Circle of Shadows

by Curry, Edna

  Running a hand through his hair, Ken rose and went to the corner table to help himself to a cup of coffee, as though trying to absorb what she’d said. “Want a cup?” he asked. At her nod he filled a second one, handed it to her and sat down. He met her eyes across the desk. “You don’t understand,” he went on in a calmer voice.

  “What don’t I understand?”

  “I bought this store because there is absolutely no reason for it to be losing money.”

  “Figures don’t lie, Ken,” she said, exasperated at his assurance. “Dad didn’t tell us about the problem, apparently because he thought Mom and I wouldn’t understand. Isn’t that ironic?” She laughed ruefully, but tears of anger and regret welled in her eyes. She willed them away and went on. “I have a business degree, but Dad thought I couldn’t understand that he was having a financial problem at the store.”

  “I know how you must feel....”

  “How could you know? You’re a man....”

  He felt like a heel. She was still grieving, and he was bringing up painful memories. “Lili....”

  She drew a deep breath and sipped her coffee. “You’re right. My father’s attitudes have nothing to do with this problem.”

  Picking up the report he’d tossed on her desk, she stared at it again, then put it down. “I’ve read this over and over, Ken. I can’t figure out the problem. Apparently, Dad couldn’t either. Can you?”

  “No. I’ve gone over it many times, too,” he admitted. “Maybe too often. Sometimes if you look at something too long, you lose perspective.”

  “Maybe,” she said doubtfully. “But it’s been days since I saw this and it still looks wrong.”

  “Well, let’s go through it, line by line. Allied’s mark-up percentage is the same for all my stores, and they all come out with a decent gross profit. So it can’t be that.”

  “Is my percentage of payroll costs to sales more than the other stores?”

  “Well, yes, your payroll is a little high. But sales per man-hour vary from store to store, depending on the amount of service given. You’re a full-service store, you do carry-outs for customers and even home deliveries for shut-ins. Very few stores do those anymore.”

  Lili nodded. “Also we deliver to some regular accounts, such as restaurants and bars. All that takes extra time.”

  “The meat department sales-per-man-hour is especially low. But Arthur does a lot of special cuts for customers, doesn’t he?”

  She nodded. “Yes. His special attention keeps his meat department’s percentage of the total store sales higher than the average in the grocery business.”

  “Mm hm. His sausage making takes a lot of time, too, and requires expensive casings and spices. That explains why the cost of his supplies is higher than my other stores. They don’t make sausage.”

  “Yes. But the supplies for the rest of the departments are under budget, aren’t they?”

  Ken nodded, making more neat figures and notes on his copy of her report.

  She watched his long fingers idly doodling with the pen, and couldn’t help remembering in what other ways those strong hands were capable. He seemed to have forgotten their lovemaking.

  She willed her mind away from that painful thought, and back to the business report that was giving them so much grief.

  “How about cash? Does anyone else handle the totaling out the tills, and making the bank deposits besides you?”

  “Before Dad became so ill, he did it. Now, I do it myself, except in an emergency, such as when my father died.”

  “Who did it then?”

  “Sally, my head check-out. I asked her to do it because she is most familiar with how things such as refunds, charges, and paid on accounts are handled.”

  Ken nodded, remembering Sally as the older bleached blonde who was always fussing with her hair or nail polish. She also seemed very sensible and responsible.

  “You’ve gone through your daily sheets, making sure every deposit was credited at the bank for the same amount as you had claimed on your deposit ticket?”

  “Yes, of course. I do that when I reconcile my bank statement with my checkbook.”

  “Anyone else have access to your office and computer?”

  She flushed, and said stiffly. “Yes, Ken. Everyone. I have never locked my office. If I didn’t trust someone who works here, then I would fire them.”

  “True. However, trust is sometimes given to those who don’t deserve it. Anyone been especially interested in your office lately?”

  Shrugging, she admitted, “Well, Ralph has been fascinated with my new PC. He’s a computer nut. But his system is different, and he was just comparing kinds of hardware and software, etc. He loves to play games over the internet with some guy in California and said he was up until midnight the other night, playing chess. But he knows almost nothing about accounting. I don’t even let him figure his own produce department’s profit figures.”

  “I see. How about the checkout girls? Any possibility there?”

  “I would say very little. Several of them are more interested in boys than math, and often make dumb little mistakes. I doubt if any of them are clever enough to be stealing on this scale.”

  Perhaps they’re not, Lili, but you are. The thought came unbidden to Ken’s mind. Ashamed of himself for suspecting her, he pushed it away, and went on.

  Line by line they went through the details of that Profit and Loss statement, until, frustrated and little more enlightened than when they’d started, they put it away. Then they went down the street to Lander’s House for lunch.

  Over coffee, Ken admitted, “I don’t know what the problem with your profits is, Lili, and it’s bugging me.”

  “Neither do I,” she said. “And it’s more than bugging me. It’s making me ill.”

  He looked at her miserable face, and wondered if her words were as false as the color of her beautiful strawberry hair. Sighing, he went on, “There’s one other possibility, you know, that would easily explain all this.”

