Chapter 4 - The Numbers Beneath the Numbers
The assignment that kept me late on Friday was still in my project folder.
Dana had called it a routine reconciliation.
I had treated it like one.
Now, reading the figures without a train to catch or her standing over my desk, I noticed something I had missed.
The support costs for three client accounts had been shifted into an internal implementation category.
That made the accounts appear more profitable.
It also made the support team appear slower and more expensive than it actually was.
I checked the prior month.
The pattern repeated.
Then the month before that.
I sat back.
This was no longer about whether Dana had stolen credit for an analysis.
The reports informed staffing decisions.
Budget allocations.
Promises made to clients.
If the company believed the wrong numbers, people would be blamed for problems they lacked the resources to solve.
I did not download the entire company database.
I did not forward confidential files to my personal email.
I used the reporting channel Priya had provided and described exactly what I had found.
Then I waited.
Waiting was harder than discovery.
Discovery gave me something to do.
Waiting left room for fear.
At lunch, my friend Luis sat beside me in the cafeteria.
He worked in client operations and had known me since my first week.
“You look like you’re trying to mentally repair an airplane,” he said.
“I found something.”
“Bad something?”
“Possibly.”
He opened his sandwich.
“Have you told the appropriate people?”
“Yes.”
“Then eat.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“An interesting opinion. Unsupported by your blood sugar.”
He pushed half the sandwich toward me.
I ate.
At three, I was asked to attend a meeting with internal audit.
An external specialist joined by video.
They asked about the source reports, the transformations, the access controls, and who had instructed me to reconcile the figures.
I answered carefully.
When I didn’t know, I said so.
The lead auditor, a woman named Caroline Price, looked almost relieved.
“Thank you,” she said.
“For what?”
“Not filling the gaps with guesses.”
By Thursday, the review had widened.
Dana was informed that her reporting practices were being examined.
She stopped speaking to me except through short emails copied to multiple managers.
One message instructed me to revise a working file to align with executive expectations.
I asked for the requested changes in specific terms.
She replied that I was being obstructive.
I forwarded the exchange through the established channel.
Then I went home.
That was new.
Usually, fear made me stay late.
That evening, I left at five thirty-seven.
Outside, Grant was crossing the lobby with two board members.
He saw me.
For a fraction of a second, the expression from his parents’ dinner returned.
Warm.
Almost familiar.
Then he nodded politely and continued walking.
It hurt more than it should have.
I reminded myself that distance was not rejection.
Sometimes it was the responsible thing.
At home, I called my father.
He listened without interrupting.
Then he said, “You sound disappointed in him.”
“I’m not.”
“Emma.”
I sat on the kitchen floor.
“I don’t know what I want.”
“That’s different from not knowing what’s right.”
I closed my eyes.
“I know.”
Dad had spent thirty years running a hardware store. He had no patience for impressive people who made ordinary people feel small.
“Does he respect your work?”
“I think so.”
“Does he respect your no?”
“He hasn’t asked me for anything.”
“Then don’t invent a debt because you like him.”
I laughed softly.
“You’ve become inconveniently wise since the heart attack.”
“I was wise before. You were busy.”
On Friday, Caroline requested another meeting.
This time, she placed two reports side by side.
The first was my original Westhaven analysis.
The second was Dana’s presentation to senior leadership.
Whole sections were identical.
My name appeared nowhere.
Then Caroline opened a third document.
It was the recommendation to reduce staffing on the accounts whose costs had been shifted.
Dana had signed it.
Beneath her recommendation was a bonus calculation.
I stared at the screen.
May you like
The numbers had not become misleading by accident.
Somebody had benefited.
