15

Technically they were fired, but Sophie had to do something. She’d promised Harry, after all, and it was possible that Kate had discovered the same thing.

And look what had happened to her.

It was nearly ten p.m. by the time she and Leo got back into town, but she had to sort this out now.

Sophie pulled up outside the house on Western Springs Road and turned to Leo. “Hey, can you stay in the car? This will probably go better with just me there.”

Leo looked a little put out but said, “Sure.”

Sophie knocked on the door of the house above Kate’s unit. It took another knock and an obvious peering-through-the-curtains before someone answered.

“Hi, sorry to call around so late, but it’s important,” Sophie said. “Are you Chloe?”

She nodded.

“I wondered if you had a second. I want to ask you about Kate.”

Chloe stared at Sophie wide-eyed for a moment, then opened the door to let her inside. Sophie took a seat in the living room while Chloe made them each a cup of tea. As soon as Chloe had handed Sophie her mug and sat down, her lower lip started to tremble.

“It was so awful.” She shook her head. “I was there when the landlord opened the door... and... the smell.” She looked down and gathered herself before speaking again. “I stayed outside at first, but after the police and ambulance had gone, I went back in. I don’t know why, really. It still didn’t seem real.”

Sophie nodded encouragingly.

Chloe spent five minutes talking in a rambling way about Kate. They hadn’t known each other particularly well, but enough to chitchat at the letterbox. Finally, she blew her nose and said, “Do you know what was kind of weird? It looked like she’d packed this book that she’d already read.”

“Maybe she wanted to re-read it?”

“But she hadn’t liked it. She told me because I was thinking about borrowing it. She said it was a chore to get through. She was going to throw it out.”

“Hmm,” Sophie said. “Do you remember seeing any visitors at Kate’s place recently? I mean, people you maybe hadn’t seen visit her before?”

Chloe reddened. “I mean, it’s not as if I spend all my time watching out the window, but my bedroom is at the front and when someone walks by, I notice.”

“So, she did?”

“I can’t remember when it was exactly, but I remember because they looked so out of place, you know?

Sophie pulled out her phone and spent a few moments searching and scrolling until she found a photo. She held it up for Chloe.

Chloe nodded. “That’s the one.”

***

THE NEXT MORNING, SOPHIE picked Leo up from his place in Mt Eden and they drove downtown. She paid through the nose for a parking spot and then they found a coffee shop so they could fine-tune the hazy plan that had come to Sophie in the early hours of the morning. A little over an hour later they sucked back the last of their coffee, attempted a rallying handshake, and crossed the road to enter the lobby of the building.

“Hi there,” she said brightly to the security guard, trying to look confident as she held her access card up to the reader on the turnstiles. She held her breath for the micro-second it took to turn green then exhaled with relief. Josh couldn’t have told anyone she was fired yet.

Now to get Leo in.

She gave the guard what she hoped was a charming and not at all suspicious smile and gestured at Leo, still waiting on the other side. “I have the new IT guy to take up to Denise in HR. He hasn’t got his access card yet. Can you let him through?”

Leo looked at the guard with a hopeful smile, who gave him a cursory glance—Leo looked about as dangerous as a golden retriever—and turned back to beam at Sophie.

“Sure, love. Here you go.” He opened the door for Leo.

“Thank you.”

Sophie clutched excitedly at Leo as they headed toward the elevator bay. They were in.

On the eighth floor, they exited the elevator and went to hover in the little nook to the left near the water cooler.

“Okay, Leo, make the call and say there’s a package downstairs that has to be signed for. Be insistent. From here you can see when it’s safe to go into the office.”

Leo nodded and got out his phone.

“Remember, you’re only going to have a few minutes. Here’s the bank account you’re looking for.” Sophie shoved a piece of paper into his hand. “Call me if you run into any issues, otherwise I’ll meet you back here in five minutes.”

Outside Josh’s office, Sophie wiped sweaty palms on her skirt, threw back her shoulders and inhaled deeply. She had to do this, no matter how much dread was barrelling through her body, making her stomach contract unpleasantly. For a second she considered bolting for the bathroom, but then shook her head. No, she thought. Just do it. Go in there and tell him.

According to Harry, the only thing Josh was guilty of—apart from being a creep—was buying drugs from Harry. So, Sophie was here to try to get him back on side. If Josh was the one to reveal the scam and save the day, then maybe he wouldn’t be so mad at Sophie, and maybe he wouldn’t follow through on his threat to damn S & S Investigations publicly.

Sophie hovered at Josh’s office door, eyeing Josh. He was at his desk, sipping slowly from a venti-sized coffee, staring at his phone. His eyes were bloodshot and he’d done a terrible job of shaving this morning. Sophie thought she’d probably be able to smell alcohol vapours once she got inside.

Having to deal with a hung-over Josh was not ideal. But she had to do this.

Josh didn’t hear the first knock, but at the second he looked up and saw Sophie.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Josh threw the words at her. “I fired you, remember?”

“I’m sorry, Josh. About, uh, dinner, but we work together, so...”

