Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
The phone wouldn’t stop ringing.
“Evelyne! Evelyne!” Debbie called from her office. But Evelyne didn’t respond. She must still be in the file room. She’d gone there earlier to continue the investigation into the missing money, but Debbie was ready to give up the fight. They hadn’t found any evidence that could be used against Phil in a court of law. He’d covered his tracks well. It was clear to Debbie, though, that he’d siphoned money out of their accounts over many months under the guise of doing client work.
Evelyne had been straight with her after checking through their expenses.
“I went through the books like you asked me to, and I noticed that Phil often filed expense claims under general as the accounting category. There are a few others as well, like admin and miscellaneous. I didn’t think much of it, but now I can see that it adds up to quite a bit of money over time. It’s around two million over five years.”
“Two million dollars?” She gasped. That was a fortune. That was money that should’ve been shared with the partners.
She strode to Evelyne’s desk and answered the phone. “Debbie Holmes speaking.”
It was a client looking for an update on a case. She gave them the update then looked at the blinking lights on the telephone. Every line was busy or ringing. It was too much. She couldn’t keep up this pace. She answered another line.
“This is Debbie Holmes.”
“Hi, Debbie Holmes. This is your husband.” Caleb’s voice was soothing, and she wanted to reach through the phone and give him a hug.
“My husband… Wow, it’s good to hear your voice.”
“It would be nice to see you as well. Any chance of that tonight?”
She shook her head slowly as she groaned. “Sorry, I’m working late. I may even sleep here.”
“Sleep there? Please tell me you’re joking.”
“I wish I were, but I’ve got a sofa in my office for this reason. I brought a change of clothes, too, just in case.”
“You don’t have a shower. What are you going to do?”
“I’ll go to the gym downstairs and have a workout. They’ve got showers. I’m sorry, honey. It’s a busy time.”
He snorted. “It’s always a busy time. When is this going to slow down? I was just getting used to spending time with my wife again.”
“I don’t know. But the phone is ringing off the hook, and I have a staff meeting in two minutes. I really have to go. I promise to make it up to you, sweetheart.”
His voice was cold when he replied, “Fine. I’ll talk to you later.”
He hung up before she could tell him she loved him. He was angry—that much was clear. But she didn’t have time to deal with that now. She hung up the phone and strode back to her desk to gather her paperwork for the team meeting. How many people would be there this time? Probably only half a dozen, if the office attendance was anything to go by.
Some of the staff were out meeting with clients, some were in court, but most had left. The office space was becoming emptier by the day.
Evelyne rushed back to her desk just as Debbie walked by.
“Sorry!” she said. “I was in the middle of a file and didn’t want to stop. Has the phone been like this the whole time?”
“Yep. The whole time, and you forgot to transfer it through to your mobile,” Debbie said with a grimace. “Never mind that, though. We’ve got the staff meeting now. They’ll have to go to voicemail.”
She and Evelyne walked into the board room. As they did, she noticed that the group went silent, and there were furtive glances shared between them. She couldn’t blame them. No doubt they were all thinking the same thing. How long could this go on? How long could the firm survive without enough staff to handle the client calls? How long could their sanity prevail under these kinds of conditions? Debbie knew they were all working hard, losing sleep, dealing with unhappy clients. It was part of the deal. When someone left, you took over their portfolio. But it was happening so often now that clients were beginning to leave as well, disgruntled and talking about it openly with their friends. Word was getting around. It was Debbie’s worst nightmare.
She sat at the head of the table and sorted through the papers in front of her. She had intended to go through every client account and get an update, to find out where each case stood, who was on it, what they needed—a status report. It was how they generally finished out each staff meeting. She liked to be across every single case underway, even when the firm was at its peak. She had to know what was going on, and the team meeting was the fastest and most efficient way to do that.
“Good morning, everyone,” she said. She looked around the table at their expectant faces.
There were tired eyes staring back at her. Suits that were rumpled. Hair askew. People were living on takeaway—she’d seen the empty boxes in the kitchen bin. And no doubt every single one of them was frantically looking for a job. She hated to tell them that their pay might be late, since she was still working on getting client receipts for the work they’d completed. It was hard to get clients to pay up when they’d already chosen to find new representation.
“Thanks for being here. I know it’s been a tough few months. The last week, especially, has been difficult on all of us.”
There were murmurs of agreement around the table. This was the end. Why postpone the inevitable? She wanted to go home, put her feet up, and eat something that didn’t come out of a box. She wanted to spend time with her husband, watch a movie, and walk on the beach. She’d earned that at sixty-one years of age. Why was she still pushing herself like this? She’d wanted to keep the firm intact as her legacy, but it was too late for that. The firm she’d built no longer existed.
As she sat in silence, looking around at each of the remaining staff members, they stared back at her, confused. She sighed.
“Unfortunately, the senior partners leaving the firm the way they did has put a strain on the company that we can’t recover from. We’ve had more clients part ways with us in recent days. Big clients. Irreplaceable clients. And none of us is getting enough sleep, so finding new clients is something I can’t expect from any of you at this point.”
Evelyne frowned. She could probably see where this was going, and Debbie offered her a smile. She wanted to apologise to her assistant, who’d been so loyal to her over the years. Tears ached at the back of her throat.
“I want to thank each of you for sticking with me. I can’t tell you how much you all mean to me. This has been my family for so long. This firm has been my legacy, but I’m afraid that legacy is ending. I’m closing the firm.”
There were shocked faces all around the table. One person went to speak but closed their mouth again. They knew it was futile. All of them understood, even if they hadn’t fully expected her to say the words.
Evelyne blinked away tears.
“I’m sorry—I should’ve done this sooner. I can’t offer any of you severance. The money just isn’t there. We’ve had to pay out the partners, and we’ve found other discrepancies in the accounts that I can’t disclose right now. But suffice it to say, we’re closing our doors today. I would appreciate it if you could finish up your paperwork then call all of your clients and let them know. You can feel free to ask me any questions—I’m happy to help where I can. And of course, I will give references to each and every one of you, if you need that.”
She picked up her papers. “Thank you again. This is hard for me, so I won’t stay to say goodbye. I’ll talk to you later.”
She walked out of the room, leaving a stunned silence. Then she let the tears fall down her cheeks as she headed for her office and shut the door behind her. She leaned against the door, crying until she could cry no more. Then she collected her things and left. She drove with the top down on her sports car, letting the wind whip through her hair. She drove and drove until she reached Sunshine Beach. Then she climbed out of the car, kicked off her high heels, and walked along the beach with her toes digging into the sand. She laughed out loud at a seagull who hovered close to her head, looking for scraps. Then she broke into a run and ran into the edge of the water, letting it lap against her feet. She was home.