“Lauren! Are you okay?” Kayla almost shouted into the phone.
It warmed her heart that their company was in trouble and the first thing her friend asked was if she was okay. Lauren talked while she started pulling clothes out of the closet.
“I’m so sorry, Kayla. I kept the phone off on the flight and was so tired when I landed that I forgot to turn it on. I got the gist of the problem from your messages and I’m headed in.”
“It’s really bad, Lauren. Bob Reynolds has been embezzling from the company. That’s what was off with the books. I think when he found out Greg was doing the independent audit, he got spooked and decided to run. His wife swears she doesn’t know where he is; we’ve got the police involved and they’re trying to track him down.”
“How long has he been gone?” Lauren put the phone on speaker so she could drag a shirt over her head.
“As best we can tell, he disappeared sometime on Saturday. The office was empty, of course, so he came in to transfer one last batch of money into his accounts. Then he ran.”
“How much money?” Lauren finished buttoning the shirt and tucked it into her slacks.
“We’re still getting a handle on the exact amount, but it’s enough that we’re seriously low on liquid funds. In short, BingeWatch needs an emergency cash injection, and we need it fast.”
Knowing she couldn’t do anything else until she got into the office, Lauren said, “Okay. I’m on my way.”
She knew just how bad it was when Kayla didn’t even say goodbye, just hung up the phone.
When Lauren walked into the office an hour later, she found pandemonium. Having texted Kayla when she parked, her vice president was waiting for her at the elevator door. Emma, her assistant, was there, too, and holding out a cup of coffee, which Lauren gratefully accepted.
They headed straight for her office. Greg joined them and Lauren instructed Emma to keep everyone else out for thirty minutes while she talked with Kayla and Greg.
When they all sat down, Lauren apologized again. “Guys, I’m sorry I wasn’t here. I picked a heck of a time to take my first weekend off in three years.”
Kayla rolled her eyes and tried to make a joke of it. “And that’s why we don’t take time off.”
Lauren huffed a short laugh. “Trust me, I’ve learned my lesson. What else do we know and what do we need to do now?”
Greg was the first to speak. “Let me show you what we found first.”
Lauren listened intently as Greg went over the numbers. Over the last six months, their head of accounting had been pilfering money from the BingeWatch accounts. Bob Reynolds was a fairly recent hire, having come on board about eight months earlier. Lauren had been impressed with his resume and his references. There hadn’t been even a hint that he was capable of something like stealing, so Lauren wondered what she had missed.
At first, Bob only took small amounts. He changed purchase orders so that it looked like the company was being charged for more than the contract stated. When the company paid for products or services, Bob would skim that difference off and deposit it in another account, one that only he had access to.
As best they could figure, when he wasn’t discovered, Bob started to get bolder. He created dummy invoices that the company paid and Bob had the money routed directly into the account he had created. That was what had thrown up a red flag when Kayla had looked over the books.
After Kayla gave him access to their entire financial system, Greg discovered the extra account. He called the bank after realizing that it wasn’t tracked the same way as the company’s other accounts.
“And that’s what tipped Bob off,” Kayla added.
Greg nodded. “He’d set up a sort of dual verification where if anyone else tried to access the account, he would be notified. I made the enquiry to the bank late Friday afternoon, right before they closed. According to Bob’s email, he read that notice around six Friday night.
His wife told us that they had dinner with friends that night, which the police confirmed, so we’re thinking he waited until Saturday morning to come in and empty the account, knowing that the office would most likely be empty then.”
“How did we find out he emptied the account?” Lauren asked.
“The bank sent over the information I’d requested at around ten. About thirty minutes after it showed up, I got a call from the bank asking if I also wanted to know that the account had been cleared out and closed.”
Lauren sat back in her chair. She must have looked despondent because Greg added, “I don’t think there was anything else you could have done.”