“Whatever.” Josh waved his hand to dismiss her. “I’ve already moved on.” He took another sip of coffee. He couldn’t quite remember what happened at the end of the night, and even though he’d woken up alone, without his wallet—he must have left it in the Uber so he’d call later and sort that out—he was sure the evening had gone well and he’d even managed to kiss Hannah. He had her number in his phone, after all, saved with a photo of her smiling seductively. He’d text her later to see if she was as hungover as he was, and what she was doing this weekend. He had a feeling that Hannah was going to be a lot of fun. The question was, when should he tell Sophie?

“You have? Oh, good.” Sophie looked relieved “Listen, I’m here because I have something important to tell you. It’s about payroll.”

Josh squinted at Sophie as his head continued to pound. The three Neurofen he’d taken half an hour ago weren’t working yet and he was beginning to regret the Egg McMuffin he’d chowed down on the way here. He dropped his head into his hands and massaged his temples. “What?” he said, without looking up.

“Listen, this is kind of serious.”

Josh raised his head wearily. “What—” Josh broke off as a McMuffin burp escaped.

“Listen to me. There’s a scam going on right under your nose. Someone is siphoning KiwiSaver contributions from the employees. It’s only been going on for a couple of months, but they’re taking quite a lot. The money goes to an international account, and I’m pretty sure I know whose it is. In about five minutes, I think I’m going to have proof.”

Josh groaned.

***

PAIGE BLEW OUT A GUST of air and continued pacing the kitchen. She didn’t know what to do. When she’d arrived home last night, Tim had been going through a recipe book and when she’d asked what he was doing, he’d happily announced that they were having the neighbours over for dinner when they got back from their trip to Wellington. She’d stared at him, unsure about what to say. It felt like some sort of rebellion. But against what?

Then there were Sophie’s messages telling her not to go into work and not to do anything until they spoke, but when Paige called her back she hadn’t picked up.

All she could do right now was fester until either Sophie or Eddie got back to her.

She would go into S & S Investigations, she decided. She had to do something.

As she set about finishing the last half of her coffee, she opened Facebook. Straight away she saw Sophie had been tagged by Josh in a selfie taken at Vivace. Paige was surprised. Not that they were having a drink—she knew they’d gone there to celebrate after the presentation—but from this photo it appeared they’d gotten a bottle of wine and ordered food too. Sophie was smiling, but it was her uncertain smile. It was her—get me out of here—smile that Paige had seen many, many times. Paige was not good at reading facial expressions, but this one she knew. A snake of worry appeared in Paige’s stomach. Had she left Sophie in an awkward situation? Paige was about to try Sophie again when she saw another notification.

This one really got her attention.

Leo had liked Alice Garnet’s photo.

Her mother now had a Facebook account, and was posting things? And Leo was friends with her?

What bizarre world had she returned to?

***

SOPHIE DID NOT, AS she’d been instructed by the fuming Josh, leave the building immediately. He’d been so enraged by her suggestion that someone in his department was fiddling the books that he’d risen from his desk glaring at her, fists clenched and knuckles whitening in a menacing manner, until she’d stumbled out of the room.

Sophie cast her eyes back toward Josh’s office—the door was shut and the blinds were now closed—then went to collect Leo, who was waiting nervously in the corner by the water cooler.

“Did you get it?” Sophie said.

Leo nodded and Sophie high fived him.

“I couldn’t print because I didn’t know where the printer was, but I took screenshots and I emailed myself a copy.” Leo held up his phone. “This should be enough. What do we do now? Where’s that guy Josh?”

“He’s not on board,” Sophie said grimly. After thinking for a moment, she said, “Okay. Can you send me the evidence?” Leo nodded and busied himself with this phone. A moment later Sophie’s phone pinged. “Thank you so much for your help, Leo, but you’d probably better go now.”

“But—”

“I don’t want to have to explain who you are to Denise. It won’t help with what I have to do next.”

“Okay,” Leo grumbled.

Sophie first went to find the Source of All Knowledge—Sharon—but when she couldn’t locate her, she went to find the Person that Made Things Happen—Denise. After a couple of minutes, she spotted her waiting at a printer down the corridor. Feeling very much like Paige, Sophie marched over to her and demanded Denise tell her the identity of the kind-eyed older man who had been in those executive meetings. Both times she’d been too nervous to remember details like names, but if needed, she could describe him well enough for a police sketch artist.

“You must mean Neil Fontenoy,” Denise said after listening carefully to Sophie’s breathless but perfect description.

“Great. Where is he?”

“You can’t just turn up. You have to make an appointment with his assistant.”

“Okay, where is she?”

“Level fourteen.” Denise narrowed her eyes. “What’s this about?” Denise had never liked Josh and she’d happened to see Sophie go into his office then come out again looking red-faced and flustered. “Did Josh do something?”

“Umm.” Sophie eyed Denise, picking up on the hostility and wondering if this was the fastest route to seeing Neil. “Sort of.” Sophie would explain everything properly to Neil, but it was imperative she got in front of him ASAP.

Denise set her lips into a tight line. “Come with me.”

Sophie and Denise rode the elevator to the fourteenth floor in silence—Denise was not one for small talk—and located Neil’s assistant halfway down the corridor.

