The Enemy Who Knew My Name novel · Chapter 3 of 4

Chapter 3: The Audit That Was Not an Audit

Genevieve gives Maeve a public petty-cash test that may expose Nora's search, while Caden watches, covers her planted mistake, and receives a photograph from Genevieve after Nora leaves.

Genevieve clasped Nora's hand and pushed a petty-cash ledger across the glass table before Nora could refuse the meeting.

If Nora failed, Genevieve would know she was disloyal. If she succeeded too well, she might find the filing Nora needed before Nora did.

'Welcome to Salter, Maeve. I thought we might make your first week more useful.'

The ledger landed open to a page of handwritten entries, all dated within the last quarter.

Genevieve released her hand and took the sofa behind the table. Nora remained standing.

There was a chair beside the credenza, but a junior administrator occupied it with a tablet on her knees.

'You can work there,' Genevieve said. 'I prefer to see how people think when nobody has prepared the answer for them.'

Nora looked at the glass table, the open ledger, and the thin folder placed beyond her reach.

'Of course.'

The administrator glanced at Nora's coat, then at the ledger, as though trying to work out whether she belonged in the room.

Nora set her bag beneath the table. She had brought no notebook. That had been deliberate.

Genevieve noticed.

'No notes?'

'I remember figures better when I am not copying them.'

'How efficient. I hope you won't find Salter too slow for you.'

The administrator smiled at that. She had been told this was a welcome meeting, not an examination.

Nora opened the ledger wider.

The first page held office supplies, taxi fares, hospitality, and maintenance payments. The totals had been entered in clean black ink. The receipts were missing.

A framed photograph stood on the credenza behind Genevieve, turned face-down against the wood.

Nora saw the silver edge of its frame and the corner of a dark sleeve beneath it.

Alistair.

She kept her eyes on the ledger.

Genevieve placed a cup of tea beside her own chair, then left Nora without one.

'Begin with the March expenses,' she said. 'Tell me whether anything concerns you.'

'You want an answer before I see the supporting documents.'

'I want your first impression. People reveal more before they have time to become cautious.'

'That sounds uncomfortable for the people involved.'

The administrator gave a small laugh, then stopped when Genevieve looked at her.

Nora read down the entries. A courier charge appeared three times under separate vendor names. The card suffix matched each receipt number.

The reimbursements had been split below the reporting threshold, then transferred into a hospitality code.

She reached the bottom of the page and tapped one line with her finger.

'What would you test first?' Genevieve asked.

'Whether the duplicate claims share a card number, approval route, or staff identifier.'

'And if they do not?'

'I would compare the time stamps and the vendor account details. A false separation usually leaves one unchanged field.'

Genevieve leaned back. Her expression stayed open and pleasant.

'You have worked in internal audit before?'

'Among other things.'

'Your reference says forensic reconstruction. That is a grand title for looking at receipts.'

'Receipts are less likely to take offence.'

The administrator looked down at her tablet to hide another smile.

Genevieve's fingers moved to her earlobe.

Nora had seen the gesture before. It appeared when Genevieve wanted a lie to sound like kindness.

The ledger contained no missing filing. It contained the path to one.

A petty-cash transfer had been coded through facilities, then reimbursed against a private account whose final four digits appeared in the sealed server index Nora had not yet accessed.

She needed the account holder's name. She needed the approval chain. She needed the linked invoice.

Genevieve watched the page instead of Nora's face.

'You are finding something?' she asked.

'I am finding several things. They may be administrative.'

'That is a careful answer.'

'Careful answers last longer.'

A man crossing the corridor paused outside the glass wall. He looked through the door at Nora, then at Genevieve.

Genevieve gave him a welcoming nod. He moved on.

Nora knew what he had seen. The new auditor standing at the table while the deputy chair sat behind her.

A useful person. A temporary person.

Genevieve turned the ledger toward herself.

'Here. This entry. The transfer was approved by finance, but the note says personal reimbursement. Is that a breach?'

Nora read the line again.

The approval code belonged to a senior executive. The amount was small enough to escape ordinary review, but the route was wrong. The note had been added after approval.

'It depends on the expense category.'

'You have the category in front of you.'

'Yes.'

'Then answer the question.'

Nora let one pause pass. Genevieve was waiting for instinct, not analysis.

'It should be recorded as a staff advance.'

Genevieve's smile held.

'Why?'

'Because it is under the discretionary allowance.'

The administrator lifted her eyes from the tablet.

Nora had placed the error exactly where she wanted it. Small. Plausible. Public.

Genevieve leaned forward, pleased despite herself.

'Maeve, discretionary allowances are the blue column. This is the grey column, staff advances.'

Nora looked at the page, then back at Genevieve.

'Of course. I read the blue heading across the break.'

'It happens. Especially when the ledger is badly formatted.'

'You caught it quickly. Thank you.'

Nora widened her eyes by a fraction and lowered her voice, giving Genevieve the satisfaction of correction.

The woman behind the tablet shifted in her chair. Nora saw her relief. The new auditor was competent, but human.

The office door opened.

Caden entered with a thin file under one arm, speaking to Genevieve before he looked at Nora.

'I have the update you requested. The external search has produced three usable addresses and no confirmed sighting.'

His gaze touched the ledger.

Then it touched Nora.

Recognition moved through him and vanished before the administrator could notice.

Nora marked the interval. He knew her. He had known from the first meeting.

He had also seen the false error.

Genevieve gestured toward the ledger. 'Caden, this is Maeve Quinn. Our new auditor. She has just mistaken the discretionary column for a staff advance.'

'I heard her correct it,' he said.

'After I corrected her.'

'Then the record is complete.'

Genevieve studied him. 'You aren't going to tell me whether that concerns you?'

'Would you prefer a second opinion or a more dramatic one?'

The administrator's mouth twitched.

Genevieve ignored her. 'I prefer accuracy.'

'Then the entry is a classification error. It does not establish intent.'

He had seen the trap. He was leaving her inside it.

Caden crossed to the table and placed his file beside the ledger. His sleeve brushed Nora's hand.

The contact lasted less than a second. Her fingers tightened around the page before she made them relax.

He did not look down.

'You can go, Maeve,' Genevieve said. 'I have enough for today.'

Nora closed the ledger and left the false error visible on top.

At the door, Genevieve called after her.

'You understand that Salter values loyalty as much as talent.'

Nora turned. 'I had assumed the two were separate categories.'

The administrator stared at her tablet. Caden looked toward the window.

Genevieve's smile remained in place.

'You will learn how we do things here.'

'I am sure I will.'

Nora stepped into the corridor. The glass door shut behind her, leaving the three figures inside.

She walked only as far as the lift and stopped where the office remained visible through the glass wall.

Caden stayed beside the table. Genevieve did not return to the sofa.

He picked up his file. She took a photograph from the folder beneath it.

The photograph was printed on ordinary white paper. Genevieve held it out without speaking.

Caden accepted it and looked down.

His expression went carefully blank before he raised his eyes to hers.

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