Chapter 7 - The Woman with the Ledger
Faye Dorsey knocked on my office door carrying a grocery bag and looking as if she'd walked into the wrong building.
Faye had been Diane's part-time bookkeeper for nearly a decade. She used to bring lemon bars to our Thanksgiving dinners and correct Ryan's grammar when he sent clients invoices. She had retired suddenly in the spring.
"I heard about what happened in your kitchen," she said. "I owe you an apology."
"For what?"
"For knowing your husband was lying and telling myself it wasn't my place."
From the bag she removed a spiral ledger. Numbers ran across the pages in Diane's tight, pointed handwriting. Several entries matched the county rebuilding grants; beside each were amounts marked LABOR, MATERIALS, and TRANSFER.
"I thought she was moving money between projects," Faye said. "Then I saw checks written to subcontractors who told me they'd never worked those jobs."
"Why didn't you report it?"
Faye's eyes filled. "Because my husband was sick, and Diane kept reminding me she could ruin my references. I told myself I'd speak up when things settled down. They never did."
She had copied the notebook with Diane's permission during normal bookkeeping before she left; the original had stayed in Diane's office. Sofia asked Faye to preserve the records, document how she'd obtained them, and speak directly with investigators.
I traced one line with my finger. The grant listed nearly forty thousand dollars for structural work at Teresa's house. The apparent payment to the actual crew was less than eight thousand.
"They took the rest," I said.
"There is more," Faye whispered.
May you like
The final page showed a transfer to an account titled J. CALDER CONSULTING. The account number ended in digits I recognized from a credit alert I had dismissed months ago.
Faye looked frightened. "June, I think they opened a bank account in your name."
