Chapter 8

To the four male Bob-Whites is seemed as if the weekend passed in a blur. Brian and Jim both had to report to class on Monday morning in the city. After a brief discussion on Sunday afternoon, they all agreed to stop by the Red Moon Cafe and check with Cindy Wong on the status of her computer later that evening. It made sense to wait until the supper crowd was finished and out of the restaurant, but then, with impatience worthy of Trixie, they descended on the restaurant.

Cindy greeted them herself when they walked in, offering the table of their choice, but they shook their heads.

"The thing is, Mrs. Wong," Jim spoke for the group. "We all have classes or work the next few days. Brian and I have to be in the city and ....” He paused and pushed a hand through his hair. "Did you happen to hear back from Ms. Ashby?"

She gave them a smile of understanding. "I planned to call you in the morning," she said. "But I'm expecting her any moment. She plans to drop off my computer this evening. She didn't mention anything about the back-up going awry."

The four of them exchanged uncomfortable looks. Mart was the one who spoke up. "Do you mind if we wait?"

"Of course not," she waved toward an empty table. "Have a seat and I'll bring you a round of sodas. Is soda okay with everyone?"

They nodded in agreement. Within moments of their drinks being delivered by Zane Wong, along with a complimentary order of their favorite pot stickers, Ms. Ashby was pushing through the door, a laptop case in one hand and an extremely large handbag over the opposite shoulder. Mrs. Wong came forward immediately and sat down with her bookkeeper at a table close enough that the boys could overhear the conversation.

"Everything went just marvelously," Tammy said as she handed her the laptop case. "It was up and restored in no time. You should find everything is in order and ready for you to begin using it with your daily close. You can even start tonight if you wish. Do you need my help?"

"If you don't mind waiting while I hook it up to the point-of-sale system," Cindy replied. "I'd just like that reassurance."

"Absolutely!" Tammy waved her toward the register. "Go right ahead. I'm in no rush."

The boys exchanged disappointed glances and Cindy instructed one of her wait staff to deliver a pot of hot tea to Tammy. "Oh! Don't bother with that, Cindy," she protested. "As soon as you’re done, I'm on my way home for the night. It's been a busy weekend."

Cindy nodded and within moments had the computer connected and operating in conjunction with the point of sale system. "Everything looks great," Cindy smiled. "I assume you'll bill me for the extra time?"

"Oh, pish posh!" Tammy airily waved a hand. "Forget that. It’s all part of the service. I'll see you at the end of the month. Don't forget, we have sales tax reporting due."

"I won't forget," Cindy promised. She smiled until Tammy was well and truly out of the restaurant. She approached the boys table. "You heard?"

They nodded glumly. "I guess that's it," Brian answered. "Thanks for the snack, Mrs. Wong. We're sorry to waste your time."

"Don't you think ..." Mart started and then paused.

The others stared. "What?" Dan was the one to speak. “Don't we think what?"

"She could still be the one. She could have taken the time to fix the books and records since the restore will show everything from the past with the same file date of today or yesterday. Shouldn't we compare the books and records to one of your other backups?"

Cindy Wong shook her head. “I don’t think so, Mart. Your suspicions didn’t have any real evidence to back them up. After all, Tammy Ashby was with me when we were held up. Why on earth would she put herself in danger? Let’s leave it to the police, please.”

With that there was nothing left for the Bob-Whites to do but let it go. The four young men glumly left the restaurant. Walking toward the car they were quiet, not speaking to each other, each of them lost in his own thoughts. It wasn’t until they reached the Bob-White station wagon that the least likely of them all spoke up.

“Mart, I just want you to know that I think you were right to ask to compare the books,” Brian said. “There isn’t any reason at all for us not to take a look at the old version of the books and records and the new version. What business would Tammy Ashby have in New Salem on a Sunday? It would be so easy for her to take Mrs. Wong’s card and withdraw cash and hide it in the books and records.”

“Brian's right,” Dan agreed. “I’m not sure what we can do about it, but I think you’re right, too.”

“Yep,” Jim said with a grin. “If you ask me, even if we don’t want to, maybe we should go tell Spider what we think. If nothing else, he can at least keep an eye on her. She probably won’t steal from Mrs. Wong again, but I’ll bet you anything she tries the same thing on …..” He drifted off, not completing his thought as an idea occurred to him.

