The orders for the cherry and teak had different signatures. Like the person hadn’t even tried. How had she missed this? How had Dorsey accounting missed this possible fraud? Elizabeth printed every PO and invoice, arranged them by date, and moved to the copier.
She called Grant to see if he knew who’d fulfilled the order. “No,” he said. “The initial box is blank. Which shouldn’t happen. You can’t start the order without it being filled in.”
“Do me a favor,” she said. “Try it with two spaces. See if that saves the order.”
After a few clicks, Grant said, “I’ll be. Yep. Two spaces and the file can be saved.”
“We’ve got a glitch in the system.”
Then she called Ryder. When he didn’t answer, she tried the Cheatham office and was told he’d left for the day.
Grabbing her bag and the evidence, Elizabeth set off to find him.
A low growl emanated from Fred. Ryder glanced up from the computer where he was hovering over his refurbishment files, trying to see the numbers like an investigator.
He’d been so bold in Travis’s office, but now? What if he missed something?
He raised his head when Ginger barked and hurried to the back door.
“Lie down, Ginger. No one is here.” He clicked the printer icon above the spreadsheet. It’d be wise to have a hard copy of his spending…just in case someone doctored the files on the thumb drive. He was starting to be suspicious of everyone.
A soft knock on the back door stirred the dogs into a barking frenzy and proved Ginger was right.
“Simmer down, you two.” Ryder peeked through the window to find Elizabeth under the deck light. He invited her in with “Everything okay?”
“I’ve discovered something.” She plopped her big leather bag on the kitchen counter and pulled out a stack of papers, systematically spreading Dorsey invoices and WMA purchase orders across the counter.
“Invoices and purchase orders?” Ryder scanned the pages. “You mean you didn’t come here to tell me you realized you do like peas?”
“Please, I will never like peas.” She shoved the first stack at him. “POs with your name on them.”
He skimmed the pages. “Can’t be. Two hundred board feet of cherry? An order of teak? For a fire tower?” He shuffled through more papers. “I see my name, but that’s not my signature.”
Elizabeth shoved over his order for pine. “That’s how you make your electronic Rs.” Their eyes met. “I remember from the summers I worked at Ella’s. You always paid with a debit card. And from Angelo’s. When you paid for the pizza.”
“Yeah, I never seemed to have any cash on hand.” Ryder’s gaze lingered on her face for a moment. “So where did these come from?”
“I think someone is charging expensive materials to the WMA and signing your name.”
“Who’s my enemy?” Ryder examined one of the forged orders. “Have these been paid by our finance office?”
“Yes, but something feels off. And the order was fulfilled by someone at Dorsey, but we don’t know who. He or she got around a glitch in our system. Which could mean someone inside Dorsey is part of the fraud.”
“Did you tell Will?”
“No, I came to you first,” she said. “You should go to your boss. I’ll let Will and Dan Harper know.”
“Elizabeth, thank you. This means a lot.” Ryder stacked the printouts on his desk, then motioned to the fridge. “Can I get you something to drink? Water? Soda? Milk?” Now that she was here, he didn’t want her to go. He peeked inside the all-but-empty fridge. “I can make iced tea or?—”
“No, thanks. I appreciate—Ryder, I can’t let you kiss me.”
He looked up. What did she say?
“Th-that’s why I avoid you when it looks like you might…I mean, maybe you don’t want to kiss me and I’m making a fool of myself right now.”
“I want to kiss you. In the worst way. But I get it, Elizabeth. You didn’t want your first kiss to be with a man you didn’t love.” He stepped toward her, letting the fridge door close. “Would it be your first kiss?”
“No, no, that’s not the reason. And well, yes, kissing you would be my first—” She slung her bag over her shoulder. “You said you loved me and…The point is, I can never kiss a man, ever. On the lips, anyway. I could pass on the Epstein–Barr virus, which is the big brother of mono. I can’t do that to you or anyone.”
