Chapter 2 - The Audit of Betrayals
An hour later, the party concluded without further incident. Emma and Ava had shared a double slice of cake, painted ceramic mugs together at the activity station, and giggled as if the horrific scene at the beginning of the afternoon had been nothing more than a bad dream.
Children were handed their gift bags and picked up by smiling parents, many of whom gave me quiet, supportive nods as they left.
Once the last guest vanished through the doors, Mr. Henderson brought a thick printed folder over to the head table where David and I sat with a fresh pot of coffee.
"Ms. Bennett," Mr. Henderson said, laying the papers out. "As the legal client on record, I felt you needed to see these full transaction logs. We don't tolerate guest harassment at Grand Palms Events, and I want to ensure our records are completely transparent."
David leaned over to look at the paperwork, and within ten seconds, his jaw went slack.
"What is this?" David gasped, pointing at the line items. "The total bill for this room was three thousand dollars. Rachel paid three thousand dollars on Thursday."
"That is correct," Mr. Henderson nodded. "However, on Friday afternoon, Mrs. Jessica Bennett presented a physical authorization form claiming to represent Ms. Rachel Bennett. She requested a partial refund of fifteen hundred dollars back to a private bank account under the name Vance Consulting LLC—a company registered to her personal name—claiming the event scope had been reduced."
I stared at the paper in disbelief. "She took fifteen hundred dollars of my money and put it into her own account?"
"She claimed it was an agreed accounting adjustment between family members," Mr. Henderson explained nervously. "And then, at 9:14 this morning, she logged into our online portal using the credentials provided during that transaction, officially removed Ava from the guest roster, and pocketed the remaining catering credit as a 'host fee.'"
David slammed his fist onto the table so hard the coffee cups rattled. "She didn't just exclude Ava! She stole fifteen hundred dollars from my sister!"
"It gets worse, Mr. Bennett," Henderson added softly, pulling out a second sheet. "The credit card Mrs. Bennett used to pay the remaining balance on the floral decorations and rental linens—a total of twelve hundred dollars—was flagged by our processing system twenty minutes ago as a declined corporate card belonging to Bennett & Associates Architectural."
David turned to me, horror radiating from every pore. "That's my firm's corporate card. I am a junior partner there. Company policy strictly prohibits personal charges on corporate lines!"
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"She took your company card?" I asked, my voice rising in alarm.
"She must have copied the numbers from my desk ledger last week!" David buried his face in his hands, trembling violently. "Rachel... if my senior partners find out a fraudulent charge was made on the firm's card for a private party, I could be fired and disbarred from practicing architecture in this state!"