  “You mean the burglary. But we could find nothing that was missing. A lot of stuff would have to missing to explain these figures, and it would be obvious.”

  “Not if whoever hit you that night had been getting in on a regular basis, and taking small amounts at a time. You know yourself that if they merely went down the aisle like a shopper and took a few of each item that they wanted, you wouldn’t be able to tell it had been done. You couldn’t name what a regular shopper took by walking down the aisles after she filled her cart, could you?”

  “True. But we changed the locks.”

  “Change them again. And use a different locksmith.”

  “Ken! You can’t suspect that nice old man! Oscar would never hit anyone. Besides, if he wanted to rob anyone, he wouldn’t bother with groceries. He could just help himself to some cash at one of the banks. He changes the locks at every bank in the area.”

  His voice was firm and unyielding. “Sorry. I’m just trying to cover all bases.”

  She shrugged. “Okay, I’ll call another locksmith. But it’ll cost three times as much, because the nearest ones are out of the Twin Cities. Their fees are higher down there, and they charge mileage besides.”

  “Still, I think we’d better.”

  “All right.”

  “One more thing. Until we figure this out, we’ll do an inventory the first of every month. I’ve set up the next one already, for next Tuesday. We’ll use the inventory service Harry uses out of Minneapolis.”

  “But why? We’ve always used the St. Paul one.”

  “Just for a fresh look. And to see if their methods are the problem. One possibility is that someone on the inventory crew is screwing up; typing up the totals wrong, or is lousy at math.”

  “But you don’t think so.”

  “No, I think it’s unlikely. That’s their business; it’s all they do every day. If the inventory service were the problem, other stores would be complaining, and they would soon correct the problems or g
o out of business.”

  “Besides which,” she said thoughtfully, “a wrong inventory report would not change my bottom line in the long run. I mean, if the product and money were still here, it would show up in one way or another.”

  “Right. You wouldn’t be having to replace what you already had, and wouldn’t be short of money to pay bills.”

  “But doing an inventory every month, Ken. That’s expensive, and a lot of work,” she said, groaning.

  “I know.” Was this an act? Was she covering up for someone? Or even herself? “I’ll factor the extra inventory costs out each month.”

  ***

  “Inventory again?” Ralph asked Anna unbelievingly a few days later. “We’ve already done inventory twice since the first of the year. Do you know how damn much extra work taking inventory is? I’ve got a hot date this weekend!”

  “Don’t yell at me, it wasn’t my idea,” Anna retorted. “Lili told me that Mr. Mills ordered it. And what’s more, we’re going to be doing it the first of every month, until they figure out what’s wrong. Some problem with no profits.”

  “How can there be no profits? Our sales are great. We have not only the best, but the only store in town.”

  Anna shrugged. “I don’t know. Just do it and don’t make trouble, please, Ralphie boy?”

  “Yeah, okay, Anna. Don’t get maudlin on me, old lady.”

  Anna smiled and went back to punching her order into her handheld computer. She knew Ralph hated it when she sweet-talked to him. On the other hand, when she did, he always did what she asked, so it was worth getting him angry to get her way. He always retaliated by calling her ‘old lady.’ She really didn’t mind that. After all, she was old, and not a bit ashamed of it.

  But the new order for monthly inventories worried her. I think whatever is wrong at the store has been going on for quite a while. Maybe for years. I must tell someone about the missing cases of groceries. I should have told Lili weeks ago. But what if Lili is involved? She’ll fire me to keep me quiet. Or if she isn’t involved, and finds out I knew something and didn’t tell her, she’ll fire me anyway. But if Lili is involved, who was the burglar and why would he hit her? Oh God, none of this makes sense! What am I going to do?

  In the end, Anna did nothing. She understood why Ralph and Arthur grumbled at the extra work. They had to count every item in their own produce and meat departments, while the hired inventory crew counted everything on the main floor of the store.

  On Tuesday morning, a crew of six college students, each with a calculator on his hip, walked through the store in just a few hours. They counted items with one hand and tapped numbers into the calculator on their hip with the other.

  “They did the whole store quicker than I can count all these packs and boxes of meat,” Arthur grumbled. “And it’s cold in those damn coolers and freezers.” He sniffled and wiped his red dripping nose. “I’ll be lucky if this cold doesn’t turn into pneumonia.”

  Lili overheard and asked, “Shall Ralph and I finish for you? I believe he’s done with produce, and I can do the office work later.”

  “No, that’s okay,” Arthur said quickly, the rest of his face turning as red as his nose. “I’ll be okay. The boys will help me move stuff around in the freezer to count it. We’ll make it, all right. No problem.”

  “Well, if you’re sure, I’ll go back and start the paperwork. I’ll be in the office if anyone needs me.”

  “Damn waste of time, anyhow,” Arthur grumbled to Ralph as Lili walked away. “They ain’t gonna know a bit more, no matter how many times we count this stuff.”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t bet on that. Why, you can figure out lots of stuff with these new computers. You should come over some time and see all the tricks I can do with mine.”

  Arthur stared at him. “I thought you just used that for games and stuff.”

