Her Balancing Act: Quinlan O'Connor Book 3

by Alyssa Bailey

  “Okay, anything I can help you with?”

  Jason was acting nervous, but he didn’t say a word, just shook his head.

  “Nah, we’re done here,” answered Chuck as he turned for the door and sauntered out. Arrogant cuss, he’s up to something. It doesn’t take two people to carry one receipt. I’m going to figure it out.

  So trying a new tactic, Cheyenne decided to find the old accountant and talk to him about the books. After a week without any luck in locating him, Cheyenne fed up with roadblocks, asked Shelby what happened to the accountant. Shelby had avoided her on the subject before, but Cheyenne was determined to not let up.

  She went into the ranch office with determination written on her face. “Shelby, what happened to the last accountant? I tried to find him, but the company he worked for said he had some family problems and left. He had his last check sent to his post office box.”

  Shelby appeared nonchalant. “Hmm, I don’t have any idea. He was on his way out the door when I came in. He and the previous bookkeeper left quickly once I showed up.”

  Cheyenne was skeptical. “Well, let’s start looking at what I need for the next quarterly reports for now. I’m having difficulty finding how they got their information for the last quarter. It doesn’t add up no matter how I crunch the numbers.”

  The tingle in her belly was not because of her husband this time. She had a foreboding but then felt bad for thinking something was about to happen. This was accounting for heaven’s sake. There was no reason to get so aggressive over numbers. Quinn was right. She needed to relax more. The numbers don’t have back up, but the answers were there, and she would find them. As she began to pull the figures, it was evident that the last reporting consisted of random numbers unsubstantiated and the more she dug, the more she saw that it was a toss and sign job. The accountant and bookkeeper wanted out fast.

  “Shelby, you did the last report, where did these sales numbers come from because I don’t see matching receipts. Look, it seems the same purchases are logged in not once but twice in most cases. And why are we buying feed from three different places who sell at the exact same price, and then only listing them once or twice?”

  “I just take what is given to me and the report from last quarter was from numbers handed to me already tallied. I simply transferred the information straight across to the balance sheet and schedules.”

  “We need to start pulling the last five years reporting, and we’ll download to a thumb drive what is electronic. All the rest lets pull out the boxes. I’ll give a call to Jason and have him bring in Chuck. As the manager, he should know the answers.” Cheyenne picked up the phone putting words to action.

  “Jason, this is Cheyenne O’—Sterling. Say, I need some clarification. When can you and Chuck help me out with the quarterly earnings report and the daily general journal? No, I have the numbers, but they don’t make sense. You can? Thanks. See you then.”

  “Shelby, help me pull out the accounts payable for this quarter so I can get the earnings statements and quarterly taxes done. I have the receivables. Then I’ll work on the back months. They’ll be here in about fifteen minutes.”

  Oddly, Cheyenne thought about the neat French twist she had her long blonde lengths in and the red top with black slacks. She felt in control. She needed that bolster of confidence when speaking to the men.

  “Man, they never came that fast when I had a question, they actually never addressed my questions at all, just said it was fine. I shouldn’t worry about it.”

  “Well, I come from a tough group where honesty and integrity are the daily expectation. If I don’t get straight answers, I’ll call Martin Spencer.” The door slammed closed.

  “Now, that won’t be necessary, little lady.” Cheyenne twirled around to see the ranch manager with a grave look that he tried to mask with an attempted smile that succeeded in only becoming a curled lip sneer. Both he and Jason walked further into the room. She hoped her answers walked in with them.

  “I trust you’re right,” Cheyenne agreed.

  After about thirty minutes of pulling out example after example of lost receipts, odd purchases, and the like, Jason said, “Hey, why are you worried about the cost of things and the reasons behind it? I thought you were just supposed to create the state forms and pay the taxes, stuff like that.”

  “Absolutely correct. However, if in doing that I can’t make the numbers match, and there are unrepresented sales or purchases, my reports, and the taxes will be inaccurate and could cause a lot of problems for the ranch.”

