The Eclipsed Life of Luna Mischa novel · Chapter 3 of 32

Chapter 3: The Bottom Desk

Mischa puts Bethany to work at the bottom of the office and catches her photographing the treasury codes, but overnight £90,000 clears to a Harrow Fell company.

I didn't argue with him on the step.

I said, "Then send her to the office at nine," and shut the door.

At nine I was at my desk in the pack house with my hair washed and my cardigan buttoned.

At twenty past, Bethany arrived.

She wore a pale pink jumper and every bracelet she owned. She smelled of Duncan.

My four girls looked up from their screens and then very carefully down again.

"Good morning, Luna," Bethany said. She made the word sound like it belonged to her.

"Good morning. You're late."

"Duncan wanted breakfast in bed."

My payroll clerk typed something very fast.

I pointed to the desk by the door. It sat under the noticeboard, beside the shredder.

"That's yours."

She looked at my desk, at the big window over the lake.

"I thought I'd sit with you. To learn."

"You'll learn from there."

On her desk I'd stacked six archive boxes of receipts.

"Two thousand and six," I said. "The year the old Alpha bought a speedboat on the pack card. Scan them, name them by date, and flag anything over five hundred pounds."

"That's filing."

"That's where I found the speedboat."

She sat. The bracelets clattered on the desk.

By ten she had scanned four receipts. By half past, she was crying.

She did it beautifully. Big eyes, no snot, one tear at a time.

At eleven Duncan came down.

"Mischa. A word."

"Here's fine."

He glanced at my girls. They were all suddenly fascinated by their keyboards.

"She's in the loo, sobbing. She says you've put her in a corner."

"She's put herself in a corner. I put her at a desk."

"Give her something proper."

"The receipts are proper. Your father's mistakes are in those boxes. So is the speedboat."

His jaw tightened at that.

"She co-signs, Mischa. The council said."

"Then she'll know what she's signing. I'm not having a Luna who can't read a bank statement."

"You could be kind."

"I'm being careful. It's the same thing with money."

He looked at me for a long moment.

Then he went out without a word, and I heard him knock on the loo door down the corridor.

"Bethie? Come on, love."

My bookkeeper mouthed, "Bethie," at me in horror.

I nearly laughed.

After lunch I logged into the treasury to check the overnight balances.

The kettle was on the far side of the office. I went to fill it.

I was gone about forty seconds.

When I turned round, Bethany was standing behind my chair with her phone up.

My screen was open on the authorisation page. Every code. Every account.

The office went quiet.

"Phone," I said.

She lowered it. "I was taking a picture of the lake."

"The lake's behind you."

"It's my phone."

"Hand it to me. Or I ring the Alpha down here and we look at it together, in front of everyone."

She looked at the four girls.

They looked back at her, not one of them blinking.

She gave me the phone.

It was still unlocked. The camera roll was open.

Three photos of my screen, close enough to read every digit.

I held the phone up so the whole office could see.

"Is that the lake, ladies?"

"No, Luna," my payroll clerk said.

"Doesn't look like the lake, Luna," said the invoices girl.

I opened her messages.

The photos had gone out ten minutes ago. One word above them: Dad.

Under them, his reply. A thumbs up.

Bethany's face went white, then pink.

"I wanted to show him I was working. He's proud of me."

"I'm sure he is."

I deleted the photos, and then the deleted folder. I handed her the phone back.

Then I sat down and changed every code in the treasury, one by one, while she watched.

"There," I said. "Now he can be proud of you with the old ones."

She snatched her bag off the desk and ran out.

My bookkeeper rubbed her temples. "Luna. Should we tell the Alpha?"

"She'll tell him first. She'll tell him I humiliated her."

"You did," my payroll clerk said. "It was brilliant."

I didn't feel brilliant.

I knew the charter better than anyone. Alpha plus either Luna can move money.

I could change my codes. I couldn't change his. And I couldn't change hers.

Duncan didn't come down again that afternoon.

He didn't ring. He didn't come to the cottage.

I ate toast standing up at the boathouse window and watched the lights of the Alpha suite across the water.

At eleven they went out.

I set my alarm for six and slept badly.

At five to six my phone buzzed on the pillow.

The bank's overnight report.

I almost didn't open it. Then I did.

One payment had cleared at 3:12 a.m.

Ninety thousand pounds, to a company called Harrow Fell Land Limited.

Authorised by Alpha Duncan Thirlwell and Luna Bethany Mabbott.

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