Devil's Ride by Kathryn Thomas Read Free Book Online Page B

than his words.
     
    “Maybe. That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”
     
    “Do you think the problem is with Leslie or Tina?”
     
    “I’d rather not point fingers,” I said, though Leslie and I had worked together for a couple of years and we never had a problem.
     
    “Okay. Let me know what you find.”
     
    “I will. Can you pull the last six months of receipts and inventory?”
     
    “If I can find it. Why?” Peter asked as he looked at me through narrowed eyes.
     
    “I’m trying to get a baseline for losses.”
     
    “Didn’t you go to school for biology?”
     
    I giggled. “Yeah, but I can’t stand it if my numbers don’t balance. I’m one of those that obsesses over a penny in her checking account or on her credit card statement.”
     
    Peter chuckled. “I knew there was a reason I picked you to do this. Yeah, stop by later and I will give you the receipts as far back as I have. The rest are in storage.”
     
    “Thanks, Peter. If I find out anything I will let you know.”
     
    “I’m counting on it.”
     
    ***
     
    It took almost two days of head down number crunching, but I finally worked out that over the previous six months, The Cat’s Claw averaged a loss of about two percent, which seemed reasonable. That accounted for spills and what I called slop, the splashes and drips that invariably occur when flairtending, along with the slightly uneven amounts served up. But for the last three weeks, we had been averaging a loss of about five percent. That was just too big of a jump to account to for with just a change in bartenders. Tina was either skimming or she wasn’t recording her comps properly, but either way, she was crooked.
     
    ***
     
    I hung around that evening until Tina arrived. “Tina! I need to speak to you.”
     
    “It’ll have to wait. I have to get to work,” she said, barely slowing.
     
    “I’m on to you,” I said loudly.
     
    That got her attention. “What do you think you are onto, sweetheart?” she said as she stepped into my office.
     
    “You’re either skimming or not recording your comps. Whatever you’re doing, you need to stop. Now.”
     
    “I’m not doing a fucking thing,” she snarled shutting the door. “Running you mouth is going to get you into a world of shit.”
     
    “Bullshit,” I retorted. “Our losses have gone up three percent since you started here.”
     
    “So what? Three percent isn’t bad. Not everyone can be perfect, like you. Oh wait. You were replaced. Maybe you weren’t so perfect after all.”
     
    “It went up three percent. We are at five percent. And it’s funny how that jump came almost as soon as you got here.”
     
    “You’re fucking crazy!” She turned to go.
     
    “Am I? I have the numbers to back it up.”
     
    “Then I guess you better go to Peter with it, huh?” she said as she closed the door again.
     
    “Yeah, maybe I will. But I wanted to give you a chance to get your act cleaned up. It’s only three week’s worth of data… it could be anything. A fluke. It’s too early to draw any firm conclusions. But I’m watching you now and if you’re skimming, I’m going to nail your ass.”
     
    “You need to mind your own business, bitch.”
     
    “This is my business,” I said with a nasty smile. “I’m better than you and I’m smarter than you, and I’m going to take you down.”
     
    Tina stared at me a moment then smiled condescendingly. “I guess we’ll see, won’t we? You can’t prove shit, so give it your best shot.”
     
    “Count on it. Make sure your resume is polished up. You’re going to need it. Or maybe you can just go back to that shit-hole you came from.”
     
    “Fuck you, you bitch!” Tina snarled as she snatched open my door. “You mess with me and I will fuck you up.”
     
    I blew her a kiss just to piss her off. “When you’re ready to get it on, just let me know. Now get out of my office.”
     
    She stepped into the hall and gave me the finger