The Perfect Lie by Adam Croft

Author:Adam Croft
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Circlehouse

28

Friday, 3.50pm.

‘Sorry I couldn’t get here any sooner,’ Roger said, wiping his shoes on the mat as he was welcomed into the offices of the accountancy firm. ‘I was out fishing and left my phone in the car. Your message sounded pretty urgent, though. What’s the matter?’

‘It’s alright,’ David said, greeting him at the door. ‘I hope I didn’t alarm you.’

‘Well, a little bit. I don’t think you’ve ever asked me to come in straight away before now.’

David shuffled awkwardly. ‘Well, sometimes you just want to get things done, while they’re still fresh in your mind.’

Roger stopped and looked at him. ‘I’ve known you most of my life, David. I know when you’re talking out of your arse.’

David forced an awkward smile and ushered Roger down the corridor towards his office. ‘Let’s pop in here, shall we? Tea? Coffee?’

‘Why, is it going to be a long one?’ Roger asked.

David let go of the breath he’d been holding in. ‘It might.’

‘Better make it two sugars, then.’

David indicated for one of the office juniors to fetch the drinks, and the two of them and Simon seated themselves around David’s desk.

‘So what’s this all about?’ Roger asked. ‘Something to do with the company, I presume? No, wait. You’re not closing down, are you?’

‘No, no. Nothing like that,’ David said.

Simon interjected, seeming to sense that this conversation might need someone to steer it. ‘I’ve been sorting out the year end stuff for the company,’ he said. ‘I noticed that quite a few of the expenses categories were a lot higher than they’ve been in other years. It seemed odd, because it didn’t quite fit the usual pattern.’

‘Well, they’re trying to move the company in a new direction, modernise it. Things are bound to change,’ Roger said.

Simon clenched his jaw. ‘Yes, but these weren’t the sort of things we would have expected. I had a closer look at the invoices the expenditure referred to, and they seemed a bit… odd.’

‘Odd?’

‘Yeah. They didn’t have any payment reference details on them, and the format of them looked pretty similar, even though they were apparently from six or seven different companies. And when I tried contacting those companies or looking them up online, I couldn’t find any trace of them.’

Roger fell silent. All that could be heard was the sound of his breathing, which seemed to get heavier and heavier. David had only seen Roger get angry once or twice in his life, and it usually followed this calm-before-the-storm pattern.

‘There’s got to be some sort of innocent explanation,’ Roger said.

David looked at Simon, who then spoke again. ‘The companies don’t exist. They’ve been paying out money to suppliers who aren’t real.’

‘How much?’ Roger asked, quietly.

‘We don’t know for definite, but it’s at least sixty-five thousand.’

Simon watched Roger’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. ‘And where’s the money gone?’

‘We don’t know,’ Simon replied. ‘We’d have to get that information from the bank or look back through statements, although I imagine those would only show payee names. Lots of banks don’t even cross-check those.

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