Swindled

by Mayes, June

  “I don’t care,” Beth lied, leaning her head back and closing her eyes. “I just want them to leave me and everyone around me alone. The police spent all morning canvassing our neighbourhood. Talk about overkill. There must be a real suspect out there. Someone Brian pissed off somewhere, anywhere. Why can’t they chase that person?” How could this be happening? Why them?

  “Don’t worry Beth,” Bee said looking sympathetic. “They have to look into all sorts of potential scenarios. There is no way it could be you or anyone of us for that matter.” She gently patted Beth’s hand trying to make her feel better. Beth opened her eyes and looked at her three friends. All of them looked earnest and were trying their best to put her mind at rest.

  “Look that detective seemed like he actually had a brain so he’s bound to find the killer,” Karin agreed as Charlotte nodded. “It must be routine to ask you. They need to make sure of everyone’s alibi.” There was a quiet pause as they thought about it. She continued, “Enough of worrying about it, there is nothing we can do for now so …”

  “Enough stalling,” Charlotte interrupted leaning forward. “You need to tell us a little more about David. It is imperative that you tell us everything about how you met him, where you met him and what you did with him.” She gave a cheeky grin that looked out of place with her squared shoulders and model like pose.

  Beth smiled back and looked at the eager faces sitting around the table. “I think you know more then I do,” she replied slowly with a teasing smile willing to let them drag her away from her panicking thoughts. Charlotte waved Beth’s comments away, she wasn’t going to get out of it that easily.

  “Yes, yes we know all the boring mundane stuff,” Charlotte said. “We want the dirt!” She and Karin looked like two kids staring in the window of a massive candy store. No doubt they were going to try and commit the entire conversation to memory in order to regurgitate it at the most embarrassing moment possible.

  “Leave her alone,” Bee said exasperated. “We don’t need all the details,” she continued watching Beth closely with a gleam in her eye. No doubt she was planning how she could orchestrate getting David and Beth face to face again. Beth wondered briefly how Bee might manage to get David to visit her while she was in jail.

  “That’s right,” Karin agreed with mock sobriety. “We don’t want all the details. All we want to know is how she met him,” Karin gave Bee an exasperated glare. Charlotte and Karin were not about to give up on a good story that easily. Bee shrugged back. She had obviously been trying for a more subtle approach.

  “And it seems there is a story to tell,” Charlotte agreed. They started laughing as Beth’s face turned a dark red. Beth thought about it and realised that if they didn’t get the story from her, they would get it from Vickie. These three had a special talent to getting the truth out of their victims. Finally relenting, she gave them a brief outline of what happened, refrained from going into detail. Once she explained how she had literally fallen at his feet there was no need to say much more. Beth had given them enough to dine out on for the rest of the year, she decided as they laughed themselves silly.

  Chapter 15

  Early Friday morning Beth pulled together all the paperwork that they had on their company. It seemed strange to have to deal with it all now given how everything around Brian’s death was still very much in the air. Still somewhere in the mess of papers there just might be an answer to their financial problem or at least an explanation of how it could have happened. They had to prove that Brian had taken their money to try and claim against the estate. If not, with Brian dead, their money was going to rot in a Swiss bank account somewhere or end up being willed between the numerous ex-wives and mistresses. If they couldn’t find someway to identify their funds Vickie and Beth would have to start from scratch.

  “The real piece missing from the puzzle is how Brian took the money without anyone noticing. Copies of the account were reviewed by the loaning bank quarterly to ensure the investment was safe, there was also a failsafe in place to raise the alarm if there was obvious miss spending,” Scott said running a frustrated hand through his hair.

  “Vickie and I are issued with quarterly reports accounting for spend and at the last review there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary,” Beth agreed looking lost at all the papers in front of them. “All we know from all this is that sometime in the past three months Brian made off with everything and in a way that didn’t raise any red flags with the bank.”

  “If we could get the monthly bank statements for the last three months it would help but that’s one of the things we don’t have,” Scott murmured frowning as he paged through another pile of documents. The bank was willing to issue new statements but that would take at minimum five working days if they were lucky.

  It was frustrating work and Vickie wandered out every half hour or so to fetch more coffee and tea in a bid to help revitalise. Finally in desperation, Beth called Brian’s office. At the best of times the office treated the twins like deranged halfwits. Calling just after their boss, the twin’s brother had died and asking for paperwork was going to seem to prove every misconception right. Not to mention rubbing salt in a wound. Knowing their seedy accountant, the news that Beth had threatened to kill her brother would be common knowledge on the office grapevine.

  Anne, Brian’s ultra efficient senior secretary picked up at first ring. She was an intimidating woman in her mid twenties with a no nonsense reserve that even Brian couldn’t crack. The only woman in his office he hadn’t slept with or at least made a play for. Anne didn’t take kindly to being leered at by the slightly overweight Casanovas.

  Beth took another deep breath and after asking after the welfare of Anne and Brian’s business in the wake of his demise, worked her way up to requesting any information regarding their venture and any private family papers to be sent over.

