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30 minutes later
Huntzberger Publishing Group
"I'm guessing that everything is electronic now, but your Dad isn't that smart. There have to be some kind of paper records somewhere. At least some kind of personnel files. In order for Walker to receive a payroll check, we would have to have a W-4 form on file for her." Rory said as they walked into the payroll office.
"Unless my Dad pays her illegally, and her checks are cut as a monthly payment thing, rather than payroll." Logan told her.
"Ok, so we check payroll and accounting. You realize that if we find something, we could legally put your Dad in prison for fraud, right?"
"And you think that I actually care? I'm so annoyed with my Dad right now, that I would hand deliver the evidence to the district attorney myself, and never feel bad about it."
"It almost makes me want to fire every single employee of this company, and start completely over."
"Well, here is something else that we can do. We can scrub all the payroll files, and force all current employees to submit a new W-4 in order to receive their next paycheck. And anyone who doesn't submit the paperwork, doesn't get paid. That automatically eliminates anyone who is secretly being paid without our knowledge. We then take the current employee payee list and compare it to the past lists, and see where the differences are."
"Let's do it! But what you said before, about your Dad cutting monthly checks, that does sound like something that he would do."
"Exactly! So maybe we scrub the accounting files too. We need current invoices for all checks being issued, or no one gets paid."
"I wonder if your Dad has one of the department employees in his pocket? Someone who knows exactly what is going on, and just does whatever Mitchum tells him to."
"I wouldn't be surprised."
"Let's have a surprise meeting at 8:30 Monday morning for both the payroll and accounting department."
"You are going to have a meeting?"
"I'm going to have to have a meeting."
"You are going to come here, to a building full of employees, on Monday morning?"
"Good point . . . You, Grandpa and Collin are going to come here. I'll be in my home office, on facetime."
"That works. Do you want me to send out an email today about the W-4 changes?"
"I think that legally, we need to talk to Collin about it before we do it."
"I'm calling Collin to come down here. We could use his help digging."
"Is there a master password for these computers?"
"I would think that your login should work."
"Call Robert for me. I need a hacker."
"You mean call Finn for you."
"I thought that Robert was the computer genius?"
"No. Robert is an idiot. Finn in the hacker."
"Really? Since when?"
"Since always."
"How did I not know this?"
"Because why would anyone ever suspect that Finn could hack into any type of computer system? Finn is the brainless clown who is incapable to walking in a straight line, even while sober. He's the absolute last person that you would ever think had the brain power to do anything of use."
"Interesting . . . So Finn is the computer geek of your friends. So what is Robert's role then?"
"Robert doesn't have a role."
"Well clearly you are the con man and the brains of the operation, Finn is the hacker, and Collin is the money bags who bails you idiots out of trouble. So what is Robert's role?"
"Robert doesn't have a role. He's the actual clown. Finn is just the acting clown. Robert is the one who thinks that he knows everything, but actually doesn't know jack. There was never a fourth stooge. Robert just get added to things when we need an even number. Or a decoy."
"So he's your fall guy then."
"Pretty much. He's who we frame if we get into trouble. Robert always has a way of skating by, without ever actually getting into trouble."
"Somehow, that actually makes sense. So call Finn, and tell him that I need his expertise."
"I just sent a text."
"Hey Babe, is there some kind of master employee list?"
"I would think that there would have to be, especially on the payroll computers. We should be able to pull up a list of everybody who has been paid recently."
"I just had a thought . . ."
"Ok?"
"What if in order for Walker or whatever mistresses your Dad is paying, he has a private bank account set up for them, that no one knows about. Somewhere without a name on it, that money is just automatically transferred into every month."
"That sounds like my Dad."
"I'm just creating hours of additional work for us."
"It's not a bad thing though. That's the reporter in you, going after every angle possible."
"It's just so much work that I don't even know where to begin. I'm kind of overwhelming myself."
"How about we start by finding the list of people who were most recently paid, and get it printed. Next, we print a list of everyone who has been paid so far this year. I know that we have a list of current employees for email purposes, so we compare the three lists."
"HPG has thousands of employees."
"I know."
"But this is the main headquarters though, so we should have a list of everyone in every office, right?"
"We should."
"Going through those lists is going to take forever."