“You going to finish that thought?” Brian asked.

"I take it back," Jim said slowly. "Mart may not be right after all."

"Yeah, well thanks for nothing," Mart retorted. "Are you just going to stand there or are you going to unlock the station wagon?"

Jim looked down at the keys in his hand and then turned to look back towards the restaurant. He shook his head. "You're partially right, Mart. But I think we missed something with the computer."

“Like what?” Dan asked.

"How much do you want to bet that Tammy offered to take care of restoring Mrs. Wong's computer program for a different reason other than hiding something she'd done? Maybe she was looking for information."

"What kind of information would be on the computer?"

Jim pointed at the Sleepyside National Bank just down the street. "Credit card information," he said with a grimace.

"What do you mean, James?" Brian demanded. "We already discussed that she didn't save any of her customers’ credit card information."

"No ..." Jim answered slowly as a possible solution formed in his mind. "But she probably saved her own. When she was robbed, she may have ordered new credit cards ---"

"With new credit card numbers!" Mart interrupted, as it dawned on him what Jim was thinking. He dropped the handle of the car door and moved quickly towards Jim. "She wanted to find out the new card numbers! If she set the restaurant’s books and records up to download that information, she'd even have the password."

Jim nodded. "Exactly. And that would explain why Ms. Ashby was at an ATM in New Salem, using fake credit cards from her customers."

Dan motioned at the rest of them. "Come on, let's go back. I think Mrs. Wong might think differently about this when you explain that to her."

Brian shook his head. "No, not tonight," he insisted. "It's clear that she's not comfortable with us pushing. Maybe Jim is right and we should find Spider and tell him. If Mike was right then he'll welcome our input. Investigating and everything is fine, but we need to remember what we're always telling Trixie and Honey."

Mart groaned. "Good grief, bro! Could you be any more by the book? No wonder Trixie gets so frustrated with you."

"Come on, Mart," Jim interjected. "It's time for us to at least talk to Spider. We haven't even given him a chance. Besides, Brian is right. Mrs. Wong isn't comfortable with us continuing to look for ways to prove her bookkeeper is implicit in this."

Mart rolled his eyes and looked at Dan.

Dan shrugged. "Do you have a better idea?"

"Sure!" he answered eagerly. "Do we or do we not, have a business?"

"We do," Dan acknowledged.

"Why don't we hire Ms. Ashby as our bookkeeper? We could apply for credit cards or get her advice about applying for credit cards and see what she says."

"Are you nuts?" Brian asked. "First, that would take weeks to get set up. Second, do you really want to jeopardize the money you've made all summer trying to trap some low-life bookkeeper?"

Jim grimaced. Mart was not his brother and he wasn't prepared to speak as harshly as Brian. "It seems to me that you two have worked hard all summer at that business. As much as I understand your reluctance to go talk to Spider, I'm not sure that's the right thing to do." He paused and turned to look at Dan. "What do you think?"

"We could pull it off, I'm sure we could," he replied slowly. "But when? We don't really need a bookkeeper and unless it rains for more than a day, we're not even going to have time to sit down with her and set up our books. Can we even get a credit card? Don't you have to be like, 21 or something?"

"You have to be eighteen," Jim informed him. "You could probably get one."

It was obvious that Dan didn't want that to be the answer. He shoved his hands in his pockets and glanced down at his shoes staring for a moment before he lifted his head and looked at his best friend and business partner. "If you really want to do this, then I'll go along with it, but let me ask you something. What would you tell Trixie if she proposed this scheme?"

"You think I'm being as irresponsible as Trixie?" Mart’s face flushed with anger.

"No!” His eyes narrowed. “First, I’m not saying Trixie’s irresponsible, she’s not here and you’re not being fair.”

Mart had the decency to look sheepish. Dan continued.

“Second, I’m asking you to consider following our own advice we've given her over the years. Let's talk to Spider. If he dismisses us or tells us to get lost, then we can think about hiring a bookkeeper for the business."

Mart threw up his hands in surrender. "I give up! Spider it is!"