Chapter 8
CHAPTER 8
S omeone was stealing from them.
Ace swore as he stared at the reports in his hands. It wasn’t a lot. Barely noticeable which is why he hadn’t realized it right away, but there it was. Proof on the page in black and white. Whoever was doing this was smart. They made sure not to steal too much. Just enough to make it look like average losses. A mischarge here, a dine and dash there. It happened.
But they made a mistake.
They forgot that while businesses like Jacks expected a short-changed drawer here and there, it didn’t happen with the consistency he was currently staring at. Why would someone steal from them? They paid their employees good wages, above what every other bar in town paid. The full-time workers had great benefits, hell even most of their part-time workers had benefits. Why would anyone do this?
“Fucking asshole!”
“Woah, I know you don’t like me, but the language is unnecessary,” Millie’s sardonic voice said from behind him. “I just came in here because the delivery driver dropped this up out front.”
Ace turned to see Millie standing in the doorway of the office, blue hair pulled into a messy topknot, a small package in hand.
“That wasn’t directed at you,” he stated simply, grabbing the package from her hand with a muttered thanks.
“That’s good to know.”
She gave a very dramatic gesture of wiping imaginary sweat off her brow. The move was so comical he felt the corner of his lips twitch, but his humor quickly died as she spoke again.
“So, what soured your milk today?”
He frowned. The woman had the strangest expressions he’d ever heard.
“Nothing,” he replied, moving behind his desk and placing the report on it as he opened the package. He hadn’t even shared his findings with his siblings yet, there was no way he’d share them with Millie.
The package was taped up tighter than a Christmas present from Charlie. His baby sister loved to wrap presents in a way that took a solid half an hour to unwrap as she gleefully watched her brother’s struggle.
Ace moved over to the small cabinet in the office and grabbed a box cutter from the top shelf. He sliced through the tape and opened the box to reveal the mock-up of the shot glasses he planned to order for the holiday season. The design was simple. Jacks with a small Santa hat over the J and the year printed on the other side. Nothing fancy, but their customers always enjoyed buying their yearly shot glass. The Blithe sisters had the entire collection dating back to the year they started.
“Holy shit, someone is stealing from you guys?”
Ace whirled around, irritation pricking the back of his throat as he saw Millie standing at his desk, report in hand. Her eyes were wide, red lips dropped open in a shocked O shape as she stared at the paper.
“What the hell, Millie?”
He placed the shot glass back in the box and set it on the shelf, rushing over to his desk and ripping the papers out of her hands.
“Do you make a personal habit of snooping in other people’s spaces?”
She cocked out a hip, placing her hand on it as she glared at him. “I wasn’t snooping, it was right there on the desk.
“Why were you looking at my desk?”
“Why did you leave it out on your desk?”
Frustration boiled his blood. This woman would be the death of him.
“It’s rude to answer a question with another question.”
“Is it?” She tilted her head, lips curving into a sassy smile. “I suppose you would know, being the expert on rude behavior.”
A small throb started behind his eye. He rubbed at the pain, but a small part of him had to admit that as much as arguing with Millie annoyed him, there was something about their verbal sparring. Something addicting.
“You know I’m your boss, right?” he said. “You really shouldn’t be talking to me this way.”
“And you shouldn’t be yelling at me for glancing at a paper you left out in plain sight.”
He let out a heavy sigh. “You’re right. I apologize.”
“Forgiven.”
Red lips curved into a bright, genuine smile. One that knocked him on his ass with its beauty. She might annoy the living daylights out of him, but Ace had to admit Millie’s smile lit up an entire room.
“What’s up with this thief?” she said pointing to the papers.
There was no hope for it. He couldn’t tell her to forget about it and go back to work. Any other employee, he could. But Millie was stubborn. She’d keep pestering him until he told her. Honestly, he was kind of impressed she noticed the theft from just a glance at the reports.
“I don’t know,” he answered truthfully. “I was going over this month’s profit and loss report and noticed the loss count was the same as last month’s.”
She frowned. “That’s not unusual, right? Isn’t it a good thing when your loss numbers stay consistent?”
He arched one eyebrow in question.
Millie shrugged. “I worked the books for one of the places I served at when their accountant went on maternity leave. Spelling I suck at, but numbers? Numbers I can do.”
Of course she did accounting work. What job hadn’t this woman had?
“True, but usually the loss comes from different areas of sales. When I pulled up the reports, I noticed all the missing money is from the till.”
“Which mean’s someone is taking candy from the cookie jar.”
That expression he’d heard of, and it was on point. “Yes.”
“Do you have any suspects?”
His brow furrowed as anger filled him, he hated to think of any of their employees betraying them like this.
“Oh, let me guess.” Her voice turned sour. She hopped up on his desk and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at him with defiance. “Me.”