  Anne was surprisingly upbeat. She didn’t miss a step when she heard Beth’s voice over the phone. There was no flicker of disapproval or anger which calmed Beth’s nervous anticipation. Sounding very much her usual efficient self, Anne assured them that she would make all the arrangements without fail. Vickie and Scott sat watching Beth as she talked and when she hung up they both leaned forward eagerly.

  “Okay she’ll box everything up and send it over,” Beth said with relief.

  “That was easy. I thought things would be more in an uproar and they wouldn’t able to help for weeks. How is the office holding up?” Scott asked. He tended to watch his wife and Beth field the office politics like a soap opera addict. From his point of view, calling Brian meant a new instalment of the latest gossip. Beth had to admit that it could be amusing to find out just who Brian was sleeping with and what he had done with the last fling but being the one gathering the information was never fun.

  “They seem to be trying to get through things the best they can. Anne sounded capable as always and didn’t seem to think it was out of the ordinary for us to ask for the paperwork. She even said that she hoped we weren’t being worried too much by the police as everyone knew we wouldn’t do anything. She offered to help us go through the paperwork if it would help. I guess nothing stops business these days,” Beth explained with a shrug. She was relieved that they would be able to have a look at the files and maybe just maybe if they got lucky there would be something in there to help.

  “I guess so. Kind of a let down though. I thought for sure that even Anne would have lost her composure after what’s happened,” Vickie replied. She looked uncomfortable as she shifted in her chair.

  “Not likely,” Scott laughed pushing away the paperwork lying in front of them to give his wife a gentle rub on her lower back. The two of them were sitting next to one another on the couch. Around the room on every surface there was a pile or a page of crucial information. The three of them were in the family room and the papers were simply everywhere. Each surface had a pile or a page documenting the business and not one page seemed to make any sense. Beth looked he
lplessly around from the armchair she was lazing in. Why couldn’t the answer just be there? Scott must have seen the dismay in Beth’s face, he said, “Look the situation is not as bad as it could be. You have the actual clothing stock which means that it can be sold.”

  “And if we can sell the stock we have money to make the bank payments,” Beth nodded. “But we have to find a way to sell it.” If all the pieces fell into place there was a real chance they could save the business but it wouldn’t be easy.

  “And there is a time constraint,” Scott continued dragging Beth back into the conversation. He sighed. Vickie and Beth looked at him over the piles of paperwork. “I spoke to the bank. They need the payment on Friday. That’s a week from today.” Okay Beth thought, maybe they would need to just concentrate on paying back the loan. To sell enough of their stock in a week would take nothing short of a miracle but it was worth a try.

  “Isn’t there anyway we can delay the payment?” Vickie asked looking earnestly at Scott.

  “The most they can do for us is take payment in good faith. Which means, if you sell enough stock by Friday they will give you credit against the receipts,” he answered running a hand through his hair.

  “How does that help us?” Beth asked frowning down at the loan agreement in her hand. It was a confusion of rules and regulations. There had to be an idiot’s guide to understanding these things, Beth decided.

  “It means you don’t have to have cash in hand as long as you have proof that the cash is coming in by a certain date. If they had wanted cash in hand it would have been too late already,” Scott explained.

  “So we get a week stay of execution?” Beth asked throwing up her hands with a laugh.

  “Yup. We get a week to try and sell the stock,” Scott replied shrugging back at her.

  “I think we should try it,” Vickie said as Scott and Beth turned to look at her. “Look it’s worth a try. Our lingerie is the best out there. All we need to do is find other people who agree with us.” They were right, Beth thought sitting across at the determined couple. There was nothing to loose. If they could start with targeting the best potential leads that would sell their stock exclusively then work their way down to the high street chains there was a chance they could pay off the loan and create a good reputation for the company.

  “I wish Brian had at least made the appointments with a few businesses. Fine, take the money but why not at least give us a fighting chance?” Beth said thinking out loud. If they were going to do this then they had to do it right. Figuring out where to start was probably the biggest stumbling block but once past that they did stand a chance even if it was a small one.

  “I don’t think he even thought beyond taking the money. He was a weasel but he wasn’t vindictive. He didn’t deliberately try to ruin us,” Vickie seemed determined to be positive even when it came to Brian.

  “He just took the money and ran,” Scott agreed as he sifted through another pile of papers.

  “Okay so we plan on finding someway of getting a few good orders for our lingerie… we can do that in a week,” Beth stated quietly in agreement. They really didn’t have anything to loose. Hard as it may be, there was a way and they had a week to give it a go. Besides Beth consoled herself, most businesses have this sort of set back so it was only a delay. It didn’t mean that their company was at its end.

  “And all we need is just one order. One really large order,” Scott clarified.

  With a plan in mind, Vickie and Beth focused on trying to get that elusive appointment. Despite their determination it was like fighting a loosing battle. It seemed that to get an appointment with even a middle level buyer for a shop, there was a strict rule of ‘who did you know’. If you don’t have the right names to drop you don’t even get in the door.

  Beth ran a hand through her hair. How did these shops ever get anything new or innovative in their stores? Of course she thought that could explain why everything was becoming so generic in the shops. A little silk and lace could go a long way in making it a better, or rather, more fun London Beth decided.

