ONE WEEK EARLIER
To: Mia Hodge From: Dawn Schiff
Subject: Re: Greetings
Dear Mia,
I have discovered something very unsettling and I need your advice on how to deal with it:
There’s money missing from the company.
It’s a good amount. Enough that whoever has that money could go on a nice holiday with it. But not so much that Seth would notice without somebody digging around.
I missed the discrepancy up until now because it happened last year. The accountant who preceded me either didn’t notice it himself or else decided not to say anything about it.
Something else is fairly clear to me.
All of the account discrepancies are around sales that Natalie made. Not tiny sales, like a few boxes of product. But large sales to huge companies, where a few thousand dollars could potentially get overlooked.
After I noticed it in last year’s records, I went back and checked the year before. Once again, money was missing. Approximately the same amount.
I spent the better part of the afternoon today trying to figure out what to do about it. Of course, the obvious thing to do is go straight to Seth. Part of my job is to catch things like this, and he has a right to know that somebody is stealing from his branch. But at the same time, this is a very serious charge. Like, jail serious. Natalie could get arrested for the amount of money she has stolen.
Despite everything she’s done to me, I don’t want her to go to jail. I don’t know how things became so contentious between us, but I don’t want anything bad to happen to her. I’ve even forgiven her for what she did to my turtles. Maybe she was having a bad day.
After spending the whole afternoon mulling it over, I arrived at a conclusion. I should go to Natalie first. I’ll tell her what I found. I’ll explain to her that she needs to return the money, or else I have no choice but to turn her in.
I’ve been trying so hard to get Natalie to like me, and this might do the trick. I’m sure she’ll appreciate me giving her a heads-up instead of going straight to Seth. After all, that’s what friends do.
Sincerely, Dawn Schiff
To: Dawn Schiff From: Mia Hodge
Subject: Re: Greetings
Why are you giving this woman any chances???? You need to go straight to your boss and let him know she’s been stealing from the company! Promise me you will talk to your boss!!!! DO NOT LET HER GET AWAY WITH THIS!!!!!!!
