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Page 9 of Defying the Duke

Instead, he found her sitting at her desk, staring at an assortment of papers spread across her desk. There was no order to them, completely the opposite of her usual situation.

“You aren’t finished.” He stood in the doorway, holding the knob, just to be safe.

She jumped. “Oh! Is it that late already?” She began to grab the papers.

Jack sauntered over and picked up a page that flew off the desk. It was a cash report from one of the dealers. He noticed the date was six months past. “I know you aren’t six months behind in your cash deposits. Is there a problem?”

Miss Westfall twisted her lips and set down the other pages. “Look at it closely.”

He did. At first glance, he saw nothing but a tally sheet detailing the money earned by that dealer on that shift. Then he saw a few places where the numbers were less legible. “He has horrid penmanship.”

She handed Jack the rest of the pages, each with an entry or two that was harder to discern. She waited while he sifted through them, then said, “They can’t all have poor penmanship. Plus, there’s this.”

Rising, Miss Westfall went to the other desk and withdrew a ledger from a drawer. She brought it to Jack. “At the end of their shifts, each dealer counts the cash he took in and records it on those sheets.” She pointed to the pages on her desk.

“Yes, I’m aware of that.”

“They give the cash and sheet to Mr. Bickley or Mr. Brown, who bring it to the office here.”

“Yes, that’s protocol.”

“Before Mr. Bickley and Mr. Brown put the cash and reports into the cashbox, they log it in that book. The book is kept in one desk, the cashbox in the other.”

“I didn’t know that, but it makes sense. Accountability.”

She nodded, then took another piece of paper from a drawer in her desk. “I’ve made a list of the cash reports that don’t match the entries in the book. Before you ask, the incorrect entries are from both senior dealers. The cash reports look like they’ve been altered. The penmanship that you mentioned.”

“Damn,” was all he could say. He took the papers and the ledger to the other desk and sat, then went through each entry in the book. “You should have notified me when you first noticed the problem.”

“It didn’t all fall into place until this morning. I first feared my father’s math was wrong on those days in the general ledger, but he never made mistakes. I found the old ones Mr. Bickley and Mr. Brown used when going through the ledgers on the shelves. That sent me on the hunt for the current book.” She motioned to the one in front of them.

Jack swiped his palm down his face. “Who do you suspect is stealing?”

“I have no idea,” she said. “My father knew about the senior dealers’ ledger, so it’s not him. Bickley and Brown would have logged the altered amount in the first place, so we can eliminate them.”

“I assume the ledger was in a locked drawer?”

“Yes.”

“Who has a key?”

“My father did, which I now have. Mr. Bickley and Mr. Brown, and I assume you and your partners have one.”

Shaking his head, Jack said, “There might be one on the key ring in the safe, but I doubt either of the men has a duplicate. There’s no need.”

He closed the book and sat back in the chair, staring at the evidence. Who had been stealing from them? And, “How much?”

“Two hundred thirty pounds so far.”

“So far?”

“I’ve gone back six months. The last week in November is the earliest incident I’ve found. It’s been slow going since I had to keep up with my normal work.”

Jack gathered the papers, then stacked them on the book as he rose. “That changes now. I’ll take over the research, so you have nothing but your own duties to worry about.”

Her expression made him wonder if he suspected her of being the culprit, but she smiled politely and returned to her desk. She took her reticule from a drawer, locked the desk and crossed the room to put on her pelisse.

This time, he didn’t fight her for the right to help her, but not because he suspected her. The money discrepancies predated her time at Sutcliffe’s. Opening the office door, he stepped aside to let her pass, then locked it behind them. “I fear you’ll have to put up with much more of me. I’ll be here first thing tomorrow to take up where you left off.”

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