The Board Room

Sophia

My car screeched to a halt in the parking lot, and I started combing my hair. I looked a real mess at that moment and I had to appear before the board members. However, the way I looked was the least of my worries right now.

One millions dollars?

That can’t be possible. I had checked every calculation and combed through every transaction. There was no way such huge amount would be missing without my notice. I popped a mint into my mouth and headed into the building. Several thoughts raced through my mind.

There were lots of opportunities for me to launder money from the company without notice, but I would never touch a dime. Asides my Christian upbringing, it wasn’t in my nature. The only attempt I had made at stealing was when I took a twenty dollar note from my mum and I was caught. The embarrassment was enough to discourage any similar act in the future.

However, my morality would not be enough to prove my innocence. I had to check the numbers and see what went wrong. When I got to the sixth floor, I headed straight to the board room.

I opened the door and immediately, I wished the black-tiled floor would crack open and swallow me. Everyone in the board room turned to look at me. I quickly sat at the nearest chair to me. A colleague of mine was defending his report, and it seemed like there were some issues with it as well.

I kept getting occasional glances from the board members, and David had a serious questioning look on his face. My phone pinged and once more, I got several questioning glances. I glanced at my phone from under the table and realized that David had just sent me a text. I quickly put the phone on silent mode before opening his message.

His message read: ‘Can you tell me what’s going on?’

I started typing a reply when I heard Dominick’s voice.

“Mrs Cloveland.”

I looked up at him, returning my phone to my bag. “Yes sir.”

“Your report seemed okay after my initial review. However, upon comparing your claims against other divisions and certain departments, we realized that there are serious deficits and discrepancies,” Dominick said.

My heart began racing once more.

“You are in charge of the finance division, and there were certain claims of payments made to some departments in other divisions that don’t correlate with their own reports. Care to explain why this is so?”

It literally felt like there was heat on my seat. The sternness in Dominick’s voice and the questioning glances from everyone gave me a lump in my throat. I swallowed hard and adjusted myself on the chair.

“I really can’t say much without reviewing the other reports,” I replied, trying to sound as confident as possible. “But I can say with all confidence, that the report from my division is accurate,” I added.

“How can you be so sure? After all, you submitted your report very late. Could it be the rush? Could it be you were careless because you were running against time?”

I couldn’t believe the same man who had made coffee for me and carried me to bed the previous night was the one blasting me in such manner.

“I have been vetting this report for a long time coming. I submitted late because I was not done with the summary,” I explained.

“And why’s that?” He attacked again.

“I … I had some personal issues to deal with.”

“Mrs Cloveland, while we respect the fact that you have a personal life, you have to ensure that it doesn’t affect your work. Such unprofessionalism will not be tolerated,” he fired again.

Unprofessionalism?

Everyone else in the board room was quiet observing the exchanges between Dominick and I.

“How could it be possible that one million dollars cannot be accounted for and you claim your report is accurate?” he added.

“It is accurate,” I returned.

This time, the new CEO of the organization spoke. “You keep saying that, but what we have on paper is different.”

“Please give me time to review the reports from the other division and I am sure I can get to the root of the issue,” I said.

“Time? You had over a month to prepare this report,” fired one of the female board members.

“I believe my report is accurate, ma’am. I just need to review the other reports,” I retorted.

“You have one week, Mrs Cloveland. Some external auditors would be paying you a visit, and you would work with them to resolve this,” Dominick said to me. He then turned and addressed the other division heads. “Your divisions would also be investigated as well. This is a mess and we have to clean it up. If this is an issue of money laundering, then it will be met with serious consequences.”

With this, he ended the meeting and walked past me out of the board room. I still couldn’t reconcile the man who had written the note for me that morning, with the man who had grilled the hell out of me just now. After everyone left the room, David walked over and sat on a chair beside mine.

“What’s going on, Sophia? This has never happened before,” he said.

“I don’t know. I am confused. I prepared this report carefully. I don’t understand.”

“But there are evidences of foul play here.”

I shot a questioning look at him. “You don’t believe me, do you?”

“Sophia, this isn’t a matter of what I believe. I know you very well. For over six years working with this company, such a thing has never happened. However, the board is working with what it has been presented on paper. Something is definitely wrong and you need to get to the bottom of it.”

“I will.”

“By the way, how’s Beryl?” He asked.

I was about to reply, when I felt my phone vibrating from my bag. I quickly reached for it, momentarily ignoring David’s question. I couldn’t afford to miss any call considering all that was happening. Seeing that it was Paul calling, I excused myself from David and answered it.

“Hello, Paul. What is going on? I am presently in a meeting.”

“Sophia, they have found her!”