In Sickness and in Lies novel · Chapter 22 of 32

Chapter 22: The Second Ledger

Gwyneth's POV

Cilla came to Bruce's kitchen at ten that night.

She carried a laptop bag and a cardboard file box in both arms.

Bruce had picked her up in a pharmacy parking lot two towns away.

He'd made her switch cars.

She stood in the doorway of the two-flat and looked at the stacks of books on the floor.

"I thought it would be bigger," she said.

"Sit down," I said.

She sat.

I stayed on my feet at the counter with my arms crossed.

Bruce leaned on the doorframe behind me, close, but not touching.

"You have ten minutes," I said. "Then I decide whether to call my litigator or the police."

"The police won't help you. Not yet." She opened the box. "Let me show you why."

She laid a spiral ledger on the table, then a second, then a third, with a rubber band around each.

"Keane Freight lost money in its ninth year," she said. "A fuel contract went wrong. A client defaulted. Des didn't tell the board."

"What did he do?"

"He took the next release from your father's trust. Then the next."

"Every January he put that folder in front of you, and the money went into the hole."

She turned a page.

"In year twelve he started inventing invoices, so the company looked like it was growing."

"Invoices from whom?"

"From clients that don't exist. I made some of them."

She did not look away from me.

"I was his controller. I had the title the whole time."

"Nobody noticed, because I was also the other woman."

"You cooked the books."

"I kept two sets. One for the board, one for the truth." She tapped the stack. "The truth ones are these. Every dollar of yours, where it went, and what it bought."

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