Chapter Seventeen
Lucas
“It’ll just be a quick lunch,” I told Valerie as we entered the café.
“We need to get everyone up to speed.”
She’d been arguing with me since we walked into the building. I was insisting we get some food. “We will. I doubt everyone will be able to meet until later this afternoon.”
“I get that, but…”
I rested my finger against her soft lips to stop her. “We both need to eat, but I’ll compromise. How about we grab food and go to the office to eat? Can you agree to that?”
“All right,” she mumbled against my finger.
“Good.” I removed my finger and guided her into line.
“Cheeseburger with fries, please,” Valerie ordered.
“I’ll have the same.” At least she was ordering solid food, something that would sustain her through the afternoon.
I carried our food back to the office. Valerie grabbed her box and went to her desk, while I went to mine. “Are you mad at me?” I asked.
“No. I just hate it when you’re right. This smells wonderful, and my stomach is growling.” She opened her box and took a big bite of her burger.
Hiding a grin, I dug into my food. In between bites, I called everyone, and we decided to meet at two.
“Perfect.” She was typing away on her computer. “It will give me time to do a quick search on something.”
I glanced at her food. It was almost gone. Good.
A few minutes before two, we made our way to the conference room.
Valerie looked nervous, but I couldn’t put my finger on the reason why. She’d met everyone before, well, except John. But our boss was a good guy, which was why turnover at the company was so low.
I made a mental note to see if we could find out the turnover rate at Rustic. I had to wonder if that might be a reason for the quality issues we saw.
Cassie, Marcus, and Miles were already there when we walked in. Miles and Marcus automatically stood when they saw Valerie.
“Tour go south?” Marcus asked.
“Not exactly,” I answered and guided Valerie to a chair and held it out for her. I didn’t miss Marcus’ and Miles’ raised eyebrows.
“Thanks,” she whispered.
Josh, Dean, and John walked in.
“Ms. Ray,” John said. Valerie started to stand, but John waved her back into her seat. “I’m glad to have you onboard.”
“Thank you, sir.”
John took his seat at the head of the table and looked at me, so I dug right in.
“Valerie and I went to Rustic Delights today as arranged.” I glanced around the table. “There was an odd vibe.”
“What do you mean by odd?” Dean asked.
“Valerie pointed out how quiet the warehouse was and how we saw no employees other than the person who let us in, the owner, and the accountant.”
“That is odd if they’re as busy as they tell us they are,” Miles commented.
“Exactly. Another thing. When Valerie and I inspected some of the equipment, we found problems.”
“What kind?” John sat forward.
“Cracked wood, loose fastenings, metal used in places it shouldn’t be used.” I pulled my phone up. “I took pictures.” I passed my phone to John, who looked at them and passed my phone to Josh and so on until it came back to me.
“Ms. Ray?” John looked at Valerie.
“Valerie, please. I saw what Lucas saw. The owner was very nervous, and the best word I can come up with is squirrely.”
“Did you tell him what you saw?” Marcus asked.
“No. I asked him about quality control, but he didn’t know if that had happened or not.”
John nodded. “And the accountant?”
I looked at Valerie.
“At first glance all seemed fine, but her answer about how she categorizes the equipment was off. It’s not a standard process I’ve ever seen. And she uses paper ledgers. Not necessarily a problem, but unusual in everyday scenarios.”
“You use ledgers,” I said.
“Only to do a deep dive. Not for everyday accounting.”
“What do you mean the categorization was off?” Cassie asked.
“There are standard accounting practices. I’m aware with a company like Rustic that the normal categories might not work, but in theory there is nothing to stop them from creating their own.
A lot of items seemed to get thrown into the miscellaneous category and aren’t itemized, which doesn’t allow you to see what is selling and what isn’t.
If they rent out the equipment to others, like they do here, then how do they know what comes back to them and in what condition? ”
“In our contracts with them, we have it spelled out in full detail what we’re renting, and we enclose a copy of that contract when we return the equipment,” Josh said.
“Okay. But let’s say you order three spanking benches, a cross, and two of the bondage chairs, and the fee is five thousand.
