Page 26 of Lost Without You
He was acting like a childish ass.
“I’m looking forward to seeing what Lane has for us. Maybe this investigation will be over sooner rather than later. I think I’ve taken up enough of your time.”
She turned and walked out the lobby doors ahead of Ethan, the damp morning air a welcome reprieve.
“Rachel, wait, I…” Ethan followed and stood beside her on the sidewalk.
He went to touch her arm and Rachel gave him a hard glare that sent lesser men running. Ethan raised his hand in surrender and stepped back.
“You were right, Ethan. This isn’t the time or place for me to suggest that we take ourfriendshipto the next level, and I certainly shouldn’t have given you my unsolicited opinion about your past relationship. Let’s just forget this whole morning and stick to business from here on out. Okay?” She was amazed at how calm she sounded, given how disappointed and unsettled she felt inside.
Ethan said nothing as he led the way to the SUV, and the uncomfortable silence continued as they drove to Lane’s.
When they arrived at his apartment, they knocked three times until Lane finally answered, throwing open the door. His blond hair was sticking up, his clothes rumpled, like he’d just rolled out of bed.
“Get in here guys, I have interesting stuff to report on.”
Chapter Twelve
Ethan
Lane ushered them over to his computer console, the laptops and monitors displaying rows and rows of data. Ethan had no idea what any of it meant, but he was excited to see what Lane had to say. And he was glad for the distraction. He needed time to formulate how to apologize to Rachel.
She had called him out on his bullshit with his ex-wife. She’d also been brave enough to suggest they explore their chemistry. So why was he hesitating on both fronts?
Because I’m afraid the woman in my past was right. It was my fault the marriage failed.
And because the woman in my present is worth the risk of trying again.
Whoa.That was a lot for Ethan to take in, especially when his focus should be on the case.
“I think you both need to sit down for this,” Lane said as he pulled over two folding chairs and sat them near the console.
Ethan readily agreed, feeling like he was going to faint. Despite the timing and circumstances, he wanted Rachel. Wanted her so much he was willing to stand on that high wire with her and risk falling together. Fuck. This revelation couldn’t have come before he gave her the ‘bad timing’ speech at breakfast? Now she was looking at him like a stranger and it felt all kinds of wrong.
“The information on the disk is a ledger, just as I initially suspected. Correction, dual ledgers. And for numerous companies that HJR performed audits for.”
“Two ledgers?” Ethan asked, the news breaking him out of his internal angst.
“Yes. One is the original data set and a second, mirror image ledger with modifications.”
“Falsifying records?” Ethan murmured.
Lane nodded. “You got it. From what I’ve analyzed, there are nine companies in total, and eighteen ledgers. Each company had the original ledger annotated. I’ve gone through and matched it up with the copies.”
“So, what you’re saying is, this is proof that someone in HJR was tampering with audit trails to make companies look profitable when in fact they weren’t?”
“Walter had proof and he was a part of it,” Lane paused at Rachel’s gasp. “Let me explain. There are initials on each ledger. WFH I assume is for Walter F. Hoffman. His initials are on the original set—I can tell it’s the original because the time mark on the log is two days before the second, almost identical, set was created. Whoever tampered with the record didn’t know much about computers. They logged in and made changes, including the completed by date. But the original date of submission is still embedded in the data, it’s not overridden. I’m thinking Walter completed the original audits, and sent them to his supervisor, since it always requires a sign off. Then someone went over the records and created a second ledger with a few, select changes, before submitting that version to the IRS. Walter must have discovered what they were doing.”
Ethan pondered that for a moment. “The second set of ledgers were probably created by his direct report Lawrence June or June sent it on to someone else in the firm. Like Derek Salitzo. I doubt June was stupid enough to leave a trail behind that would lead directly to him.”
“DS? Those initials as well as FH are listed on the modified data. The differences between the original and modified ledgers are such that it wouldn’t be obvious at first glance.”
“FH?” Ethan murmured. “There was another auditor in their group, Finley Hatch. That must be him. I should’ve asked before, but how do you know for sure that these are HJR records?” Ethan asked.
“Each audit company has a specific code allocated by the IRS and HJR’s appears on all the ledgers. I double checked.”
Rachel leaned forward and pointed to one of the screens where Walter’s initials were clearly displayed. “Okay. So we’re assuming that my father somehow stumbled upon this scam. He finds out about the duplicates and saves all the data on the disk. And then, hides that disk? Why didn’t he go to the CEO, Harrison? Or the IRS? Instead, he just takes off?”