Popped Off by Jeffrey Allen Read Free Book Online

It’s a private issue.”
    He stared me down for a long minute, his eyes locked onto mine, maybe waiting to see if I’d break.
    I didn’t.
    He finally nodded. “Understood.”
    “Has he ever taken off before?”
    He shook his head, smiling. “No. He was a very good employee, actually. Started as a part-time worker, worked his way up.”
    “I assume you’ve attempted to reach him.”
    Yes. I went to his home myself to see if I could . . . locate him.”
    I found it a little strange that Haygood had gone looking for him, but I didn’t think it was totally out of the ordinary. If the church was a tight-knit community, I could see them taking care of their own. Worrying about their members.
    “I’ve been there several times, in fact,” Haygood said. “To his home.”
    “Several times?”
    “Yes.”
    “You must be worried.”
    The corners of his mouth twitched. “Yes. I am.”
    “About Huber? About what might’ve happened to him?”
    He took a deep breath and blinked several times, then set his hands on his knees. “I’m more worried about the half a million dollars he stole from me.”

12
    “Technically, it’s not my money,” Charles Haygood explained. “It belongs to the church. But I’m responsible for it.”
    He’d gotten up and poured himself a glass of ice water from a pitcher on a shelf across the room. He came back and sat down without offering me any.
    “We called him the first day when he didn’t show up,” he explained, holding the glass between both of his hands. “No answer. Not a huge concern. Maybe he’s really sick, unable to get to the phone.”
    I nodded.
    “But then he never called back,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “That seemed . . . odd. Especially from him. Like I said, never a red flag before.”
    He sipped from the glass, then went back to squeezing it. “So we called again. No answer or response. So we sent someone over to his home. No answer there either.” His lips tightened. “Then we realized the money was gone.”
    “How?”
    “End-of-the-day accounting,” he said, shrugging. “We have a routine process. Checks and balances. Nothing special, but routine things that we do to keep our books in order. Much of our money comes from cash donations at our services, so we are careful and detailed.”
    I figured there was probably a great deal of cash coming in based upon the campus of New Spirit and the size of Haygood’s office.
    “At the same time we were calling the authorities to do a welfare check on his home, I was informed that the money was no longer in the account,” he explained. His fingers were white, wrapped tightly around the glass. “We did our due diligence and realized that it had been withdrawn the previous evening.”
    “He had the ability to clear that much on his own?” I asked.
    “No. I believe he forged the second signature.” His entire face tightened. “Mine.”
    “Wow.”
    He nodded grimly. “Yes. This is the kind of thing that brings churches down, Mr. Winters. Destroys them. I am concerned for the members of this community.”
    Not to mention, you know, himself.
    “Did you know him well?” I asked.
    “Well enough. We didn’t socialize, but he was a regular here at New Spirit. Showed up at our services and our events. As the controller, he and I worked closely together on financial matters. It’s my church. I’m responsible for it in all ways. So I can be a bit . . . detail oriented.” He flashed a thin smile. “Probably micromanaging most of the time.”
    I appreciated that he could admit his flaws. He wasn’t coming across as arrogant or entitled. He seemed genuinely concerned for the well-being of the entire church, as well as himself. Despite my skepticism, I liked him.
    “So my guess is that perhaps you are looking for him for similar reasons,” Haygood said.
    “Perhaps.”
    He nodded, believing he was correct. Maybe knowing. I wasn’t exactly known for my poker face.
    “Have you reported the theft to the