Page 116 of The Jealous Girl

‘The overall balance aligns,’ he said. ‘Because the discrepancy was transferred out immediately.’

My mouth opened and closed as I struggled to speak.

‘Charlotte was siphoning money?’

‘No, not Charlotte,’ PC Grove said, staring straight into my eyes.

A sickly sinking feeling descended on me.

He slid another paper in front of me.

‘You were.’

The room seemed to tilt as I stared at the page in front of me.

‘No, that’s not possible,’ I said, shaking my head, prickly heat rising through my body.

‘We also checked with each of the customers. Their invoices were for higher values than the ones on file at Blackwater. £5,000 higher each time. The full amount was received into the bank account and then £5,000 was immediately transferred out. To this account.’ He tapped the page. ‘Your account.’

‘No,’ I said again. ‘That’s not mine. I don’t even have an account with that bank.’ And yet I was staring at my name on the documentation.

Panic swept through me. I had to do something. Say something. Anything.

‘Atlas probably isn’t even the father.’

The officers exchanged a look, surprise evident on their faces.

‘Didn’t you notice that? Every single one of the sales with my signature – the forgery of my signature,’ I corrected, ‘states Atlas is the sire.’

PC Grove scooped up the pages and studied them in turn.

‘All the other foals,’ I continued, ‘their sales were signed by Martin or Ryan. But they didn’t sign a single one of Atlas’s sales.’

They exchanged another look.

‘He’s their best bloodline. The most valuable. There’s no way they would let someone else handle those sales. Especially someone with no experience.’

‘So, you focused your fraud to the highest value transactions,’ PC Grove said bluntly.

‘No!’ I shook my head. ‘You don’t get it. Atlas had fertility issues. They had him on special supplements, but what if that wasn’t enough?’

‘What are you saying?’

I met his gaze. ‘What if those foals aren’t his?’

40

THEN

Mid August

‘Where do you want to go for dinner tonight?’ Ryan asked as we got ready for work.

I glanced up at him, doubt creasing my brow. ‘Are you sure you want to go out?’

‘We agreed we would, didn’t we?’

‘Well, yeah, but you’re so busy and tired⁠—’