Five Hours a Year novel · Chapter 15 of 24
Chapter 15: Alec's POV: The Name on the Door
Alec's POV
The partners' table seated eleven, and nine chairs were full when I walked in.
My own chair at the long end had been moved down to the middle.
Nobody mentioned it.
Desmond sat at the head with his hands folded and a look of grave tenderness on his face.
"Alec." He half rose. "Thank you for coming. I know how hard this is."
"I'd like to hear you say it," I said. "All of it, to the table."
"Of course."
He said it well.
He had always said things well.
He told the room I had been under strain since my father-in-law's death, that the Brandt billing had come to light in an audit he'd ordered out of love, and that the committee needed to see the firm act before the committee acted for us.
He did not say the word thief.
He let the table say it for him.
When he finished, a senior partner on my left said quietly, "We can do this in an orderly way. A leave of absence, with pay, until the hearing."
"That's kind," I said.
"It's the best offer you'll get," Desmond said.
I put the gray folder I'd carried in onto the table and slid it down to the senior partner.
"Before you vote, I'd like each of you to read page four."
"This is irregular," Desmond said.
"So is a complaint against me signed by the man who made the entries."
The room went still.
The senior partner opened the folder.
Page four was the weekend clerk's log, a column of dates in his careful hand, and beside each date, the Friday sheet it came from.
Page five was the banking form with Desmond's signature, dated three weeks before I found it.
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