#shadow and

Maria Leblanc—of the Louisiana Leblancs—nodded as she sipped from a porcelain cup, “Too flashy for me. Whoever gets behind the wheel of that thing is bound to be pulled over left and right.”

Myra smiled with pleasure, “It was a special favor for my boy. Joshie says that red will attract more bidders.”

Eva smiled, too, though it had nothing to do with the car. Myra was the only person on the planet allowed to call her husband, Joshie. Even then, he still grimaced when his mother said it. The small pleasure of seeing him so disgruntled by a nickname was sometimes worth enduring Myra’s presence.

Peggy picked up a finger sandwich, “Have you considered the other event we discussed?”

Myra’s smile tightened, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“Oh, yes,” Peggy replied, oblivious to the ice that was forming in Myra’s expression, “That parish up north had one not too long ago—lots of donations.”

Eva busied herself with adding more sugar to her tea, but her ears were wide open.

“I don’t know,” Myra replied as she set her cup down, “Would anyone even want to participate?”

“I’m way ahead of you,” Peggy said with a knowing smile, “I even talked to Josh about it. He volunteered himself as a contestant.”

Eva listened to the back and forth between the women with restrained interest. Peggy was completely missing all the signals that Myra was dissatisfied. To her, they were having a friendly conversation about events that might draw a crowd. To Myra, her authority and leadership were being questioned. Eva was enjoying the way Peggy kept digging herself deeper.

“And,” Peggy continued, “I have at least four more very nice men that are also willing to participate.”

Maria gently added, “It did bring in a lot of money. That’s what we want, right?”

Myra seemed to realize that she was backed into a corner. Her shoulders turned in a small gesture of surrender, “Of course. I suppose Peggy can be responsible for it, since she’s so passionate about auctioning off dates with our leading men in the community.”

Eva blinked rapidly at the unexpected change of course. The bewilderment was quickly surpassed by the insecurity that stemmed from the understanding that her husband was going to be auctioned off to some lady with deep pockets. It wasn’t so much that she cared if he cheated on her. Josh could sleep with whoever he liked. What worried Eva was that people might find out about it. She had enough on her plate without having to manage a bad reputation.

She was in a good place with him—good, considering the circumstances. He might knock her around a bit now and again, but he usually left her alone. Their truce was balanced on Josh being continually distracted by his latest project or experiment. If he publicly took on a lover, there would be no predicting his moods so that she could protect herself from his anger.

For the rest of the lunch, Eva was alternatively distracted and dismissive over the potential change in her life. Just because Josh went out with someone didn’t mean it was at all serious. And yet, her anxiety refused to abate. She listened to the local gossip half-heartedly, not caring about the maid Peggy fired or the new chemical used by Maria’s pool boy that dried out her hair. By the time she paid her bill, Eva was relieved to be done with it.

She said her goodbyes to Peggy and Maria, thanked the hostess, then caught the attention of the valet so that she could hand him her ticket. Outside, Eva tugged off the sweater and sighed with relief. When she got home, the thing would be relegated to the back of the closet where she hoped it would never see the light of day again.

Myra approached her while she waited for the valet to return with her car. She sighed loudly with displeasure. Eva gave her a nod of acknowledgment, but kept her mouth shut.

“You know,” Myra drawled as she dug around in her purse for the valet ticket, “You have nothing to worry about with Josh.”

Stunned by the statement, Eva could only mutter a confused, “Huh?”

Myra handed the ticket over to the valet, saying, “Its just a charity auction. He’s not actually going out on a date with the winner. He’ll come right back home to you.”

Eva, relieved that Myra actually thought Eva was worried about Josh straying in their marriage, turned her gaze to the parking lot, “Of course. Its for the children.”

“Yes, it is,” Myra commented lightly. Then, “You’ll be there, too.”

She hadn’t actually planned on being at the event, but Myra’s tone told her that there were be no excuse for her absence. Eva nodded as she caught sight of her car pulling towards them. The valet was taking his time about bringing it around to the front of the building.

“You didn’t eat much at lunch,” Myra commented as she moved to stand next to Eva.

“I wasn’t that hungry,” Eva offered by way of explanation.

This was a lie. Eva was plenty hungry, but could barely stomach the bland sandwiches and bitter tea with all the thoughts running around in her brain. The one redeeming dish was the small slice of cake served at the very end. Today’s flavor was chocolate with chocolate icing and a little vanilla dollop for garnish.

“Probably for the best,” Myra replied, “As I said at the party, you’ve put on some weight recently. I know you’re still young, but that metabolism won’t last forever. Might as well learn portion control now before you become a walking balloon.” She added, “You should book an appointment with the hairdresser. You’ve got split ends.”

Inhaling deeply, Eva let the insult roll away along with the rest of Myra’s ridiculous expectations. The woman could never be pleased and Eva had long since stopped trying. It was Josh’s opinion that mattered, anyway. If he was happy, Eva was happy. Sort of.

Her car pulled forward and the valet stepped out. Eva tipped him with what was left of her allowance and waved a goodbye to Myra. As she cruised down the highway, Eva mentally worked through her schedule for the rest of the day and made a mental reminder to pencil in the charity event. She could worry about the details later. For now, there was work to do.