  Chapter 16

  David sat and looked through his financials again. He couldn’t believe it. Having finally managed to get his hands on Thomas and his investment records, he couldn’t believe it. He could see why Thomas had been trying to get to the bottom of everything before he handed it all over to David.

  Thomas, a good friend and excellent business manager, had been responsible for all of David’s earnings from the past six months. With retirement looming there had been a great deal of personal appearances, television spots and newspaper interviews that were all money in the bank for David. Now half the money was gone. David shook his head. He couldn’t even blame Thomas for messing up.

  In his infinite wisdom Thomas had put half David’s newly earned funds in high rate savings accounts. A safety net to ensure the funds were protected. When Thomas went on his annual leave, he left instructions that the other half of the funds be over a number of investments which would, if all went well, double their returns. Investments hand picked by Thomas. Somehow all the money he had left in the so called capable hands of the management company, disappeared. It didn’t work that way. Thomas had come back to find that the management company had decided to invest through another company rather then manage the funds themselves.

  “Basically they outsourced it,” Thomas said with disgust in his voice when David picked up the phone to talk to him about it. “Instead of making investments by looking at trends in the market, their manager’s feedback and the personal preferences for investors; the company gave everything over to another company, BG Investments, to handle. It was a very bad idea. Sometime after the money was transferred to BG Investments and before it actually arrived in the account the money had disappeared. All of it,” Thomas sounded exasperated. “There was no trace, no paper trail, nothing. The company can prove that they had given the money to BG Investments and equally BG Investments could prove that the money was not in their accounts nor had it been withdrawn.”

  “So what have they been doing about it?” David asked knowing it was going to pray on his friend’s mind until they got to the bottom of it. “And why did it take so long for everyone to figure out what’s going on?”

  “For the past month it was put down as a banking error and everyone was trying to rectify the situation. As of last Thursday proof had come to light that the money had been deposited with BG Investments,” David could practically hear Thomas shaking his head. “Someone there simply took it all. It took three accountants to figure out what had happened. Apparently it looked like legitimate spending but couldn’t be linked to any real activity.”

  Thomas, since his return from holiday, had been hot on the trail of David’s funds along with the funds of his other clients. He was nearly frothing at the mouth that his company could have done something so stupid. David trusted Thomas completely. From a financial point of view the money wasn’t that great a loss for him but he had to agree with Thomas it was the principle of the thing. Truth be told, David relished the idea of going after both Thomas’s employer and BG Investments.

  Chapter 17

  By 6pm it was apparent that Anne wasn’t going to send over the paperwork that day so Vickie called to ask if they could pick it up instead. Beth refused to make the call herself figuring it was Vickie’s turn to face the music. Vickie suggested that it would be easier if they swung by and got it out of Anne’s hair. Anne however was as efficient as ever. She assured Vickie that the paperwork was in the office and would make its way over to them.

  “I’m getting the distinct impression that our paperwork is not high on the priority list,” Vickie said having come off the phone sounding a bit let down. “Sounds like Anne won’t be sending it until next week at the earliest. She also didn’t sound incredibly pleased with the idea of us descending on them.” They were sitting in the kitchen getting ready to eat dinner. It was already starting to get dark outside, a sure sign that winter was w
ell on its way. Beth tugged her sweater more closely around her. It was almost time to put the heat on.

  “Well that’s understandable I guess,” Beth replied and picked up her cup of tea between her hands to warm them up. It had been a frustrating day and it wasn’t getting any better. “Funny though, I’m pretty sure that the paperwork would be in his flat and not the office. Don’t you remember? He had everything there when we went to see him about the loan,” Beth frowned puzzled. Brian usually kept it all in his flat she was sure of it. The last time they had gone to see him; he had shown them all the loose papers in the sideboard of his sitting room. He had joked about it being the most valuable thing in the flat. No family photo albums for Brian. No, he liked to keep his investment portfolios closer then anything else. Beth wondered idly why Anne would think it was in the office.

  “Maybe she hasn’t ventured there yet which is why she hasn’t sorted it out yet,” said Vickie. “She was so adamant about it being somewhere in the office. Surely she knew that Brian had a whole load of papers in that sideboard. Brian was never one to keep a secret about things like that.”

  “Maybe she knows something we don’t,” said Beth and shrugged at her sister. “But if it’s in his flat it would be easier. Otherwise someone from the office is going to have to go through everything to make sure what’s ours is returned to us and what’s theirs is kept. To be honest, I don’t relish anyone looking through our paperwork until we’ve had a chance to see what Brian’s done.”

  She tilted her head to watch as Vickie shifted in the chair which creaked under her weight.

  “Enough work for today I think,’ Vickie finally said after they had finished their tea and talked for a few more minutes. She was right, they needed a break. Both of the sisters were exhausted. They gave up work and headed into the family room to put up their collective feet. Scott had left an hour earlier for an evening of male bonding over football in the local pub so it was just the two of them alone. The family room was comfortable and relaxing which is just what they needed. Beth and Scott had stacked the paperwork into a huge pile in the corner of the room to be ignored for as long as possible. Sitting back both sisters took a deep breath and visibly tried to de-stress.