chapter 10

Ok, this is insane." Meg said, "Why on earth would anyone siphon out such large sums of money using such tactics?"

"It's brilliant, that's why. The files go back six years but something tells me it has been going on for much longer."

"Do you have anyone in mind for who did it?"

"I have my suspicions. Based on what you told me before about it being Freddy or higher that would be able to delete things from the server, I think he did it or knows who did and deleted the files for them."

"That's a stretch. I mean I know we all hate the man but accuse him of embezzlement? We'd need to have the most indisputable proof ever; else we could lose our jobs."

"I understand that, it's why I haven't done or said anything yet. I just don't know how to go about getting more proof. This is bigger than just Freddy." Michelle responded, "I don't think he is smart enough to do all this. Someone else has to be pulling the strings."

"Ok, who then?"

Michelle had thought long and hard about this- apart from her father, she knew there had to be someone else who was involved. Thinking back on what she had heard, the head of the design team was the one who always submitted tacky designs and they always got approved because he was related to someone on the board. That someone must be approving them knowing that they would flop and that Freddy would be able to manipulate just how terribly they actually flopped.

"My guess is the design team leader and his relative on the design approval board."

"Woah," Meg said thinking a little, "That actually checks out. One submits the terrible design, another approves it and if Freddy is involved, he changes the figures then they split the profits. This is so insane. Should we report them? Maybe corporate will have a better way of handling this than we would."

"No. What if it gets back to them?" Michelle responded shaking her head furiously.

"Why aren't you two working?" Peter said suddenly appearing beside them, "This is work hours not a time for girl gossip."

"Oh Peter, good morning." Meg said quickly recovering from the shock of his sudden appearance, "Gossip? We weren't gossiping."

"Really?" He asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, Michelle was just asking me for some help in fine tuning her report. You know for her argument against the design team." Elbowing Michelle, she continued, "Right, Michelle?"

"Yeah, that's right. I needed her to look through it for me. Make sure it was good enough."

"Funny, it doesn't matter whether or not it is good enough. All designs get approved anyways. The whole report thing is a formality at this point. But don't be too discouraged, you tried your best." He responded his words sympathetic but his tone mocking.

Watching him walk away Meg suddenly asked, "Do you think he's in on it?"

"I would not be surprised if he was. He certainly acts nasty enough." Michelle responded. Then the two women began their work for the day.

About an hour later, the financial department had an unexpected guest.

"Michelle!" Someone called out to her, "Someone's here for you."

Looking up she saw a head of red hair and she immediately knew who it was- Caleb.

"Caleb," She said watching as he approached her cubicle, "What an unexpected surprise. Is everything ok?"

Looking at her with a sheepish smile, he scratched the back if his head, "Uh yeah, it's just I had something to tell you about the project you asked my help for on Friday."

She wondered why he came her for something she thought he had already handled but she didn't question him.

"Really what's wrong?" She asked instead.

"Um." His eyes darted to Meg who was trying and failing to look like she was not listening.

"It's ok, you can say whatever you have to say in her presence."

"Alright." Then grabbing a nearby chair, he scooted next to them leaning in close so that what he had to say would not be overheard. "So over the weekend, I came back to the office and decided to go back to the Junk server and go through those files again."

"That's interesting. What made you go back to it?"

"Well, there was a file I saw but didn't check, it kept bugging me later on, so I decided to go back and check it out."

Fully invested, Meg asked, "So what did you find?"

"Turns out the file was a record of anyone who'd ever accessed the main server to delete things."

"What do you mean a record?" Michelle asked.

"Here's the thing, the main server isn't accessible to anyone. The people it is accessible to have a particular code that is unique only to them and if they ever wanted to delete anything, say incriminating files, from the server they would have to key in that code."

"That's thorough, but why go through all that trouble. I could always give the code to someone else and have them delete it for me instead." Meg said thoughtfully.

"That wouldn't work, the server has retinal recognition that's also needed before you can delete. Anyways, after deleting they probably think the file is gone forever but it's not. See in the past, way back, there were cases of important files being deleted because they weren't important at that moment, that's how the Junk server came to be."

"Okay. What does this have to do with the new file you were talking about?" Michelle asked.

"I'm getting there," Caleb responded, "So in order to keep track of if anyone ever deletes actual important files, a separate file in the Junk server was created that records anyone who deletes things from the main server. It records their code, name and position."

"Well that's convenient." Meg said cheerfully, "All we have to do is check this file and we can find out who deleted all those other files and then we know who's responsible for this money embezzling scheme that we've uncovered."

