Page 150 of Ghost

Mason took a bite of bacon, nodding towards Ellen.

“It seems it is going to be another hot day,” Ellen commented.“I do hope that lunch isn’t going to be a hot meal.”

“I’d could go for a nice chicken salad,” Mason said.He noticed that Ellen had discreetly motioned for him to slow down and not finish his breakfast too quickly.

“That does sound good,” Ellen responded as she looked around the room.“Some chilled fruit would go well with that, I think.”She gave a slight tilt of her head towards the fireplace and looked at the mantel.“That painting should be re-appraised.”

“It’s a wonderful painting,” Mason responded, looking closer.He seemed to be studying it and then nodded .“I bet it’s worth a mint.”

Sharon walked back into the room.“Ellen, would you like me to make you some more coffee?”She almost spilled the beans and said before her meeting.She looked at Ellen and then Mason.They appeared to both understand.

“No dear,” Ellen said standing, daintily dabbing at her lips with her napkin.“You could hand me my purse and escort me to the restroom however.I need to fix my lipstick.”She looked quickly at Mason.“I’ll return momentarily and then we can meet with dear Judith.”Ellen turned towards Mason.“Why don’t you find Judith and see about going over the books now?”

Mason nodded, drained his coffee cup and got up for another.While up he nabbed a couple of pieces of bacon.

* * * * *

“We certainly seem to spend a lot of money with this particular florist,” Ellen commented as she ran her forefinger along the line of the ledger.“Why this particular one and not this other one?”she asked, pointing to another entry with her other hand.

“The smaller florist doesn’t carry some of the more popular flowers,” Judith answered coolly, which was a change from being so flustered about the early meeting.

Mason was watching Judith closely.Since there were only two chairs in the small office, he was able to move about a bit.

Francis was leaning against the desk, smirking.“You do have a sharp eye, cousin.I am willing to wager that is where some of the profits are being funneled.”

Ellen only nodded, taking off her glasses.“Well...everything seems to be in order as usual.Nicely done, Judith.”

“The police are here,” Gerald announced, not even bothering to appear.

That was Mason’s cue to find the real general ledger.He knelt down and ran his hand along the twelve-inch baseboard behind the only bookcase in the room.“What’s this?”He held up the ledger.Judith turned and saw what he was holding.

“Oh, that’s nothing,” She held her hand out, expecting Mason to hand it to her.“Just a previous year, I’m sure.Must have fallen down there somehow.”

Mason opened it up.“Hm, I don’t think so.”He looked at Judith.“It’s the current year, and oh, look...”Mason pointed to a particular line, “it’s the same date and the same florist, only with different numbers beside the company name that’s in that ledger”, pointing to the book in front of Ellen.What’s that about?”

“Give me that,” Judith said standing.“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I believe you do.”Mason said, putting the book behind his back.“Matter of fact, the number along the bottom looks suspiciously like a bank routing number and account number.”Mason gave a subtle nod towards Gerald who told him as much, because Mason would never have been able to pick that up in such a short amount of time.

The door opened and a police officer entered the doorway, making the room very crowded.“Everything okay in here?”

“Good morning, officer,” Ellen greeted the man.“I have reasonable suspicion that this woman has been embezzling from me and would like her arrested.”