"But we have help. We print the lists and take them home. We have Lane, April, your parents and grandparents, and we have Honor and Josh. We can divide it up alphabetically, and each of us can take a few letters. We can also have Stephanie and Collin come help us, if we need to. We go through the lists by hand, and highlight any discrepancies. It is going to be harder to go through the accounting records, because some of those could be nameless. We start with payroll and find any discrepancies. Once we have those, we take those names, and we run through the accounting files to see if anything there matches up."
"Ok, so then we don't really need everyone to come here then. You can have them all just meet us back at the house."
"Finn just texted saying that he's here, so I'm going to go let him in. I'll text Collin to meet us at the house, then I'll text Luke to let him know when we'll be heading back. Go ahead and see if you can access the payroll records, and print a list of everyone who received a check this month, and then this year. Then we'll also print off a list of every month last year to see if there are any differences that suddenly started when you and I took over."
"That's a good idea." Rory agreed.
"Ok, I'll be back in a couple minutes. Finn is at the main entrance with security."
* ~ * 3 Hours Later * ~ *
"Hey guys, the parentals are here." Honor said, knocking on the door to Rory's office where she was hard at work going through payroll lists with April, Logan, Richard, Collin, Stephanie, and Finn.
"Alright, anyone who wants a break can take one. But we can't talk about what is going on at all while my parents are here." Logan said as he got up from his seat behind Rory's desk, and moved across the room to where she was lounging in the window seat, with her feet up, and Ayribella asleep on her chest.
"We'll stay up here and keep working." Collin told him, without even looking up.
"Thanks guys. We really appreciate all your help." Rory said as Logan gently lifted the baby off her chest. "I'll come back up as soon as I can escape."
"Text me if you find anything of interest." Logan commented.
"Hi Sweet girl." Honor smiled, leaning down to kiss her niece when Logan got to the door.
"Is Sookie here too?" Lane asked.
"She should be in a few minutes. Lorelai and Emily stayed back with her to help with the clean up. They said that they would meet me here." Honor answered.
"If you want to hide out until she gets here, I'll text you when she arrives." Rory offered.
"That would be great. I'll keep working with everyone else."
"What are you guys working on?" Honor asked.
"Payroll records for the last year and a half." Logan answered.
"You'll tell me about it later?"
"As soon as Mitchum is out of my house, I would be happy to. If Josh wants to escape the fun downstairs, he's welcome to come up and join the team. Collin can explain the plan to him."
"Do I look alright?" Rory asked.
"I think you look incredible for having a baby 3 days ago." Honor told her. "I hope I look as good as you do."
"Thanks, but I have a long way to go."
"You don't look like you just had a baby at all. You are tiny. Give yourself some credit."
"I told you so." Logan said as he followed his wife and sister out of the room, and down the hall to the stairs.
"Logan, there you are." Mitchum said a couple of minutes later, as Logan followed the girls into the living room.
"Look how tiny she is!" Shira gushed, rushing up to her son who was holding his newborn daughter against his chest.
"She's asleep."
"Can I hold her?"
"You need to sit down first."
"Logan, I've held a baby before."
"Sit." Honor instructed as she took a seat in the rocking chair next to the couch.
"Honor, do you need anything? Would you like something to drink?" Rory asked.
"Hey Rory, I'll get everyone something." Josh spoke up from across the room. "You should be resting."
"Thanks Josh." Rory smiled.
"Rory, you should take the recliner." Logan told her. "Josh is right. You should be resting. Alright Mom, make sure you support her head."
"Logan, I raised both you and your sister. I know how to hold a baby." Shira said as Logan carefully set Ayribella in her arms.
"Rory, how are you doing?" Mitchum asked.
"I'm doing alright."
"How long are you taking off work for maternity leave?"
"I'm not really actually taking time. I've been working from home for months. I have several projects that I am working on right now. Just because I'm not in the office doesn't mean that I'm taking time off."
"Rory, you should take a step back to bond with your daughter. I would be more than happy to step in for you while you are out."
"Thank you, but no. I have everything handled. I've made a lot of changes since taking over for you. Everything is completely different than when you were last there."
"Rory is right Dad. We would have to spend a week training you before we could even consider letting you step into that office again. But that isn't happening anyway. You are done with HPG. We are still cleaning up the messes that you made."
"What messes, Logan? I ran that office for 25 years. I didn't make any messes. I was the one cleaning up everyone else's messes."