  “Yeah, well, the other accountant fella just took the numbers the bookkeeper gave him, and the bookkeeper took the numbers I gave her. No one bothered with re-doing none of it.”

  “I understand, but I’m beginning to think that the incoming funds were under-reported, and the out-going funds were over-reported.”

  The men shuffled a bit and seemed to be a touch more uneasy. Chuck asked, “What exactly do you mean, anyway?”

  Cheyenne was sure he was not as ignorant as he was presenting. Her suspicions instantly grew. Something was fishy.

  “Okay,” she explained, “basically, less is actually being spent than is reported and more is being earned than is either reported or actually on the bank account statement. So, according to the bank and what numbers can be supported, they don’t match. I can’t tell why yet or what the source of the errors is, but things are just not being reported accurately. Don’t worry; I’ll keep digging until I figure it out. Have you any idea why the discrepancy?”

  It was Jason’s turn to sound ignorant. “So you’re saying that we are making more than we are banking?”

  “The daily operating accounts, no, not so far, because I can track those pretty well. However, on the investment side, big supplies, and Mr. Spencer’s personal ranch account, yes. We have even been charged double for building supplies. That just doesn’t happen to that diverse number of accounts payable without there being a common denominator as the point of change.”

  Cheyenne tried hard not to groan and roll her eyes as she saw the blank looks on both men’s faces. They either truly had no idea of the source of the discrepancies, they had a great understanding and had a racket going, or they were actually dumb as rocks. She still wasn’t ready to buy it. These men could not do an efficient job on the ranch if they were clueless. She went on to explain.

  “And spending more than you can show receipts for is another problem that makes the operating numbers off.”

  “Huh, go figure that. Well, I haven’t any idea what is making all that happen. I have to move the south pasture cattle over. I hope you figure it out. I’m sure dad would be happy for it if you find the problem.” Jason went to put his hat back on as he reached for the door.

  Jason left, and Chuck looked hard at Cheyenne for a minute, then shrugged and turned without another word. He walked out behind Jason.

  “Guess you don’t really get any more than I do out of them. But at least they have the courtesy of denying you in person when they don’t tell you anything,” stated Shelby flatly.

  Cheyenne groaned and did roll her eyes this time. For one brief nanosecond, she thought about Quinn’s response at catching it. He nailed her every time for eye rolls, but in the next second knew he was at their ranch, not this one. She laughed at the mental relief that knowledge gave her.

  Still perplexed with the books, she needed another rancher’s answers so she called Martin. Actually, she asked to see him and brought some examples of odd things she had found.

  “Well, I can’t help you, dear, I’m not the best person in ‘ciphering’ as my mother called it, never could balance a checkbook. My late wife used to do all of that, but she’s been gone these five years.”

  “So, you haven’t looked at your books for five years?” Cheyenne couldn’t imagine Liam or Ciarán going five days, let alone five years or longer.

  “Not precisely. I would always look at the balance sheets, spreadsheets, and tax forms that I
was asked to but other than adding the information to my files, I only did a cursory look. So, see, I truly don’t think I can help you. Have you asked Chuck Wyman or Jason?”

  “Yes, I have, but they seem to have difficulty understanding the concepts I was trying to explain.”

  Martin gave her an odd look but didn’t say anything else as Cheyenne showed him some simple examples. Martin then said, “Investigate away, dear. I sure wouldn’t know if someone had been cooking the books unless you find it. I’ll let the men know I give my full support. You tell me if I can actually help.”

  “Great, sir, I’ll need all the files you have since your wife passed away. I’ll work forward from where I know the books are correct. Usually, I’d go backward but since the only accurate accounting I can trust was your wife’s work, I’ll start there. Can you have the records ready in an hour? I’ll come and get them from you then.”

  “Not a problem. They’ll be ready. Just keep me informed of your discoveries and call me Martin.” After a few more words, Cheyenne left.