On our end, those would be itemized out so we know the cost on each.
For example: they are not all going to cost the same, it would depend on how long they’ve been in service, how long they’re being rented for, and things like that. Details are important in accounting.”
Josh sat back in his seat. “That makes sense.” He glanced at me.
Lucas tapped the conference table. “This is why I wanted to bring a forensic accountant onboard. I know our company inside and out. The owner and accountant at Rustic Designs don’t seem as informed. This kind of shoddy accounting worries me.”
John leaned forward. “Does this give you any insight to their books?”
That was the thousand-dollar question. I hoped Valerie knew the answer because I didn’t.
“A little bit. It’s been difficult due to them not categorizing to what I consider standard. At least their normal expenses seem to pan out.”
“Normal?” Josh asked.
“Things like rent, utilities, stuff like that.” Valerie glanced around the table. “Is there any way I can see the contracts for the equipment? It would help me sort out that miscellaneous category Rustic has.”
Josh looked startled, and Dean flinched.
“Is that going to be a problem?” she asked.
Miles cleared his throat. “Not from an HR perspective.”
“We have to protect our clients,” Cassie chimed in.
“I have signed an NDA, but I can appreciate your level of client care. Aren’t the contracts between Fantasies, Inc. and Rustic?”
“They are,” I commented. “But we should be fine. We use client ID numbers.”
“That’s true,” Josh commented. “And Rustic wouldn’t see that ID, it’s only on our side
“Then we should be good, right?” She tapped a finger against her cheek.
Josh and Dean looked at each other. “Which contracts would you like first?” Josh asked.
“Right now, I haven’t gone further back than a year, so let’s pick a month and start there. It will give me a basis if I have to go further or not.”
Josh and Dean talked quietly to each other. “I think we can have you some of those contracts by mid-week next week. We have to make sure any client identifiers except for the ID numbers has been redacted. Will that work?”
“Yes.”
Valerie sighed. Had she been worried? I wasn’t. Josh and Dean would find a way to make it happen. They wanted this sale to go through to make things easier for them and clean up any issues with the equipment.
“Sounds like a plan,” John said. “I understand all equipment we get from Rustic is inspected and tested before we use it with a client. If their work is shoddy, this should catch it. So keep it up.”
Everyone nodded. John rose, said goodbye, and left the room.
“I’ll go through the customer service records to see if we’ve had any complaints. Off the top of my head, I don’t remember any,” Cassie said.
“There shouldn’t be any. If we encounter an issue, we replace the piece right away. We don’t use it, so most issues with the quality of a particular piece wouldn’t make it as far as customer service,” Josh mentioned.
“I’ll still check the after-service survey we send out. It might not have been a formal complaint, but there may be something there.”
“Makes sense,” I said. “Also, we need to keep better communications when we find faulty equipment.”
“Agreed,” Dean replied.
“On the contracts you’re sending me, does it show when you’ve reported the issue to Rustic and received a substituted piece of equipment?”
“Yes. Is that important?” Josh asked.
“It could be. It would give us knowledge of how often it’s happening.”
“Damn, I never thought of that,” Dean said. “Thanks, Valerie. We’ll separate out the contracts so we can run numbers as well.”
“I feel like I’ve been falling down on the job.” I shook my head.
She reached over and squeezed my leg. “You haven’t. Forensic accounting is a specialty.” My cock jumped, and she flashed me a grin, her eyes filled with delight.
“Are we all going to Whistle Stop tonight?” Miles asked.
I gathered my thoughts and glanced at Valerie, who nodded. “We’re in,” I said, getting another round of raised eyebrows from the guys I used to call my friends. They were killing me right now.
Everyone chimed in that they would be there, and the meeting broke up. Valerie and I went back to our office. Once there, I pinned her to the wall with her hands over her head. “It’s a good thing we’re at work, otherwise I’d teach you a lesson for teasing me.”
Valerie grinned. “I look forward to it.”
Damn if my dick didn’t thicken even more at her saucy tone. Working in the same office would be torture this afternoon.