It made a sickening sort of sense. I had to admit. Nearly three hours later I was finally able to see the pattern that Lukas and the accounting team had picked up on. Withdrawals from petty cash would be made out to my name and receipts would be close to the amount withdrawn, but the money was spent at extravagant restaurants. Something told me that there was more money going into the thief’s pocket, because the cash tips left were beyond generous.

And that happened on more than one occasion. It got to the point where it was almost blatant and there were extravagant meals where one client’s name appeared several times over.

“Is there a client by the name of Tad Fikes?” I asked. “A big one.”

Lukas sat across the floor from me with his back braced against the bed. The remains of breakfast lay littered among all the papers. We had a mess to clean up. Neither one of us had shown much interest in taking care of any of it at this point though. From time to time, I found myself nibbling on a leftover piece of toast or another slice of bacon.

“Not that I know of, but I don’t know all the accounts,” Lukas replied, his eyes still on the stack of papers in front of him. His gaze moved to mine after he flipped over another page. “I know the name though. I saw it too. According to everything I found, you’re the only one who has had contact with them.”

“Well, I need to take better notes then. It would at least be helpful to know what kind of business they’re in, what we do for them that entitles them five hundred dollar meal tickets, along with wine that costs about two hundred bucks a bottle.” I rolled my eyes and fought to keep my voice light, despite the fact that anger burned in me. Whoever was doing this, they sure as hell didn’t give a flying fuck what it did to my name.

Lukas shot me a grin. It surprised me, but he had been doing that off and on all morning. It was almost like the depressing task before us didn’t faze him at all. But maybe it was just depressing to me. He might have found it exciting for all I knew. Trying to track down whoever was stealing from him might appeal to him. I could see that. To me, all the numbers and names were running together. And something else was bothering me. I just couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

I kept going back to one particular file and studying the receipts, the names, the clients, but whatever small detail was niggling at the back of my mind remained just out of reach.

The more I tried to reach out and grab it, the more insubstantial it became.

I scanned over a few more pages before dropping them back into the pile, frustrated.

“What about from before I came? This is just the past couple of months. I was the only one hired recently, but I can’t believe this just started when I got there. It’s too smooth. At least at first. The past month has gotten even more bold. These fat tips and the fancy dinners? There’s got to be more.”

He shot me a look but nodded. “I have spreadsheets going back the past couple of years. I was hoping to find something in the hard copies, but I guess it’s time to start looking at those documents.”

“I’m comfortable with spreadsheets. If you want to keep looking at all of these, I can start looking at them.”

Lukas pointed to the briefcase that was by the door. Apparently, he had been working on this off and on ever since I had left. This bedroom had become a second office of sorts, with several boxes of hard copies already stacked on the desk or the nearby file cabinet.

After opening the laptop, I got his password and he told me where to find the folder as well. I got to work and lost myself in the data. I couldn’t find the pattern this time. Whoever it was had been more careful when they started out. Plus, Lukas hadn’t been there to point it out.

In the end, it wasn’t a pattern at all that made me realize just how long this had been going on.

It was that name again – Tad Fikes. It had something to do it this. I knew it did. I just couldn’t figure out why it was bugging me. Did I even know anybody by the name of Tad?

“Wow. You two look busy.”

The sound of Gracie’s voice dragged me out of my reverie, and both Lukas and I looked up to find her standing in the doorway. There was a look of both relief and curiosity on her face, but the expression in her eyes was strained.

“It looks like you two manage to work things out,” she said. “I’m glad.”

I smiled at her while Lukas pushed off the floor and went to her, holding her in his arms for a warm hug. The affection between them was clear. “You’re home early,” he said, his voice soft. “Are you nervous about tomorrow?”

Tomorrow? I wondered what tomorrow was. But I didn’t ask.

She laughed weakly. “I’m torn between whether or not I should do it now.”

“Why? This is what you wanted. Shit, you spent months talking me into it.”

Now my curiosity was really piqued. Surreptitiously, I shot them both a look. Gracie noticed. She must have been looking at me, and her cheeks flushed as she glanced back at Lukas. “It just seems...awkward. Things between you and Stella are different now, aren’t they? I knew they would be if she came back and you talked to her.” She glanced at me and smiled. “I’m not trying to talk about you in the third person. I’m sorry.”

Unable to contain my curiosity anymore, I asked, “What are you talking about? What’s tomorrow?”

Gracie shook her head. “It’s nothing.”

“It is something.” He looked over at me and went on, “Gracie’s planning on getting artificial insemination tomorrow. She wants a baby.”

“That’s wonderful,” I said, climbing to my feet, but she shot me a nervous look.

“You might not think so once you know who the donor is.”

She glanced at Lukas, and I immediately understood. “Are you thinking that because Lukas and I…” What are we, I wondered. We hadn’t even talked about it. It felt like things were different but that didn’t mean they were. And even if they were, this was clearly something that had been in the works for a while. Who was I to mess up plans that Gracie had already made?

“You should do this.” Shaking my head, I gestured between Lukas and me. “We’re still trying to figure things out, I think.” I looked at Lukas, and he nodded. “But regardless of what is going on between us, that doesn’t change anything you two planned to do. I mean, it’s artificial insemination. If you’re getting a procedure tomorrow, then he’s...” I was blushing now. How stupid was that? “I mean, he’s done his part. Hasn’t he? Isn’t that how it works?”

Gracie laughed. “That’s how it works, yes.”

She came to me, her hands catching mine. “Are you sure about this?”

“Absolutely. Don’t give this up on account of me.” I squeezed her hands. “Don’t even think about it.”