"Sure Dad, if that is what you want to call it." Logan said, rolling his eyes. "Why don't you explain to us why there are so many company owned properties that are costing us money rather than making it?"
"They are real estate investments."
"How are they investments when they are either sitting vacant, or have free loading tenants that Rory and I are having to evict before selling them? They're costing us money! And don't even think for a second that Rory and I don't know exactly who is living in them, and why, because we do! But I'm pretty sure that this isn't a conversation that you want to have right this second, so let's just stop talking about work, right now, alright? Rory and I are handling things, and cleaning up YOUR messes. And this mess Dad . . . This one could have some pretty severe consequences if it's not handled just right. So please, just keep your silence. You've done a great job of it for the past several years, so why don't you just stick to that plan and let Rory and I fix the mess that YOU made. And you had better hope to God that word doesn't get out about ANY of what you've done, because it could completely destroy and bankrupt this entire family!"
"Bankrupt who?" Shira asked. "Who is going bankrupt?"
"You are if I can't clean up the mess that Dad made at work. But don't worry Mom, I'll make sure that if anyone goes down for it, it's Dad. The rest of us might end up in the poor house, but Dad . . . I'll make sure that Dad takes the brunt of it."
"Now Logan, I'm sure that you are exaggerating. Your father built that company from the ground up. No one is going bankrupt. HPG has more than enough money to fight whatever battle it is facing."
"Really Mom? Because Fraud is a pretty HUGE deal!"
"Logan, don't be ridiculous." Mitchum told him. "Whatever problem you think you have, I'm sure that it isn't nearly as bad as you are making it out to be."
"Fine, Dad, answer this question for me. The tenant in the building across town that the Morgan family owns. They aren't paying rent. Tell me, does that tenant even have an income?"
"Well, they must if they live there."
"Does that income come from HPG funds? Because that specific tenant isn't an HPG employee. And if they are receiving HPG funds, I'm about to know about it, because I have all of the HPG payroll and accounting records being analyzed right now, so you had better tell me the truth. And IF they are receiving HPG funds, I need to know exactly how many others are receiving them also."
"Hey Josh, will you sit with Mom, please?" Honor asked, pushing herself up from the rocking chair. "Dad, Logan, let's go chat in Logan's office."
"Yes ma'am!" Josh answered, immediately moving toward the couch with a few bottles of water.
"I'm coming too." Rory said as she started to get up from where she had just sat down.
"This might go better if it's just me and Logan." Honor told her. "It's your company, and you should be involved, but maybe right now, Logan and I can talk to him alone? You need to rest. You've got a lot going on. I promise to tell you everything."
"Ok . . ." Rory relented.
"I'll come get you if we need you."
"What's going on?" Shira asked.
"Just a problem with some company properties. Don't worry about it Mom. Logan is handling it." Honor said calmly, then followed her brother and father out of the room, and to Logan's office, closing the door behind them.
"Logan, you have some nerve!" Mitchum spoke, once the door was closed.
"I have some nerve?!" Logan raged. "I have some nerve?! I'm not the one who has been cheating on my wife, and giving my mistresses a free apartment to live in!"
"Logan, you don't know what you are talking about."
"Dad, everyone knows that you've never been faithful to Mom. Even Mom knows that. It's never been any secret. But apparently what HAS been a secret, is that you've been sleeping with one of my friends! We know all about it Dad, so don't even bother denying it." Honor told him.
"I need to know the honest truth, Dad. Is Walker receiving an income from HPG while living rent free in our property?" Logan asked.
"Why would Walker be receiving an income from HPG?"
"Because she doesn't have a job. Walker has never had a job, and her Daddy doesn't give her nearly as much money as she likes to spend. How else would she be able to afford her lavish life style?" Honor explained.
"I need an honest answer Dad, because if you've been paying her, that means that HPG has been paying a prostitute. I'm sure that you know exactly how illegal that is. And if I don't get this cleaned up properly, and silently, and word gets out about it, both YOU and Walker could be criminally charged. You could end up in prison for the rest of your life, and Rory and I could lose the company. So I need you to give me the honest truth. I have all the payroll and accounting records in my possession, and in the possession of my attorney. I will know within the next hour whether or not you are lying to me. So it is in your best interest to tell us the damn truth right now so that I can figure out a way to clean up your damn mess, without it destroying this entire family." Logan instructed him.
"How do you know that Walker is the tenant?" Mitchum asked.