  Cheyenne stumbled bringing the last box of files as her boots scraped along the painted porch to her front door. She lunged forward, screeching as she began to lose her hold on the box she was carrying. Suddenly she wasn’t going down, and her box wasn’t so heavy. As she stilled, she saw bigger boots on the porch in front of her. Quinn.

  “Thanks, honey, that was a great catch.”

  “Can’t have my wife hurting herself on her own front porch you know. What’s all this you have?” he asked as he took the box and carried it into her office.

  “I have five years’ worth of reports from the Spencer place. I have one more box.” She started towards the door, and her husband stopped her.

  “Why do you have five years’ worth of reports?” Quinn’s voice was obviously suspicious.

  “And the supporting documentation. I told you the other day something was not adding up. This is how I clear everything up. I start from the place I know was accurate. In this case, it was five years ago. I just work forward from there.”

  “Looks like more work than you have time for and don’t forget that I’m watching carefully for signs of overstress.”

  “If you would just allow me to do what I do best, I won’t be stressed. You’re always watching me and making me worried rather than supporting me and allowing me to settle in and get it done. That’s what’s stressing me.”

  Quinn threw up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. I don’t want to fight with you, so I’ll back off and keep quiet. Until you are over the line, and I have to drag you back, I’ll do my best not to bother you about working.”

  “Great!” She leaned over and offered her lips for his kiss.

  “But not tonight. Tonight I need to be with my wife. I want to see the front of her not the back of her.” He pulled her in for another kiss.

  “Oh, okay, so no backdoor play tonight?”

  “Oh, there’s going to be at least backside play, brat.” He grabbed her luscious bottom cheeks and squeezed them like grapefruit. “Dinner, before or after we play?”

  “I had a later lunch, I can wait. How about you, hungry?”

  “Hungry for you,” he planted a solid kiss on her lips and a swat on her bottom sending her giggling towards the bedroom only to be redirected to their private basement. “Oh no, I mean real play, piscín. We are not vanilla tonight.”

  “Right, like you are ever vanilla.”

  He shrugged. “I’ve been known to paint with solid colors sometimes.”

  “Yeah, my butt,” she teased.

  “So let’s go paint, piscín.”

  The next weeks were very strange in that there weren’t any unexplained double charges, no unusual amounts going out or coming in that did not have a receipt or sales slip of matching numbers. Except for casually inquiring, Chuck didn’t even seem to worry about the books. She had expected him to be almost smug about it when he inquired about them two weeks later.

  While he thought he was playing it cool, that was the final tip-off that something was indeed going on making her dig deeper, with undisguised gusto. He should have cared much more than he let on. And while Jason was a creep, she really didn’t have anything that would connect either of the men to the discordant numbers. She finished the first year of matching supporting documents to accounting and so far things matched perfectly. At first, she was puzzled but instinctively knew things couldn’t have always been off.

  After looking at the precise numbers of Margaret Martin, Cheyenne set up a meeting with Ciarán and Liam at the Circle C ranch office about the oddness of the duplicate entries and the funds going to places she could not identify. She tried to compare the Double S books to Circle C’s accounts.

  Liam finally asked, “Do you ever see things like that in our books? You would know now as much as we would, and you should see the same type of entries in Spencer’s books.”

  “No, your books are easy to read, but you’re a micro-manager when it comes to the books. Sorry, Liam, but you are. Don’t even attempt to look so smug Ciarán, because if it has to do with your part of the ranch, you’re just as nitpicky. Martin is nothing like that. He implicitly trusts his people. Those same employees could be walking off with loads of money, and he wouldn’t notice. Honestly, I think that’s just what’s going on. He’s such a nice man.”

  “Well, what I have to say is that you better be careful. If that’s what’s going on and you discover it, there’s going to be some pretty ticked off recipients to have their side income interrupted. From the sounds of it, their legal income is much less than their illegal income, and that makes people do some outlandish things. Cheyenne, you need to talk to Quinlan as a police officer and your husband.”