  Ralph shrugged, embarrassed. “Sure, I play games on it with my buddies, and show off to the girlfriends. But it’s good for lots of other stuff, too.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like math and stuff. Just because I didn’t graduate from high school doesn’t mean I never learned to count to ten, you know. I’ve read every book I could find about my computer. I’ve got a modem and everything.”

  “You have, huh?” Arthur looked at him with new interest. “What’s a modem for?”

  Ralph puffed up importantly. Arthur was always calling him the high-school drop-out in front of the girls who came in to talk to him. It was nice to show off for a change.

  “It’s for sending information from one computer to another over the phone lines. I can call up mainframes and dozens of databases and download information from them. I was talking to one in California, last night.”

  “Maybe you’d show me how it all works when we get done here tonight, huh?”

  Ralph’s smile faded and he looked away. Then he shrugged indifferently and said, “Sure, Arthur, I can try to show you. But you can’t learn something like a computer in one evening, you know. PC’s are all different, besides.”

  “Yeah, I know. But the new boss might put in a new-fangled computer scale, and I’d like to know a little bit about computer stuff, just so I don’t sound stupid, you know?”

  “Yeah, okay,” Ralph said. It would serve that smart-assed playboy right to have Mr. Mills think he was stupid. I should have said no. Well, Arthur can’t learn much in one night.

  Ralph grinned. I’ll throw so much detail at him that Arthur’ll never remember it anyway. The dumb car-jockey. I wonder how he made out with the boss’ classy secretary. Bet it didn’t take her long to get his number. Ralph shrugged and went back to wrapping trays of oranges.

  ***

  By evening tempers were short, and Lili insisted everyone go home at their usual time. “We’ll finish tomorrow,” she said. “We’ll get more done with a fresh start in the morning.”

  She went home, put rose scented bubble bath into her tub and filled it with hot water.

  Luxuriating in the fragrant water, she leaned back in the old-fashioned tub, thinking about Ken. Lately he’d been acting so cold toward her, not even kissing her. Pride kept her from asking why, so she suffered in silence. If he wanted their relationship only on a businesslike basis, she had no choice but to agree.

  Why had she started to care about him anyway? He was way out of her league.

  On the other hand, he continued to see her at the store almost on a daily basis. Perhaps he was spying on her. No, that wouldn’t explain his going swimming with her at the pool.

  She needed her exercise, to get rid of some of the mental stress of the days, and had gone back to her former habit of a nightly swim at the heated motel pool. More often than not, Ken was there, or arrived shortly after her. They usually swam laps together in companionable silence, then shared a few minutes with a soft drink on the chairs before she politely took her leave. He would make no effort to detain her, yet she would feel she was somehow abandoning him; condemning him to a lonely evening at his lake house.

  That was a ridiculous idea; he had moved there by choice. It had nothing to do with her.

  They were spending more time together now than ever before, but instead of feeling closer, she was feeling isolated from him. Come to think of it, he seldom touched her now. Before he had touched her hand or put his arm around her at every opportunity. Why had he grown so cold?

  Perhaps she should have gone to the pool tonight, and swum until she was exhausted, instead of soaking in this hot bath. Her bath was now cold, she realized. Sighing, she rinsed the fragrant bubbles off under the shower, toweled off and went to bed.

  ***

  The report on that inventory turned out nearly the same as the others and just as confusing. Tightlipped and cold, Ken said, “We’ll wait for the next one.”

  So they went through it all again the first of the next month. In the intervening weeks, the summer weather turned hot, but nothing much warmed up between Lili and Ken. Lili felt as though a block of ic
e had settled on her heart, but did her best to pretend nothing was wrong.

  When the report from the next inventory came back, Lili and Ken sat in her office, each with a copy in their hands and her desk between them. It was a symbol of their problem, she thought grimly. They were always together physically, yet a wide gulf separated them on an emotional level. The strain of being close to him without daring to touch him was driving her crazy.

  The fact that he showed no sign of being affected by her in a like manner was the hardest for her to bear. It could only mean that he didn’t care for her the same way that she had grown to care for him. How could she go on seeing him on such a regular basis, while knowing he was indifferent to her?

  How could he remain so businesslike when her heart was doing flip-flops because they were alone together, even if it was only in her office with lots of people nearby? How could he have made love to her and given her those sizzling kisses if he cared nothing for her? It didn’t make sense. She’d never understand the man.

  “Are you listening to me, Lili?”

  She flushed and willed her mind back to the matter at hand. “Yes, of course. You were talking about the possibility of vendor theft.”

  Ken glared at her disbelievingly, then went on, “Yes. Well, let’s have another staff meeting and go over all the security procedures again.”

  “But we’ve done that,” Lili said. “I’ve reviewed everything from the way they check in the semi load from Allied, to the pop, dairy, and potato chip drivers. I don’t see any reason to think that is the problem. Under our system I don’t see how they could get away with a package of anything, let alone enough to skew our bottom line to this extent.”

  “We’re obviously missing something, or we wouldn’t be seeing these figures,” Ken insisted. “I’ll get Tom to bring out some new videos to make the meeting interesting. We’ll try to get more discussion going, to see if we can get any ideas from the others.” He picked up the phone and began dialing.