Page 25 of Park Avenue Princess

“I know your ability to track funds through the various entities gives you an advantage of discovering exactly what’s happening, where those funds are going, and who else is involved.”

“Which is precisely what I’m going to do. I’ll use my position to figure this out. Now you take care of yourself.”

“Is it naïve of me to think it couldn’t be that serious? To give Terrence the benefit of the doubt and stick with him?”

“Only time and more investigation will confirm just how serious this is. I know you’ve been dedicated to my father, but you aren’t responsible for whatever this may be and shouldn’t take part in the fallout if it blows up in dad’s face.”

“I find it hard to believe he’d participate in anything underhanded, given the status the firm has achieved.” Dennis sighs before continuing. “Then again, one never knows. Maybe my loyalty is fool-hearty but I’m going to remain.” Before I can interject, he continues. “If there’s any way I can help, I’m going to do it. Maybe I’ll see you later when you arrive at the office. And Lynne?”

“Yes?”

“Approach this situation, your father, with an open mind. Learn the facts, hear him out, and find the truth.”

“I will,” I say, my voice weak. No other words are exchanged as we end the call. His near plea has me mulling it all over in my brain. Is my view already skewed because he’s my father? Is it because of our strained relationship and the pent up anger I can’t seem to dispel?

The scope of this could be mind-boggling. Or, it could very well have a plausible explanation.

I take a deep breath, exhaling with a sigh; something occurring far too often as of late.

Just as I take a step toward the door, intending to head out, a few of the entries stand out in my mind, niggling to be addressed. I’m already aware of the deficit from the Dept. of Buildings, which according to Jimmy, should be overlooked on account of his buddy not needing any problems before retirement.Jesus!I need to do a full audit of that department and report Jimmy’s comments. I could very well uncover more discrepancies.

Then there’s the duplicate entry from the Dept. of Design and Construction, plus something odd about a few entries with the Dept. of City Planning.

Are funds being shuffled around to make it appear contributions are being made when really it’s a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul? What’s the purpose of this? Is it embezzlement, pure greed, or is something else at work here? Sounds as if Carmichael may be involved, but how in the hell did my father get entangled in all this?

Damn, I really have some diggin’ to do. But first, I decide to call the Dept. of Finance and inquire about a few things. That way, should I need to go there in person, I’ll already be closer than if I were at my place. DOCP is about six blocks away, but I’m not sure I’m ready to make an appearance there until I have more information.

Pulling out my phone, I call the DOF branch and am connected with a woman named Karen.

“Hi Karen, this is Lynne DuVall, I’m working on a special assessment with Management and Budget, and wanted to ask you to clarify a few things for me.”

After going through the security protocol to ensure I am who I say I am, and that I have the authority to access the information we’re about to discuss, I ask her about a few of the fee filings I’m curious about.

“I’m at City Hall as we speak, so if I needed to come to you directly about this, I can be there within—”

“So interesting,” I hear her say.

“What? Why’s that?”

“Well, you’re the second person today to inquire about those exact entries. Seems there was a miscommunication about some fees and incorrect paperwork was filed. Well, once that was all hashed out, I finally got the proper paperwork filed.” I hear keys clicking rapidly in the background as she goes silent.

“Karen, may I ask about the other person inquiring?”

“Oh, yes, certainly,” she says cheerily. “CFO of Design and Construction, Guy Hamilton himself.” I suck in a sharp breath, but Karen doesn’t seem to notice as she continues on. “Hang on, just a second.” More keys are clicking. “Well, I’ll be damned,” she says faintly. “Lynne, hold on for just a moment, will ya?”

Before I can even answer, I hear a click before pre-recorded advertisement starts playing.

“Dammit, I haven’t got time for this.” I contemplate hanging up and trying later, but that would be considerably rude and I need this information just as quickly as she can give it to me. After what seems like an eternity, when really it was less than three minutes, Karen returns to the line.

“So listen, Lynne, that paperwork I corrected for Mr. Hamilton seems to be, uh, missing. Again.”

“What? How’s that possible?”

“I’m honestly not sure. I mean, I handled it myself just this morning. I saw to it that the entries were loaded in the database. I assured him it was taken care of, and dammit, now it’s not. Oh, I’m sorry,” she adds, as if her upset wasn’t something she intended for me to hear.

“It’s okay, I imagine you’re very frustrated at this moment. I—”

“I absolutely am, and that’s why I called another colleague at City Hall about our software, you know, to make sure there wasn’t some fluke update that caused data to be lost. She assured me there wasn’t. I also asked her to locate Guy Hamilton and direct him to you because he’s down at City Hall also. I figure you could go right to the source. Or, he could come to you.”

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