Caleb's ears perked up at that, "You guys uncovered a money embezzling scheme?" he asked. Meghan then proceeded to tell him about the theories they came up with less than an hour before his arrival, Michelle proceeded to tune them out thinking instead about the possible person that would be discovered as the one that deleted the files.

"Can we see this file?" She asked interrupting their discussion.

"Right, of course. May I?" he asked gesturing to her laptop opened next to her work desktop.

"The laptop or the desktop?" she asked suspiciously, it was a test and his response would let her know whether he was as smart as she thought he was.

"Your laptop of course. All the desktops at work are monitored. Something tells me you don't want anyone to know what you're doing."

"That something is correct and you may." She responded grinning widely.

He connected his flash to her laptop and the file popped up. He clicked it open and a long list of names, numbers and dates appeared.

"Hmm," Caleb said thoughtfully as he scrolled through searching for the dates when the files were deleted.

"What's wrong?"

"Well, it certainly got the person that deleted those files, but it wasn't just one person."

"What do you mean it wasn't just one person?" Michelle asked in surprise.

"Yep, our dearly beloved Fred deleted four of the six files I gave you, and someone else deleted the other two."

"Really? Who?"

"A Mr. Callaghan Penn."

Penn? That name sounded familiar, yes, she remembered now, he and his family were guests at the event that she threw for John that was supposed to mark the start of her joy but instead marked the beginning of the worst things for her.

"Oh that's him." Meg said, "That's the guy on the design approval team, the one I told you the head of the design team was related to."

"Wow, so I guess our theory was right then."

"Yay us!" Meg replied cheerfully, "I mean it's terrible and everything but we were right, so yay."

"Well with this, we have proof that they did this to cover up their tracks but we still need to find where the money went." Michelle said.

"Oh I could totally handle that for you." Caleb said suddenly turning meek, "I mean only if you want me to."

"You'd be able to track their finances and find out where the money went?" She asked respect and surprise evident in her voice.

"Totally. How soon would you need it?"

"Two weeks." She responded immediately, "I have to present my report in two weeks and they'll all be there. What better time to expose them. Don't you think?"

"Alright, I'll get right on it." Then he got up to leave, "I left a copy of the file for you, in case you need it for anything else."

"Thank you Caleb for all your help."

"Yeah Caleb, thanks." Meg chimed in. He waved goodbye and left returning his floor.

"That was a wild discovery." Meg said turning to Michelle.

"Yeah, it most certainly was. Now, I just need to organize everything so it can be presented in two weeks."

"Why do you want to do it in two weeks anyways, you could always just go confront Freddy with this now."

"No, it's not enough. I want to ruin him and those who worked with him. Hart Industries is my family's company and they felt they could take advantage of it and of the millions of employees under it. Their shame needs to be public and their punishment as well. So no I won't confront anyone with this."

"If that's how you want things to go, it's your call."

"Michelle!" Freddy's voice was loud and impatient from across the room in his office, "My office. Now!"

"Ugh, what does he want now?" Meg groaned.

"Only one way to find out."

She was once again back in Freddy's office.

"You yelled, Mr. Frederick?"

"What was that IT boy looking for here? What sort of meeting were you having?"

"Meeting sir? I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't play dumb with me young lady. I saw the IT boy-."

"Caleb." She interrupted.

"What?"

"His name is not IT boy, it's Caleb."

"Fine. I saw Caleb sit at you and Meg's cubicle and watched as you guys talked about who know what."

"Why were you watching out cubicle sir? I did not know that General Managers had so little to do that they could watch their subordinates. How long has this been going on? Does this count as harassment? Do I have to go to HR?" She shot back.

"What? HR? No. I'm just saying I happened to look out my window when I saw him join you guys at your cubicle."

"Ah, of course sir. Thanks for clearing that up."

"So, why was he there?"

"I had an issue with my laptop and he was kind enough to help me with it."

"Was it a personal laptop?" She nodded affirmative, "You're not allowed to use IT for personal issues."

"That's rich coming from you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean you use IT all the time for every little electronic issue that happens to you. Don't try enforcing the policies on me when you don't follow them yourself. I mean just last week you had Georgia up here, to help you set up a mini gaming console in your office. That didn't seem work related to me."

He coughed uncomfortably, adjusting his tie. "Regardless, IT shouldn't be up here."

She smiled at him, "I'll make sure to remind you of that next time sir. Is that all?"

"Yes," He responded dismissing her, "You may return to your station."

"Thanks." She responded and left his office.