“Hello Denise. You after Neil? He’s about to join a conference call.”

“It’s important,” Denise barked.

Neil’s assistant’s eyes widened, and even though she was higher up in the hierarchy than Denise, she nodded quickly and said, “You can have five minutes.”

Denise’s powers reached beyond the tenth floor, it seemed.

Ten minutes later, Denise and Sophie were back in the elevator, but this time with Neil Fontenoy in tow. Sophie had backed the right horse in picking Denise to help her with this task. Neil apparently took Denise as seriously as everyone else did. When they’d entered his office, Denise had told him Sophie had something important to say, he’d said, “Well if Denise thinks it’s important, I’m ready to listen.” Denise, a pleased blossom of colour spreading over her cheeks, had clucked to herself with pleasure.

The elevator dinged and the door opened. The three of them turned right and headed toward the two offices along the north wall.

“Hey!” Denise cried suddenly, startling both Sophie and Neil. “Stop!”

They both turned to see Michelle scurrying toward the stairs. “She never takes the stairs,” Denise barked, her eyes ablaze. “She’s making a run for it.”

In those heels? Sophie thought, eyeing the three-inch stiletto ankle boots.

In a burst of motion Denise surged forward, breaking into an unexpectedly quick stride. As Sophie and Neil watched with wide-eyes, Denise leapt forward and tackled Michelle around the waist, bringing her crashing to the ground.

“Got you,” Denise puffed.

***

THE VIBE IN THE CONFERENCE room was tense. Two security guards stood outside and the police had been called. Sophie sat next to Neil, with Denise and Josh on his other side and Michelle, whose mouth was set in a grim line, at the opposite end of the table. She crossed her arms and sniffed, looking out the window as if she didn’t care what was going on, but Sophie thought Michelle was only hanging on to this calm façade by a thread.

“What the hell is going on?” Josh snapped. “Sorry, Neil,” he added, “but this is ridiculous. She’s feeding you nonsense.” Josh waved his hand in Sophie’s direction.

Sophie couldn’t look at him because his anger was palpable.

“Josh, listen,” Neil said.

“She’s a disgruntled consultant. I had to let her go and now she’s making up stories. Everything is fine in my department, Neil, I keep a close eye on things here, you know that.” Josh’s voice took on a cajoling tone.

“Is the payroll system offline and did you download the payroll reports from the last six months?” Neil asked.

Josh nodded sulkily and pushed a USB over to him.

“She has hard evidence, Josh, we can’t ignore that. Harry King, one of your payroll clerks, has provided her with a copy of the report which clearly shows the discrepancy, and she also has a screenshot of the offshore bank account in Michelle’s name, into which the missing money has been transferred. How she managed to get this information I do not know,” Neil paused to flick his eyes to Sophie, “but the fact remains that there is evidence that Michelle here has been defrauding our company for a couple of months now.”

“But how?” Josh said, his voice whiny. “What’s she supposed to have done?”

“Instead of authorising payroll with the KiwiSaver contributions submitted by first Kate, then Harry, she changed the numbers and redirected the rest to her offshore account.”

“What’s she still doing here, then? Why would someone sit around and wait to get caught?”

Sophie cleared her throat. “It seems as if she was waiting for one last payroll to go through before she did a runner. She has flights booked to Spain in two days, I, uh, found her e-tickets.” Sophie turned to Michelle to ask, “What happened to Kate? Chloe, Kate’s neighbour, identified you. She said you’d been to visit Kate before she was found... dead.”

Michelle sniffed again and stared resolutely at Sophie. “I’m not saying anything until I speak to a lawyer.”

“Can I say something?” Denise asked.

“Of course,” Neil replied.

“Kate’s leave wasn’t submitted in the normal way. When it came through it had already been authorised by Michelle. That almost never happens.” Denise sat up straighter in her chair. “I don’t think Kate submitted it at all. I think it was you,” she said to Michelle.

“Was it an accident?” Sophie said softly. Michelle looked down as Sophie continued. “Kate discovered what you’d been up to and you went to Kate’s house to confront her. Or maybe she asked to talk to you about it. And then, what... you got into a fight? There was a struggle? You pushed her and she fell and hit her head?”

Michelle’s lower lip trembled.

“And then you came up with the idea to make it look as if she was packing to go on holiday and had fallen and hit her head, but you needed a paper trail to support this story, so you submitted leave on her behalf. Isn’t that right?”

A tear slid down Michelle’s cheek.

“Oh, Michelle,” Neil said into the silence.

***

TEN MINUTES AFTER THE police had taken Michelle away Josh was still fuming. He could not believe what was happening. He might lose his job over this. And it was all Sophie’s fault. How dare she? First she rejects him and now this? He was livid. After she’d told him her insane theory and he’d told her to leave, she’d gone over his head and convinced that old softie Neil to listen to her. Sophie’s audacity was mind-blowing. Who did she think she was, turning his life upside down like this?

Josh arrived on the third floor just in time to see Sophie exiting her meeting room.

“Sophie!” His eyes burned with anger. “I want a word with you.”