He blinked, realizing she’d misinterpreted his expression.
“No.” He assured her. “The theft started before you started working here. It couldn’t have been you.”
Her steel gray eyes rolled as she shook her head. “Exonerated by an alibi. So glad you have such faith in my moral character.”
The weird thing was…he didn’t think for one second it was Millie. As much as she frustrated him, Ace knew in his gut she would never actively harm someone like that. He couldn’t say how he knew. He just did.
“Who do your siblings think is doing it?”
“I haven’t told them yet.” He didn’t want to worry them until he knew more. As the oldest, it was his job to take care of shit like this.
“Wait.” She frowned in confusion. “Doesn’t Charlie handle all the money stuff? Why didn’t she see this?”
“Charlie doesn’t see the raw data of the nightly till,” he explained. “She handles the overall accounting, paychecks, orders, tax stuff. Del used to oversee this, but since he moved over to manage the restaurant side, he handles the till over there. I took over the bar’s till.”
“Then Charlie doesn’t see the dailies,” Millie said, nodding with understanding.
“Correct,” he replied. Glancing back down at the reports anger rose again “Fuck! It shouldn’t have taken me this long to see this.”
How could he have been so oblivious to someone stealing right under his nose. Worse than the loss of money was the sting of betrayal. It hurt to know someone they employed, one of their own, was taking from them.
“It’s okay, Ace.” Millie slid off the desk, coming to stand in front of him. She placed a gentle hand on his arm and gave him a reassuring squeeze. “With numbers this small it would take anyone a while to notice the theft.”
“You noticed,” he said, glancing into her bright gray eyes. “In less than five minutes you pegged what was happening from just a glance.”
Her left shoulder lifted in a small shrug. “I’m good with math and patterns. Plus, when I took over the accounting position that one time, I noticed something similar happening. Sadly, it’s not uncommon for someone to skim a bit from the till. Just a little so it’s hardly noticeable. Miriam, the woman who went on maternity leave, had her suspicions and left me a note on what to look out for in the reports. Turned out one of the barbacks had sticky hands. Didn’t think anyone would notice twenty bucks missing here and there.”
“You caught him?” Ace asked.
She nodded. “Yeah. I kept my eyes and ears open. The guy wasn’t very smart. Bragging about his new gaming system which we all knew none of us could afford on what that place paid us. Anyway, I told my bosses who set up a security camera and caught him in the act.”
Damn. He’d gone over their security tapes, but whoever was doing this was smart and knew how to avoid them when the thefts occurred.
“What happened to him?” Ace asked, hoping the person who was stealing from them had a better reason than wanting a new gaming system.
“My boss at the time called the cops and the guy got arrested. He had to pay back everything he took and got some community service. Pretty sure he had to sell his system to pay our boss back.”
The thought of calling the cops on any of his employees didn’t sit right with Ace. He preferred to handle things himself. Sometimes people just fell on hard times and had no other options. But dammit if that was the case why hadn’t the person come to him? He knew he was a hard-ass, but he’d like to think his employees could come to him when they needed help. Going to the cops was a hassle.
“I’m guessing you already checked the security tapes?” Millie asked.
He nodded. “Nothing.”
“Crap.” She glanced down at the reports still clutched in his hands. “What are you going to do? Call the cops?”
He shook his head. “Not yet. I want to look into it more first.”
“Fair enough, but if you question people, they’re either going to clam up or shit their pants.”
What lovely imagery. He wasn’t that scary…was he?
“Oh!” Her face brightened. “What if you ask that hot therapist guy to come question all the employees? He’s dating your sister, right? Bet he could coax a confession out of the culprit.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Hot therapist? You mean, Luc, my sister’s boyfriend.”
Something ugly and red-hot poked at his stomach hearing Millie call Luc hot. Must be because he didn’t want anyone threatening his sister’s relationship. That had to be it.
Millie laughed softly. “I know, but he’s still hot. You can notice someone’s attractiveness even if you’re not pursuing them. For example, Kelley is hot too, but she has a girlfriend so I’m not going there either. I’m no homewrecker.”
He frowned, the red-hot poke still there. “Kelley? I didn’t realize…”
“That I’m pansexual?” she asked, raising one brow. “That a problem?”
“Not at all.” He didn’t care what anyone’s sexual preference was. Love was souls finding their match, his mother always said. No matter who it was. They had a zero-hate policy at Jacks and that extended into their family as well. “But I don’t want to involve Luc or the police. Not until I know more.”
“How do you plan on finding out more?”
Ace thought for a moment, silence filling the small room. He went over everything Millie had said in his brain. Mulling it over, picking out all the important bits until an idea started to emerge. His lips curled in a triumphant grin as a plan started to form.
“I have an idea.”