He made a call on his cell, asked someone to meet him in his office immediately. When he finished he turned to her. “Make back-ups of everything. Go into the server, lock his projects down, and do a back-up, right now, in case the son of a bitch tries to delete stuff. Then get me copies of all the print outs. I want listings of all his current projects and billables, including outstanding invoices. As soon as you get the other stuff ready, bring it to my office. Come on in, I’ll be there.”
“Okay.” This wasn’t easy-going Tommy, the man who soothed her out of nightmares, took her to hockey games, or carried her on the back of his Harley. This was Thomas Kinsey, architect, and a very pissed man. From the hard set of his jaw she knew someone was getting an ass chewing—and most likely a trip to jail.
He started for the door then turned and kissed her. “Thank you, sugar” he whispered. “You’re the best.”
Unable to speak, she simply nodded.
Nevvie walked into his office thirty minutes later with everything he requested. Six men and two women sat at the conference table. She hadn’t met Geller in person, but she’d be willing to bet he was the nervous-looking man at the head of the table.
Thomas waved her in. “For those of you who haven’t met her yet this is Nevaeh Barton, my personal assistant.” She handed Thomas the papers and he motioned for her sit behind his desk. “She took over for Maggie. Today she discovered something disturbing and brought it to my attention.”
Thomas thumbed through the paperwork as he circled the conference table, stopping by the nervous man. “Bruce, can you explain this?” Thomas laid out copies of the records.
Nevvie watched the man’s face. He blinked and licked his lips, but shook his head. “Tom, you know we go through so much I can’t keep track in my head—”
Thomas slammed his fist on the table. Everyone else jumped, startled by his uncharacteristically angry display. “How long have you been false billing the company?” he shouted.
Nevvie realized she’d been the only one who didn’t jump.
Because I’m not afraid of him.
Geller stammered and tried to lie his way out of it. When the man dared shoot a nasty look Nevvie’s way, Thomas immediately put himself between her and Geller.
“Don’t you fucking look at her, you goddamned thief. This isn’t her fault. This is you getting your ass caught. I trusted you, you son of a bitch!”
“How do you know she didn’t make those up? Awful funny you get a new helper and suddenly I’m a bad guy. C’mon, Tommy, you’ve known me for years.”
Nevvie watched as Thomas clenched his fists. She thought back to the morning of the fight with Alex, when she wanted to sling the dishes at him to defend her boys.
Please don’t hit him, Tom. He’s not worth it.
Thomas finally turned from Geller. “Cal, escort him straight to his car, get his keys, his ID badge, everything. He’s not allowed back in the building.”
Geller turned red. “What?”
“You’re fired. I’ll go through your desk and box up any personal items and ship them to you. You’re not setting foot in this building again. I suggest you get an attorney. You’re going to need one.”
Cal stood and motioned to Geller, who started handing over items. Then Cal escorted him from the room. Thomas looked at the others, talked with them for a few minutes, and then excused all but two men. When the door closed, Thomas sat where Cal had been, near the head of the table, and motioned for Nevvie to take Geller’s seat.
Now she felt nervous. She hesitantly sat.
Thomas reached over and patted her hand. “Nevvie, this is Mike, and you’ve already met Kenny.” She nodded, still uncomfortable being the center of attention. “Mike’s our accountant. I need you to work with him on this, help him with the audits, track how long this has been going on and see if it’s happening elsewhere.”
“Sure, Mr. Kinsey.”
“It’s okay, sugar. Around these two guys you don’t need to be formal. They’re friends.”
She relaxed. “Okay, whatever you need me to do, Tommy.”
“You’re the first person who had all the information readily available to see the big picture and pick up on it. Geller used that to his advantage all these years. We may have to borrow you from Tyler an extra day or two a week for a while.”
“He won’t mind.”
Thomas winked. “I’m sure he won’t.”
They were the last two in the office. Nevvie assumed that after the day’s events they would work late. Thomas stuck his head in her door around seven. “Ready to blow this joint?”
She smiled then blushed, her comment bit back before she could utter it.
He grinned. “Blow something, huh, sweetie?”
She laughed. “How do you do that?”
“Because you and I are both twisted. Let’s go. I already called Tyler to meet us for dinner.” When she stood, he pulled her to him.