  “I will if I need to, I promise. I’m just reviewing the books right now. I’m doing a little digging, no big deal, so quit making it out to be so much. I only came to you two in case I missed something, not for a lecture. My business, remember?”

  Liam gave Cheyenne what his wife called the ‘Dom stare’ and the expected shivered response accompanied her mental acknowledgment of that look. All these O’Connor men cultivated that particular gaze.

  “Quit trying to bully me, Liam,” complained Cheyenne although it was working its magic on her. “Besides Quinn isn’t interested in another man’s ranching books and we have a deal that he’s going to leave me alone and let me just do my job. I’ll remind you two as I mentioned to Quinlan; I’m damn good at my profession.”

  “No, I know you’re an excellent accountant. I’m equally sure your husband isn’t interested in another ranch’s books,” agreed Ciarán, “but he’s more than interested in what his wife is doing and the possible implications for her safety. Therefore, the next time I run into Quinn I’ll be sure to mention our little discussion. You get me, beag amháin?” he tucked his chin and raised his eyebrows.

  “Little one, cute Ciarán, I’m older than you are.” She stood to gather her papers when Ciarán’s hand stayed her movements.

  “Not by much and it wouldn’t matter if you were years older. You’re my sister now, and you’ll do as you’re told when we’re trying to protect you. Understand?” Ciarán’s voice abandoned all the teasing, dropped his tone by what seemed like an octave, and was dead serious. While health was Liam’s biggest area of concern, Parker’s was behavior, and Quinn’s was obedience, Ciarán’s was definitely safety. For a split second, she wondered what the other men’s pet crusade was.

  “Yes, I get it,” she agreed with a pout as she slammed the cover on her notebook closed.

  “Cheyenne, I happen to know a few things about that husband of yours, and I’d suggest you heed our warning. You’ll be looking at those books standing up otherwise if you get my meaning.” Liam punctuated his statements with one cocked eyebrow and a stern voice.

  She knew they really wouldn’t do more than chastise her and Quinn didn’t share well in discipline or anything else, but their meaning was clear. They would make sure Quinn kne
w she might be dipping into dangerous waters. She decided if she was going to continue working on this mystery, she had to show a little respect, grovel a little, to throw them off her trail.

  Cheyenne admitted defeat in her dramatic sigh. “Yes, sir.” She knew it was better to let them think she was giving into their bossiness than have the men push their point.

  To which both of her new brothers smiled broadly and nodded satisfaction.

  “You know, one of these days, I’m not going to listen to you two,” she threatened, not willing to give up all of her autonomy, even as subterfuge.

  “Oh, I have no doubt of that, sweetheart, but we love you, and when we have Quinn warm your butt because of it, or if we ever have to do it, be assured we’ll be doing it solely because we love you,” replied Liam.

  Cheyenne groaned and rolled her eyes. She got up and gathered her laptop. She didn’t think telling them that Quinn would not allow it was going to make a difference, so she left it understood. There was no winning. There never was with these O’Connor men. Once they had it set in their minds about something, a stampede wouldn’t break past their barriers.

  Cheyenne indulged in a little mental giggle visualizing a stampede racing down the pasture and the line of O’Connors standing in a row with their arms crossed. Well, as much as their muscles would allow, staring down the cattle, which, of course, came to a full stop. Yep, it could happen, and she left the offices as she smiled at the thought.

  Cheyenne stopped by the Double S office and was surprised to see Shelby.

  “Hey, I thought you only came in on Wednesdays,” Cheyenne said as she walked in the office, startling the woman. Cheyenne started the computer program she needed and checked her list of things to download.

  “Oh, I didn’t come in yesterday, so I thought I’d come in today. How about you?” She asked as she began closing down the program she was working on. She turned to give her full attention to Cheyenne.

  “Sorry, I disturbed you. Don’t stop on my behalf. I’m just here to quickly get the next bit of information I need. I was going to wait until Monday, but I have some free time and thought I would just work on. I finished year one and now am going to year two.” She hit a few keys and began transferring the few reports that were on the computer files to her portable drive.