“Can’t help it,” the older man answered. “It’s been going round and round in my head like a damned tickerkin carousel.”
“Why not slow it down a little? We’re not going to get any answers if you’ve thought yourself into a dizzy spell...”
Alastair shook his head and chuckled. Then he glanced at the door as the loud clang from the hall told him somebody had arrived.
“At last,” he murmured.
“Lady Verity Turner-Yardley, sir.” Giles, Alastair’s elegant butler-like tickerkin, held the door open for Verity.
“Alastair. How good to see you. You’re looking well...” Her eyes were worried, but her demeanour was as calm as a pond on a cool night.
“Thank you for coming at such short notice. I think you’ll find this morning most enlightening.” He turned a little. “You know Silas Ashcombe, of course?”
“I do.” She nodded and smiled. “How are you, Forge Master?”
Another clang sent Giles from the room, and Verity’s expression sobered. “Trouble, Alastair?”
“‘Fraid so.” He had no chance to say more, as Lucas walked in, glancing at the occupants. “Good morning.”
Verity’s heart jumped, but she held her countenance. “Sir Lucas? Gracious me, I find myself awash in Ashcombes this morning.”
“Will there be anything else, sir?” Giles looked at Alastair.
“Not at the moment. I’ll ring if we need anything. One small note...I am not at home to any other visitors at the moment. I would prefer not to be disturbed as I have matters to discuss with our guests.”
“Understood, sir.” Giles dipped his head courteously and rumbled himself out of the room.
Verity, enormously aware of Lucas standing beside her, lifted her chin. “Well then, gentlemen.” She removed her bonnet and set it on a bureau near the door. “What’s afoot?”
“I called you here because late last night I found something.” Alastair began.
“And I’m here because I found something too,” said Silas, from the depths of his chair. “It might be the same thing, or if we’re really lucky—or unlucky, as the case may be—it will be different.”
“We won’t know until we take a look at it, so...”
“I have something as well,” Verity interrupted. “If all of us havesomething...” she glanced at Lucas, “this may mean some very serious trouble ahead.”
Alastair nodded. “I think the best way to handle this is for each of us to describe what we’ve found. Let’s get that information out on the table, and take a look at all of it, instead of pieces of it.”
“Agreed.” Silas produced his papers. “I might as well go first. If nobody minds?”
“Of course not,” said Verity, itching to see what the others had discovered.
“Right then.” Silas pulled out a sheet of paper with the Forge watermark engraved on the top. “Instead of wondering if I was making errors, or some numbers were being entered incorrectly, I have monitored the Forge accounts closely, since this whole thing began. It’s not long, I know, but it’s the sort of thingthat can be insidious, creeping around and doing damage before anyone notices.”
“That’s my concern too,” nodded Lucas.
“Well, here’s my problem, or I should sayproblems.He tapped his finger on the paper. “This is a copy of the statement I received, and this...” he pulled out one more sheet, “this is the associated note from the supplier.”
Alastair, Lucas, and Verity leaned in, poring over the information.
Silence reigned while they absorbed the information.
“A second request for confirmation of funds...from a supplier to your bank? Is that how it works?” Verity tilted her head to one side as she glanced at Silas.
“Yes and no. Under ordinary circumstances, when a large order is ready for shipment, the supplier will run a routine request for verification of funding. It’s a safeguard for them, and an alert for us that the order will be shipped very soon.” Silas took a breath. “However, as you’ll see here, the response was not initiated immediately. This resulted in a delay in the shipment—important materials, actually—which in turn led to the foreman of that project arriving at my office, questioning whether he should approve overtime for his crew, since the materials hadn’t arrived on schedule.”
“And no reason for the delay?” Lucas’s voice was calm, but Verity could see something in his eyes. Anger, perhaps? Or just intense curiosity? She didn’t know.