Ardent Pharmaceuticals just closed their monthly finances and Eva had accounting from each location to review for errors. She carried the large accordion folders to the kitchen table and arranged them by location—furthest away to closest. One by one, she disassembled the packets and went line by line, looking for mistakes.

By now, Josh’s staff knew how Eva liked to have the statements arranged, tabbed, and highlighted. It made going through each set of data much easier than it had been when she first started. Gone were the days of spending countless hours tracking down receipts and identifying employees who weren’t following policy. Eva now had a firm grasp on Josh’s money and could direct it any way she wanted.

Her favorite place to launder their more illicit funds was through the Cafe Bordeaux. Josh became an investor in the property when the owner lost a substantial sum at a card game her husband was playing in. It was an almost exclusively cash business, which served Eva’s purposes. This one location cleaned about a hundred thousand a year, most of which was reinvested in Josh’s lab or the next round of clinical trials for their new flagship company drug.

There were no checks and balances with these accounts. Eva handled all of it so that no one who worked for Ardent actually knew where the real money was coming from. As such, she could skim the till from time to time.

It was how she managed to pay for Bobbi Lynn’s services, how she built for herself an emergency fund in case she had to make an escape. Over seven years, Eva had pilfered almost half a million dollars and squirreled it away in various places around the city.  She knew every trick in the book to keep people from noticing the missing funds, which was why it was so obvious that the Millers Road location quickly became a sea of red flags.

Eva went over it. She went over it again. The numbers didn’t add up. She even went so far as to get the calculator out of a drawer in the kitchen and double check her mental math.

There was money missing.

It wasn’t much, a couple thousand. But, it all seemed to come from petty cash—no receipts. If this was happening at one of their larger locations, Eva might be able to excuse it, but Millers Road was tiny in comparison. She set the account aside and went through the rest of the books before coming back to it.

Yes.

Something was wrong.

Eva stared at the paperwork until the garage door opened. Josh walked in, his jacket thrown over his arm and looking tired. She debated bringing the issue up to him for about ten seconds before deciding that he needed to know.

“Josh?”

He sighed, “What is it, Eva? I’ve had a very long day.”

Her mouth thinned as she tried to figure out how to phrase it, settling on, “Someone is stealing from us.”

That caught his attention, “Who?”

“I don’t know yet, but they’re at the Millers Road location.”

Sandy brows dropping low, Josh asked, “How do you know?”

She turned the books around for him to look over even though she knew he wouldn’t be able to see what was so clear to her, “There’s a couple thousand missing from petty cash.”

Josh tossed his jacket on the island and looked down at where she was pointing, “So? Probably a business lunch that they didn’t bring back a receipt for.”

She shook her head, “No business lunch could cost this much. Not without us knowing about it first. And, there are only four employees in that location.”

He rubbed at his eyes tiredly, “Have Alexei look at it. He’ll be here in an hour or so.”

Eva wasn’t surprised. Josh often deferred these kinds of things to Alexei. He was the public face of the business, could schmooze with the best. Alexei was a man of action. Josh knew that he would handle it one way or another. If Eva could pinpoint it down to a single employee, they never heard from them again.

She watched Josh walk out of the kitchen, listened to him climb the stairs. To keep herself busy, Eva went over the books again while she waited for Alexei to arrive. His car pulled up about an hour later, as Josh promised.

When he walked in, dressed in a track suit that was definitely not his style, Eva had to hide her smile by focusing on putting away the accounts that were in order.

“Alexei,” she called out when he bypassed her as he headed for The Lounge, “Josh asked me to speak with you.”

He smiled wide, all too pleased, “Absolutely. What is wrong?”

“There’s, uh, money missing.”

Alexei’s smiled widened and his voice took on an intrigued tone, “Is there?”

She nodded, “Yes. From this account.”

“Show me.”

Eva pointed it out to him with a short explanation for context. Alexei listened as he went over the statements. When she finished speaking, he nodded solemnly.

“This is a problem.”

She folded her hands on the table, waiting for him to continue. When he didn’t, she said, “I can run down there tomorrow and see if I can figure out who has access to the petty cash. I might be able to narrow down the list of suspects.”

Alexei nodded again, “Do that. Call me after.”

He glanced at her, then set the statements down and walked out of the room. Eva stared after him for a moment, then gathered up the paperwork and put it all back the way it was before she started. She carried all but the Millers Road account to Josh’s office and filed them away for when tax time came.

The next day, Eva drove through town and turned off on Millers Road. She parked and took a minute to look at the building. Eva hadn’t been a part of the purchase, but heard Josh brag more than once how he got it for a steal. From the look of it, the previous owners were probably giving the building away.

Eva couldn’t understand how it was still standing. Old brick and covered in moss, the place leaned a little to the right. The roof was new-ish, could have been replaced recently. There were no shutters on the windows that had dust and pollen build up so much that she couldn’t see through them.

What kind of person trusts a doctor’s office that look like this?

Walking up the crumbling steps, Eva opened the door and stepped inside. The lobby, thankfully, was very clean. There were several sturdy looking chairs around a low table covered in magazines. An administrative assistant sat at the front desk reading what was probably the latest issue.

