Читать книгу And Then There Is Love - Lori Buckman - Страница 4

Carlos Barecchi, the forty-eight-year-old owner of Fiore had originally come from Naples but he had been in the United States for twelve years. He still had, and probably always would have, a thick accent. He gave Barbara free rein when it came to the restaurant’s finances as well as its decor. The sum of all the paychecks and the sums of the food orders, laundry, housekeeping and utilities as well as the restaurant’s taxes went into the computer on the left side of her L-shaped desk.

But there was something terribly wrong: After paying the bills, the employees as well as herself, Fiore should have cleared at least $50,000. But so far, three-quarters of the year had passed and nearly $300,000 had disappeared in the past year alone, and it obviously wasn’t the last manager. She supposed he was still in prison, but though he was gone the embezzling hadn’t stopped; more money was missing and it seemed to be getting worse. “How many of the receipts were taken last night?” she mumbled to herself. She did some figuring, then with the end of her pencil she riffled through the previous night’s receipts from the waiters and bartenders that she had retrieved from the safe. “Their total should match what was entered into the computer outside the dining room but some of Billy’s receipts are missing from this week. This week we’re missing just over $3,000. So at the end of the year, if this keeps up, we’ll probably be out nearly $400,000 in only twelve months.” Until she found the embezzler she had decided to change the password for the computer bi-weekly and the safe’s every month. It was necessary to help her forgetful boss remember the new password and combination by secreting them in a small sleeve she had taped to the rear of the drawer directly underneath the computer. But though she had changed them it only slowed the criminal’s activities. It hadn’t halted them. He made up for the temporary slow-down the next night or two.