CHAPTER FIFTEEN
That night I had trouble sleeping. I was so worried about how what I was about to tell the owner would have a negative impact on the boys. Billy had told me that those boys had done the wrong thing and besides, it was my job to tell the owner these things when they came up. I had still been looking at options to move over to New York if this didn't work out anyway.
I loved life on the ranch that it was so laid back here often it felt like time itself stopped. I also loved the closeness to nature and the seasons and the general atmosphere of being around different people as I worked on dull book keeping.
But now here I was, dobbing one of those people in.
I found the owner in the hallway outside the study, he had been pressing buttons on his smart phone, glasses on his face.
I chuckled as I saw him, that expression older people always wear when they're confused by technology plastered on his face.
"I was just tryin'a make a call." He told me, looking up to meet my eyes, "How do I do that?"
Taking the phone off the owner I showed him and he had me show him the steps a few times before putting it away muttering something about making a call later before turning to me and asking me to show him the books.
Billy still wasn't here, but figuring he couldn't be far away I started to show the owner the books. Mostly the owner didn't seem to mind anything about the books, nodding along to whatever I said.
It wasn't until I took a deep breath – realising I would have to have this conversation on my own as Billy still hadn't arrived – and told him that there was some money missing from the books, did the ranch owner have any real reaction at all.
"Missing money?" He asked, a little surprised.
I nodded and confirmed, "Yes, there is some missing money."
"How much missing mon-?" The ranch owner cut himself off as Billy entered the room apologising, "Sorry I'm late." Billy said in a rush as Billy tried to get himself in and seated quickly.
The ranch owner looked at Billy for a second, obviously annoyed by the interruption, before turning back to me and asking again, "How much money is missing?"
I swallowed hard before turning to my papers. I knew the figure by heart, but didn't want to tell him that figure off the top of my head.
Reading the figure off the paper I snuck a look up at the ranch owner quickly and saw his stunned face looking back at me.
"Is this a mistake somehow?" He asked.
"Well, it could be." I said even as I knew it wasn't true, "It could be that money was spent and never accounted for."
I flicked through some papers to show the owner where some money was made on the sale of cattle but that it didn't seem to appear anywhere else after it was made.
The ranch owner carefully combed the books and saw exactly what I saw. He also knew more about the running of the ranch than me and would likely remember that sale, then remember each of these purchases afterwards. I guessed because no-one had laid the books out for him before, he never had an opportunity to see discrepancies.
Now they were all right in front of him.
The ranch owner asked me to show him each discrepancy and I did so, using a spreadsheet I had made myself that highlighted each sale where the money disappeared. There would be a few hundred dollars here and there, and up to a thousand dollars in one instance.
Something about the list seemed to pike the owner's interest.
"Leave this with me." He told me, "I think I know what this is."
Before I had a chance to ask the owner what it could be, he was standing up and walking out the office door.
Billy and I exchanged a look then there was a silence before he leaned in towards me, "I think he knows who it was." He said mysteriously.
I nodded, aware that we could be overheard and asked in a quiet whisper, "How do you know?" I asked.
"Don't worry." He told me, looking over my shoulder towards the door, "It's not our concern. Breakfast?" He asked.
That morning I went to breakfast with Billy who dutifully kept my mind busy while quietly watching the others at the table.
Then it was back to my day of work, only, most of my work here on the ranch was done. I realised I was mostly doing busy work so went to find Mama.
"What do you need to help me for?" She asked.
"I don't have much to do right now." I told her before catching the look on her face and elaborating further, "I need the go ahead before I do a couple things, and I have not had a chance to ask for that yet." I told Mama honestly.
Mama looked me over before handing me a basket of freshly laundered towels to fold. We both knew I wouldn't be here much longer, that I wasn't needed. It was just a shame I had been so efficient in getting the work done before my deadline of a year.
But new things would come up, the owner had told me once when he checked in over dinner. New things came up all the time.
That evening when everyone came in, I would ask the owner if I could go on with some other work. That way I could get a start the next day rather than having to help with Mama's work.
Mama's work was hard.
That afternoon I spent doing chores around the large ranch home. I was assigned 'easy' chores, but even those were difficult in the heat: scrubbing floors on my hands and knees, doing plenty of laundry, helping prepare food, scrubbing the deck outside. I knew that Mama worked long and hard, but actually doing someone's job was different to just seeing her do her work. Actually doing their work and seeing just how difficult it is first hand is completely different.
By the time the boys were coming in, I was watching them all closely. I wanted to know what had happened in their work day, if the owner had said anything to the boys, if Billy had been involved, or even if the ranch owner had pulled Billy aside and asked for his advice, or asked what Billy knew. All the possibilities of how trouble could come about were inside my head right then.
The ranch owner hadn't asked why Billy had to be there when we had our meeting after all, if it were me I would ask that question for sure.
I am sure there would be plenty of questions I would have if I were the owner, and as the book keeper, I knew a few of those would be levelled at me, and I was ready for it when the ranch owner told me he would like to meet in my office again the following morning, at the same time as our meeting this morning.
Over dinner he told me this, and made a point to also tell me that he didn't want anyone else there, it was just a meeting for the two of us.
Something in the way the owner said those words made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
I knew I hadn't been doing much work, and that I was more disposable than the boys who helped him out and who he had a strong relationship with after he saw every single day.
I consented to the meeting – what else could I do? – and got on with my dinner, trying not to think about the meeting the following day.
I had wanted to talk to Billy that evening, but he had a few phone calls he had to make to his family. Apparently his grandmother had had a fall that morning he told me over dinner, which was why he was late to our meeting that morning. He had to call them to see how they were doing. By the time he was off the phone, I was fast asleep in my bed.