“So technically, your accounts weren’t hacked then, were they? Someone used legitimate access.”
Beth was stunned into silence for a beat; two beats, before she found her tongue again. Then she leaned forward and got in his face
“My locked desk was still broken into, and personal property stolen. My notebook is still missing,” she growled.
“Then perhaps you should have kept it somewhere safer,” he hissed back, matching her glare for glare.
Beth stood back up and planted her hands on her hips. “That’s it?” she asked incredulously. “That’s all you’ve got to say about the matter?”
“Actually, no.” He passed her a couple of earmarked brown folders. “Since you’ve got a lighter workload, you can finish these.”
Beth took the files and flipped through them. “You have got to be kidding me. These are a mess. There’s no way anyone will be able to turn them in on time.”
She checked the information page. “They don’t even have a bonus attached to them for all that work,” she scoffed. “Good luck finding some idiot to take those on.”
“That idiot would be you,” Bob replied coldly. “You have the time, and it’s your job.”
“Not any more it isn’t,” she said, throwing the folders back down on his desk so that half the contents spilled out. “I quit. The only thing that kept me here was the bonus on the ComTech account. Since I’m not going to get it, and you’re not interested in investigating a clear case of malicious theft, I’m done here.”
Now it was Bob’s turn to be speechless. “You can’t quit! You’ve got a department to run, and we’ve got deadlines to meet before the end of the tax year. That’s only a few weeks away.”
Beth turned on her heel and marched to the door, feeling remarkably liberated, even though she’d just thrown away her only source of income and didn’t know how she was going to pay her rent.
“You walk out of that door and there’ll be no coming back, no matter how much you beg,” Bob screeched, his arm stretched out as he pointed his pudgy finger at the threshold.
“I wouldn’t come back even if you were the one doing the begging Bob,” she threw over her shoulder as she left the room. “I’ll go clear out my desk. I’ve got enough holiday entitlement to cover my months’ notice, so we’ll make that immediate.”
“You’re making a mistake Beth,” he warned, his voice tainted with vitriol.
Beth stopped on the other side of the doorway and gave him an icy look. “No, you’ve made the mistake, Bob. The ComTech account was nowhere near ready to be signed off, not even by me, and I know it better than anyone. Neither were the others. So don’t come crying to me when this backfires on whoever stole my accounts and it comes back on you as the manager, because I won’t be here to clear up the mess.”