Chapter 8 - THE SECOND SET OF BOOKS
“He was preparing to blame both of us.”
Alexis looked at Erin across Grace Ellis's conference table.
The room had gone quiet.
Grace placed Northline's registration beside the Harbor Families authorizations.
“That is one possible interpretation,” she said. “But we need to distinguish what the documents prove from what we suspect.”
Erin appreciated that.
Matthew had built his entire defense around assumptions about her character.
She wasn't going to defeat him by doing the same thing.
“What do we know?” she asked.
Grace began counting.
“We know payments intended for the relief fund were recorded as Northline expenses. We know signatures attributed to you appear to have been reproduced from an older document. We know Alexis was named as Northline's owner. And we know the company was organized through Matthew's office.”
Alexis swallowed.
“What don't we know?”
“Who instructed the bank to move each payment, who controlled the receiving account, and whether any legitimate goods or services were provided.”
Erin touched the folder before her.
“Then we keep working.”
Over the next four days, Grace reviewed documents supplied through formal requests by Stephen and the trustees.
Some arrived promptly.
Others were incomplete.
Matthew's office provided general summaries but resisted releasing supporting records.
Northline's documentation was worse.
Its invoices described equipment purchases without identifying delivery locations.
Several lacked serial numbers.
Others listed quantities that didn't match the warehouse inventory records.
Erin recognized the pattern immediately.
“These aren't purchase records,” she said. “They're explanations for numbers somebody already decided to move.”
Grace nodded.
“But we need to demonstrate that, not merely say it.”
Together, they prepared a schedule comparing every questioned payment against the fund's intended beneficiary obligations.
Then they asked the trustees to obtain original bank confirmations and independent vendor records.
The work was slow.
Sometimes frustrating.
And nothing like the dramatic confrontation Erin had imagined when she left the Harrison estate.
But each verified number took away another place for Matthew to hide.
On the fifth day, Matthew appeared at Grace's office.
Erin saw him through the glass conference room wall.
He looked tired.
His expensive coat hung loosely from his shoulders.
For a moment, she remembered the man who had once waited outside a doctor's office holding her favorite blueberry muffin.
Then she remembered him introducing another woman's pregnancy at their Christmas dinner.
Grace stepped into the reception area.
“Mr. Harrison, do you have an appointment?”
“I need to speak with my wife.”
Erin stood.
“She's right here.”
Matthew turned.
Relief flashed across his face.
“Erin.”
She didn't move toward him.
“What do you want?”
“To talk somewhere private.”
“We can talk here.”
He glanced at Grace.
“This is between us.”
“No,” Erin answered. “You made sure it wasn't.”
Matthew's expression tightened.
“I'm trying to save what's left of our marriage.”
“By accusing me of stealing from injured workers?”
“I was angry.”
“You brought a prepared authorization to Christmas dinner.”
He looked away.
“Things got out of control.”
Erin stared at him.
“Did you copy my signature?”
Matthew said nothing.
“Did you tell people I'd approved those transfers?”
Still nothing.
“Did you plan to send me away before Alexis was pregnant?”
His face changed.
“Who showed you that?”
Erin felt something inside her settle.
He hadn't denied the plan.
Matthew lowered his voice.
“Erin, you don't understand how much pressure I've been under.”
“Then explain it.”
“My father left me a business everybody expected me to run like he did. Stephen questions everything. Donald wants guarantees. Every deal comes with another demand.”
“And I was supposed to solve that by leaving?”
“You were always looking over my shoulder.”
“I was balancing the books.”
“You made me feel like I couldn't do anything right.”
Erin looked at him for a long moment.
Then she said, “You could have told me you were afraid.”
Matthew blinked.
“You could have asked for help. You could have admitted the business was struggling.”
She rested a hand on her stomach.
“But instead, you decided I'd be easier to destroy than disappoint.”
His eyes filled with something she once might have mistaken for remorse.
“Come home, Erin.”
“No.”
“Our baby needs both parents.”
“Our baby needs a father who tells the truth.”
Matthew stared at her.
Then he lowered his head and walked out.
She watched him disappear down the hallway.
Her knees felt weak.
But she hadn't followed him.
That evening, Grace received the first complete set of bank confirmations requested by the trustees.
Erin and Stephen returned to the office.
Alexis joined them after providing her signed consent for Northline's records to be reviewed.
The documents showed that Northline had received the disputed funds.
But Northline had not retained most of the money.
Large portions had been moved onward to accounts connected with Berry Freight's equipment subsidiaries.
Other payments had covered corporate expenses.
Including an apartment lease.
And the bracelet Matthew had purchased for Alexis.
Donald had benefited.
Matthew had benefited.
The fund's families had not.
Stephen examined a separate account schedule.
“Did any equipment actually reach Harrison warehouses?”
Grace shook her head.
“We haven't found matching delivery records for the questioned invoices.”
Alexis looked down.
“My father told me Northline was purchasing trucks.”
“Some legitimate purchases may have occurred,” Grace replied. “But these particular invoices have not been substantiated.”
Erin studied the transfer dates.
Then something caught her attention.
A small administrative fee had been charged with every major payment.
Not to Berry Freight.
Not to Northline.
But to an internal Harrison Operations account.
She recognized the account number.
Matthew had used it for executive expenses.
She pulled an old reconciliation from her folder.
The account had been empty before July.
Then the fees began appearing.
Payment after payment.
Month after month.
Matthew hadn't merely helped Donald move money.
He had collected money himself through the arrangement.
Grace checked the authorization references against the account records.
The final page contained an internal approval schedule supplied by Harrison Operations.
It listed Matthew as the executive responsible for the transfer program.
Stephen read the document in silence.
Then he removed his glasses.
“My God.”
Erin kept reading.
Attached to the schedule was a liability assessment prepared for the January review.
It identified potential financial responsibility if the Harbor Families transactions were challenged.
The proposed responsible parties were listed in order.
First: Erin Fisher Harrison.
Second: Alexis Marie Berry.
Neither woman had prepared the assessment.
Neither had been consulted.
Both names had been typed into a document approved through Matthew's office.
At the bottom was his handwritten instruction.
Obtain Erin's acknowledgment before the annual review. Northline ownership provides secondary protection.
Erin stared at the words.
Then she took Joseph's watch from her coat pocket and placed it on the table.
For years, she had measured the family's success by the balances she could reconcile.
Now she could measure the cost of her husband's ambition by the people he'd decided were expendable.
Stephen looked toward the window.
“What do we do?”
Erin gathered the documents.
“We finish the review.”
Alexis sat straighter.
“I'll be there.”
Erin looked at her.
“Your father will be there too.”
“I know.”
“And Matthew may accuse you.”
Alexis looked at the paper bearing her name.
Then at the one bearing Erin's.
“Then he'll have to accuse both of us while we look him in the eyes.”
Grace checked the trustees' scheduled meeting.
January 8.
May you like
The annual review would take place at the very table where Matthew had announced that his wife would never leave him.
And this time, Erin intended to sit in her own chair.
