Troubled Waters by Trevor Burton Read Free Book Online Page A

hesitancy in the excitement. Amelia steps in and saves me from embarrassment.
    ‘Why would he follow you here with a henchman?’ she enquires.
    ‘He has been looking at me strangely all day,’ explains Sophia. ‘As though he wants to warn me, but I’ve not been on my own all day. I don’t know how he knew I would be coming here after work, but he couldn’t have known I would take a different route and do a bit of shopping on the way.’
    ‘That makes sense,’ Carlo agrees.
    I breathe a sigh of relief and move on swiftly before anyone notices my gaffe. ‘What exactly is he warning you about?’
    ‘There are a few of them making fraudulent claims on our government contracts when we place someone into employment.’
    ‘How is that done?’ I enquire.
    ‘It’s quite simple if the intention is to commit fraud and you know what to do. We have to get a signed declaration on an employer’s letterhead that the person noted in the letter has been employed from a certain date. The person has already left us and doesn’t know anything about it.’
    Amelia innocently asks. ‘How does it get through the government systems?’
    ‘Having had one or two genuine claims, all you need is to steal some letterheads or fudge them through a photocopier and then forge the signature, and bingo!’
    We all stare at Sophia. It does appear too easy.
    ‘Aren’t there any checks and audits performed?’ Amelia enquires.
    ‘Yes, but that could be months later, and they wouldn’t have time to check every one. Once the perpetrators get wind of an audit, they move on, and the company is often too embarrassed to go after them.’
    There is a stunned silence as we assimilate our newfound knowledge. Something is puzzling me, though, and I cautiously voice my concern to Sophia. ‘Why would Barry be so angry with you?’
    ‘It’s not necessarily just me. He is the boss of our section, and not only does he profit from his own fraudulent activities, he gets a bonus on the results of the section as a whole as well.’
    ‘Ah! That would make it worth a bit of aggro,’ I agree.
    We’ve been talking for what seems like ages and the place is filling up with more diners. Carlo is having to pay attention to his duties, and rising from his chair he calls for menus, announcing that dinner is on the house. This brings smiles all round after what has been a tense atmosphere.
    A bottle of wine appears as if by magic, and Carlo smiles over at us whilst playing the Italian host to a celebrity whose face I know but can’t put a name to.
    The girls choose a fish dish, and I go for saltimbocca – veal pan-fried with Marsala and sage, a favourite of mine that you don’t find very often any more. As we wait for our food to be served and the conversation meanders onto other less serious topics, Amelia speaks, addressing me directly.
    ‘We are going to do something to help Sophia, then, aren’t we?’
    ‘Absolutely,’ I confirm emphatically. ‘How could we not? There is definitely more to this affair than first appears.’
    ‘Oh, thank you both,’ Sophia smiles meekly.
    ‘We will begin first thing on Monday,’ I announce. ‘And we will probably be thinking about it over the weekend.’
    ‘That is a weight off my mind,’ Sophia adds. ‘I can’t really believe it only happened one week ago.’
    After an excellent meal, we offer to escort Sophia home to Prestbury, but she declines in favour of waiting to go with her father. I tap my watch to let Amelia know we should leave, and then after a quick wave of the hand to an embattled Carlo, we rush off to Piccadilly station to catch the last train home.
    ***
    Late Friday afternoon, Hans Johansen was finishing up for the weekend. The process takes longer than usual, for he has a number of tasks that cannot be left over the next week and need to be performed that day if plans are to come to fruition. Rifling through drawers, he selects half a dozen files and shreds the contents. Going online, he checks