"Because Walker has a big mouth than runs like a leaky faucet when drunk."
"And what makes you think that Walker is telling you the truth?"
"Prove to us that she isn't." Honor told him.
"I haven't seen your friend Walker in years."
"Is that really the answer that you want to go with? Because surveillance video tells a very different story."
"We have all the evidence against you, Dad. You need to start talking." Logan told him. "I want nothing to do with your sex life. You sicken me! I don't even care that you've cheated on Mom. I've known my entire life that you were never faithful to her. But finding out that you impregnated someone who is supposed to be your daughter's best friend just makes me want to vomit. But whatever Dad, she's your disgusting disease ridden mistress. And I sure as hell hope that you got tested after each time you slept with that whore. But again, not my business. What IS my business, is the company property that she is living in, and whether or not she is receiving any company money. So tell me, how is Walker affording her lavish lifestyle?"
"Have you asked Walker how she is affording things?"
"Dad, Walker ran her mouth about everything. But we need to hear it from you. Where is the money coming from?"
"I have a contract with Walker. She shouldn't be talking to anyone." Mitchum told them.
"Oh really?! What kind of contract? And do you have it in writing?" Logan asked.
"I paid for an abortion, gave her an apartment and $15,000 to keep her big mouth shut."
"When?"
"It's been several years."
"Do you have a copy of this contract?"
"It's in my safe."
"What safe? The one in Hartford?"
"At the penthouse."
"Let's go get it. I need that contract and whatever other bullshit contracts you have with other women you've slept with."
"Why is it so important to you, Logan?"
"Because they've all received eviction notices. Whatever contracts they had with you are now null and void because you are no longer a part of HPG. Rory and I are selling all of the properties. But I need to know exactly what it is that we are up against, if I am going to be trying to keep you out of prison."
"And what makes you think that I would be going to prison?"
"Because paying women to sleep with you makes them a prostitute and you their pimp. It's illegal Dad. And if you used company funds to do it, that makes it fraud."
"I paid them out of my own money, Logan. I'm not stupid enough to commit fraud."
"But you apparently are stupid enough to give them a company financed property to squat in."
"Any money that was received was 100% legal. The only people with knowledge of any payments that I made are me and the person who received it."
"How many women, Dad?" Honor asked.
"What makes you think that there is more than one?"
"Because there are a lot of different properties with freeloading tenants."
"And don't you dare tell me that you made them HPG employees when they don't actually have a role in the company. Because I already have an investigation started into that one. I've frozen all paychecks until new withholding information and picture identification is submitted. I also have a list of every employee in every department, and their email address. Until I verify every single person receiving a paycheck from HPG, no payments will be going out. Which means anything that you've got set up for people who aren't actual employees, will be immediately stopped."
"It's illegal to withhold paychecks, Logan." Mitchum informed him.
"I'm not withholding anything from actual employees. I'm just requiring that their paperwork be verified before I release funds. So again, I need to know, who have you fraudulently added to the company payroll?"
"And why do you think that I would ever do that?"
"Just tell us the truth Dad. Because I've frozen all payments in the accounting office as well. No checks are being sent out without my approval. Not even for the electric bill."
"We have over 500 offices that HPG is responsible for both in the country and internationally. You can't freeze their funding."
"Too late, because I already have. And I've frozen your retirement check as well. So you had better tell me the truth, Dad. Because I can decide to never reinstate you. I need names. Who are you giving company funds to that shouldn't be receiving them?"
"Do you really think that I am that stupid, Logan?"
"You obviously are considering the secrets you've been keeping."
"Dad, we already have all the proof we need against you. We are only questioning you, to give you the opportunity to tell us the truth. We don't actually need to involve you in any of this. We are only doing it so we can make sense of the information that we already have. So either you tell us exactly what you have set up for the women you've had affairs with, or we all risk you spending the rest of your life in prison instead of in your apartment. It's your choice dad. Logan and I are trying to build you a reasonable defense. But if you want to risk ending up in front of a judge and facing criminal charges, then go ahead, and keep all the secrets you want. Logan and I have no problem cooperating with the district attorney in exchange for them not coming after us for what you've done. We may end up losing HPG, but whatever. If that is the price that we pay to get rid of this nightmare, then that is just fine. Logan has a career that he can go back to, and I have Josh. We don't need HPG. We can close the doors, walk away, and be just fine."