“Excuse me,” Eva prompted softly.

The assistant looked up, “Can I help you?”

Approaching, Eva replied, “I’m Eva Moore, Dr. Moore’s wife. He’s asked me to take a look at your petty cash.”

Spine straightening, the assistant whose name tag read ‘Anne’ set down the magazine and rose, “Yes, of course. Is there a problem?”

Knowing that if she spooked Anne, she might lose any hope of finding who might be taking money, Eva shook her head, “This is just a regular audit. I’m visiting all locations this week.”

Anne smiled as she got the keys from her desk, “Sounds like a tough job.”

“It can be,” Eva said, “Are you the only person who knows where the petty cash is?”

“No,” she replied, “Dr. Martin has keys, too. Just in case.”

Anne went over to a filing cabinet and unlocked it. She reached inside one of the drawers and produced a lock box, which she also unlocked. Eva took it from her and gestured to Anne’s desk in silent question.

“Please, sit. I was just about to go on my lunch break, anyways.”

“Thank you. I hope this won’t take long.”

Anne set the keys on the desk, “Don’t worry about it. Just lock it back up when you’re done. If you have questions, Dr. Martin’s office is just through there. He’s the one who does the balances at the end of the month.” Her smile was wry as she added, “I’m terrible at math.”

Eva thanked Anne again and opened the box. Inside was a couple hundred dollars in small bills along with some receipts. She took everything out and began working backwards from the most current balance. It added up to the balance from the previous month, which was not surprising since it was only a little over a week into the new month.

Four employees now narrowed down to two. Anne seemed genuine, but Eva knew better than to trust a sincere face. She rose from the desk and locked up the cash box, putting the keys back in Anne desk. Then, she headed for Dr. Martin’s office.

He was sitting at his desk, taking notes, when Eva knocked on the open door, “Dr. Martin?”

Dr. Martin looked up, “Yes?”

“I’m Eva Moore. Dr. Moore’s wife. I was wondering if you could help me with something.”

Smiling, Dr. Martin waved her forward, “Of course. Always happy to help to boss’ wife.”

Eva sat in one of the two chairs in front of his desk, “I’ve been reviewing our accounts for this location and, you know, I just can’t make heads or tails of them.”

Still smiling, Dr. Martin’s tone turned ever so slightly condescending, “Well, the finances can be very complex.”

Eva laughed, letting him think she agreed with him, “Don’t I know it.” Then, “Its just...I looked and looked, but couldn’t find several thousand dollars. Josh also looked and he said it looks like it was debited from the petty cash.”

It would go better for her if Dr. Martin thought Josh was the one who found the source of the error. Eva wouldn’t be taken seriously, but Josh would.

Dr. Martin’s expression closed off quite suddenly and Eva knew that he was the one who took the money. He recovered, pasting an easy smile on his lips and he turned his hands up towards the ceiling in a kind of ‘what do you want me to do?’ gesture.

“These things happen from time to time,” he explained.

Eva nodded, “Yes, I’m certain that they do.”

“You know,” Dr. Martin leaned towards her, “Everyone knows Anne keeps the keys in her desk. It could have been another staff, or Anne, herself. I’ll be happy to investigate this and get back to you with any findings.”

She did some quick math, deciding that letting him think that he could pin the blame on another employee would give her time to talk to Alexei about how this was going to be handled.

“That sounds like a great idea,” Eva said followed by a dramatic sigh, “I’m sure it was just a mistake.”

He took the bait, “Yes, a simple mistake. I’ll have something back to you by the end of the week.”

Rising, Eva smiled her most congenial smile, “Thank you. I’ll be sure to let Josh know you’re working on it.”

Dr. Martin stood, “Yes, ma’am. I’ll figure this out.”

“Wonderful,” she said, wincing internally at the sugar in her tone, “It looks like you’ve got a lot of work to do, so I’ll see myself out.”

“Yes, of course. I’ll speak with you later this week.”

She gave him a nod of acknowledgment, then walked out of the office with as much calm as she walked into it. Only when she got to her car did Eva allow herself to think about what this meant.

Dr. Martin was almost certainly stealing from them, an act that Josh—that Alexei—wouldn’t let go without some consequences. Eva didn’t know a thing about Dr. Martin, didn’t even know his first name. If she named him as the culprit, then he would be dealt with. Full stop.

Was a few thousand dollars worth the punishment from Alexei? Was she sure that she had the right person? Did it matter so much that he’d taken a little bit of money when they had millions coming in from their new venture?

As she argued with herself, a car pulled into the parking lot. Anne stopped next to her and rolled down her window to wave at Eva.

Approaching, Eva leaned down so that she could speak with Anne, “Do you know if the other two staff will be in today? I understand that there are four in this office.”

Anne shook her head, “Robert quit two weeks ago—Dr. Martin is trying to hire a replacement. Erica, our nurse, won’t be in until tomorrow. She’s been out with the flu.”

Eva nodded, “Thank you. I appreciate your help.”

“No problem,” Anne replied as she cut the engine, “Did you figure out what was going on with the petty cash.”