A Body on the Hill (A Mitch O'Reilly Mystery Book 2) by Brad Shreve

Author:Brad Shreve [Shreve, Brad]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Beeson Press
Published: 2020-06-10T04:00:00+00:00

Seventeen

At Topaz that night, Rachel Roundtree’s set was scheduled for 9:30 p.m. with the doors opening two hours earlier. I left the store immediately after closing, so I could get a second chance to talk with the accountant, Wesley Stumpf. I didn’t know what kind of information I could get out of him. I didn’t expect him to come out and say he’d been skimming payroll, but I hoped to get something. The littlest things can help. That day I had a long chat with Harold. He said the paperwork I gave him from Cody didn’t have enough information to tell him if something funny was going on with the books.

I got to Topaz shortly before Wesley’s normal quitting time. I rapped on the frame of his open door. “Hello, Wesley.”

Catching him off guard, he jumped and knocked his mouse to the floor. He banged his head on his desk when he retrieved it. At least he was consistent.

“Hi, Mitch. I’m sorry, but Luna has left for a while. She’ll be back around 9:00 p.m.”

“That’s okay, I’m not here for Luna. I came to see you.”

Wesley tapped a stack of papers on his desk to organize them and slid them in his out box. “I don’t have long. I have to pick up my daughter from gymnastics within the hour.”

“It won’t take much time. I have more questions to ask about Austin Bouchard.”

“I believe I told you all I know, but go ahead.”

“I don’t know if you’re aware, but you seem to be the last person to have seen Austin alive.”

“Yes, the police mentioned that. There’s not much to tell. He was very much alive when he walked through my office and out the exit door. I can’t tell you more beyond that.”

He was searching around his desk, on the file cabinet and a side bureau.

I asked, “What are you looking for?”

“I can’t seem to find my glasses.”

“That’s because you’re looking in all the wrong places. They’re on your nose.”

He raised his hand to his face, felt his glasses and laughed. “I feel foolish. That happens more than I care to admit.”

“I’m sure it does.”

I sat on the metal framed chair in front of his desk. “Wesley, do you do all the accounting here?”

“Almost. Luna gets her hands in some, too, of course. Why?”

I decided to shake things up. If he was messing with accounts and thought someone knew it, it could impact his behavior. Harold said it could also cause him to stop whatever he is doing which can expose his earlier actions.

“I found a note in Austin’s bedroom with scratchings about your accounting.”

“What type of scratchings?”

“I wish I could tell you. I forgot to hold on to it, and it was thrown out with a lot of his things. I don’t know much about numbers.”

“I don’t understand why you would even mention it then.”

“It seems important that he had some kind of concerns, and then, you’re the last one to see him alive.”

“Are you implying I’m a suspect

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