Chapter 3 - THE CARD LEAH NEVER HADThe payroll card had been activated ten weeks earlier.
Leah stared at the account number.
“I’ve never seen that.”
David looked defensive.
“Employees sometimes choose cards if direct deposit fails.”
“I didn’t.”
“There should be an authorization.”
“Show me.”
Vincent almost smiled.
Leah was frightened of power.
Not of facts.
David opened the employee record.
There it was.
PAYROLL DELIVERY CHANGE REQUEST
Employee:
Leah Carter.
Preference:
Payroll debit card.
Electronic signature:
Leah Carter.
Leah stared.
“That’s not mine.”
David exhaled impatiently.
“It was submitted through your employee login.”
“I don’t know my employee login.”
That stopped him.
“What?”
“You set it up.”
Vincent looked at David.
Leah continued.
“You told me the system was only for managers.”
David shook his head.
“That makes no sense.”
Leah reached into her apron.
A folded note.
Username.
Temporary password.
Written in David’s handwriting.
“Three months ago you told me to give you this because the portal wasn’t working.”
David’s face changed.
Vincent took the paper.
“Your handwriting?”
“No.”
Leah stared.
“David.”
“I write a lot of notes.”
Vincent turned to the restaurant’s accountant, who had been called in from home.
The accountant, Jonah Pike, looked uncomfortable.
“I can pull access history.”
“Do it.”
Login records.
Leah’s employee account accessed from the manager office computer.
11:47 p.m.
A Monday.
Leah’s work log showed she left at 10:18.
David remained until after midnight.
Payroll preference changed at 11:52.
David said:
“Managers sometimes help employees update records.”
“Were you helping Leah?”
“I don’t remember.”
Vincent’s voice became colder.
“You remember what Porsche you bought.”
David’s jaw tightened.
“What does my car have to do with payroll?”
“Maybe nothing.”
Vincent looked at the keys still in David’s hand.
“That’s what we’re going to find out.”
The prepaid card records were pulled.
Withdrawals.
Cash.
ATMs.
Stores.
One especially interesting location:
A bank machine two blocks from David’s condo.
The first withdrawal occurred sixteen minutes after the card was activated.
Leah stared.
“My money was there.”
Nobody corrected her.
Because it was.
David argued the card could have been stolen.
Possible.
Then Vincent asked:
“How many employees use payroll cards?”
Jonah checked.
Twenty-eight.
“How many were changed from direct deposit in the past year?”
Nine.
“Without obvious reason?”
Seven.
David’s face stiffened.
Vincent noticed.
“Pull all seven.”
The room became quiet.
Three employees had complained about missing wages.
Two had quit.
One had been fired for “attendance.”
One still worked in the kitchen.
Name:
Emanuel Ruiz.
Vincent called him in.
Emanuel looked terrified.
“Sit.”
“I’m okay.”
“Sit anyway.”
Emanuel sat.
Vincent asked:
“Are you getting paid?”
Emanuel looked toward David.
That answered before his mouth did.
“Some.”
“How much missing?”
“I don’t know.”
“Guess.”
“Maybe three weeks.”
David interrupted.
“His immigration paperwork—”
Vincent turned.
“Stop.”
Emanuel looked embarrassed.
“My work permit is valid.”
“I didn’t ask.”
“I know.”
The shame bothered Vincent.
As if unpaid wages somehow proved something about the worker instead of management.
Jonah checked Emanuel’s account.
Payroll marked fully paid.
Another prepaid card.
Emanuel had never received it.
Vincent’s face changed.
Now two.
Then a dishwasher.
Then a host.
Four employees.
All wages recorded as paid to cards they did not possess.
All card activations originated from restaurant management terminals.
David said:
“This could be payroll fraud.”
Vincent looked at him.
“It is.”
“I mean somebody else.”
Vincent leaned forward.
“Then you should be very interested in helping me find them.”
David swallowed.
“I am.”
“Good.”
Vincent turned to Jonah.
“Freeze all manager ability to alter payroll delivery.”
“Immediately?”
“Yes.”
“What about payroll tomorrow?”
“Direct deposits continue. Changes require central approval.”
David looked irritated.
“You’re disrupting operations.”
Vincent looked at him.
“Four people worked without receiving their wages.”
He paused.
“Operations are already disrupted.”
Then Rory, who had been coloring at a table nearby, looked up.
“Mr. Kane?”
Vincent turned.
“Yes?”
“Does Mom get all the money now?”
Leah whispered:
“Rory.”
Vincent looked at the child.
“Yes.”
“When?”
He could have said soon.
He didn’t.
“Tomorrow.”
Leah immediately looked at him.
“You don’t know that.”
Vincent appreciated the challenge.
“No.”
He nodded.
“Then I’ll say it differently.”
He looked at Jonah.
“How quickly can we issue emergency replacement payroll after verifying hours?”
“Twenty-four hours.”
Vincent looked back at Rory.
“By tomorrow evening.”
That was a promise he could control.
Rory smiled.
“Okay.”
May you like
Leah did not.
Not yet.
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