Throw the Dice

Throw the dice

The phone rang in her office, the early morning sun was just beginning to filter through the blinds, still drawn, from the night before.

“Hello, Amanda speaking. What? I’ll be along right away.”

Seated around the table were the Director Joe Dobson, the Chief Accountant Alan Kramer and the Secretary Mike Davies.

“Please be seated.”

Amanda looked at the serious faces in front of her. She waited.

“It has come to our attention that R900 000 is missing from the accounts department . Your signature is on the documents. What have you to say?”

She felt a tremor of apprehension rising up in her throat to suffocate her. What were they talking about?

“That is impossible, may I see the document?”

Alan pushed the papers across the table. Amanda did not like the expression on his face. His sharp nose was twitching and his narrow eyes were shining with the prospect of witnessing her downfall. He had always had his knife into her.

There was the time he blamed her for messing up the annual budget, putting figures in the wrong columns. On another occasion he made her look foolish when doing a bank reconciliation. She had always managed to sort the problems out but had harboured suspicions that the errors had been planted, in order to discredit her. Her accounting qualification was exceptional, whereas Alan had risen in the ranks by length of service. She had kept her thoughts to herself .

“That looks like my signature but I have never seen these documents before. Would you mind if I take a photo of it with my phone?”

They could hardly refuse her this, seeing that they were terminating her. Termination was a good name for what she was feeling!

“Is there a chance we can discuss this? “

“Your signature is on the documents so there is no room for discussion. This is a serious matter and we have to treat it in a serious light,” Joe said.

“There have been incidents in the past, of which you are aware. This recent offence, gives us no choice but to summarily dismiss you.  Due to the fact that you have been employed here for some years, we will not press charges. We will fix the problem of the deficit without you having to pay the price. You must leave immediately in order to prevent gossip among the other staff.”

Amanda was bristling with horror. It had always been part of her makeup, to avoid censure of any kind. The morning had turned into a nightmare.

 “May I fetch my personal belongings from my office before leaving?”

Amanda thought of her box of tissues. She was going to need them!

 “Certainly you may do this but then you must go.” Alan’s lips curling.

At home, Amanda collapsed on her bed in a state of anguish. Her whole career of the past ten years, was gone, her new promotion gone, her self esteem gone. What was she going to do now?

She had not signed that document. She was innocent! They said they would not prosecute, that was a small bonus point.

She lay on her bed for four days, crying and using the tissues.

Recently she had read a book, lent to her by a friend.

‘Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine’, and Amanda Humphrey was completely fine, thank you.

She got up!

There would be a last throw of the dice.

Calling her bank manager, she found that there were enough funds for her to attend an online course, to become a Certified Fraud Examiner. Being in the accountancy field, she had heard of this. A new beginning!

Two months into the course, Amanda was introduced to the art of handwriting examiners. Her budding detective mode, kicked in. First of all what had they meant, that fateful morning, saying they could sort out the problem of the deficit ? How could they do this? Why was the R900 000 so divisible by three? Were they in cahoots? R300 000 each, could get them out of a hole. R900 000 was not an uncommon amount for paying for artefacts. Getting up from the computer, she fetched her cell phone. There was the photo!

She dialled the number of the person mentioned in the online course.

“Hello, is that Steven Harrison? You are a certified handwriting expert? Could I consult you on a professional matter?”

“Of course, I am free this afternoon if you care to come around. My address is 42 Spring Road near the Hout Bay shopping Centre.

Amanda was at the house in Hout Bay at precisely 3pm . She could hardly contain her excitement.

Steven was a man in his late thirties, clean shaven with clear, brown eyes . His dark hair was swept back in a pony tail. His jeans fitted tightly, and the shirt was open at the collar. He had an overall look of self assurance.

“Come in.” He led the way to his office . The maple wood desk was polished to a shiny gloss finish. There were a few piles of neatly arranged papers. Very impressive!

He indicated a chair and sitting opposite her, put one foot up on his knee. He looked at her searchingly, taking in her leg hugging jeans and the white silk shirt.

“What do you want from me?”

 Amanda told her story.

“Let me have a look at your photo. How clever of you to find other samples of your name, handwritten ones on your pay slips.”

Steven spent some time examining the signatures. She watched him frowning intently, a faint smile of concentration on his lips.

“With a photo, you are not able to judge the pressure of a pen on paper , and you cannot see if there is lifting of the pen but you can notice other things. The ’m’ in Amanda is different to the way you write your name. The three loops in the ‘m’ are much larger for instance in the cell phone photo. The twirl of the ‘Y’ ending is laboured and thick compared to the ‘Y’ of the original. I think you can make a case in your favour . These indicators alone, warrant a closer look. You need to make an appointment and ask for the original document . I can accompany you and examine the writing on the premises.”

Amanda nodded.

“In the meantime can I take you out for supper seeing it is getting late? We can go to the Hout Bay Cockle Shell across the road and continue our discussion there.”

 Amanda felt an instant attraction to this pleasant young man. He had a soft woody scent like that of cedar (the first of trees), reminding her of a forest , of fir tree needles rustling underfoot. She looked closely at him and saw that he was watching her with some amusement. Could something like this happen? She had not felt drawn to anyone since Joseph had died in that terrible car crash two years ago. She had escaped from that accident physically unhurt but emotionally battered.

Over supper Amanda told Steven the story of the other accusations against her, the offences of which she was just as innocent, as of the latest one.

 He took her hand and smoothed her palm with his fingers. It seemed as if an electric current passed between them.

“Has anyone told you how beautiful you are Amanda?”

“ Not recently, no.”

Steven saw her to her car and opening the door, before she could get in, he pulled her towards him and kissed her gently on the mouth.

“That was a lovely evening . I hope it will be the first of many. I promise to help you overturn the unjust accusations against you.”

A few days later, they were ushered into the Director’s office at the museum.

“My client, Amanda here, has engaged me to investigate the authenticity of a signature which is on a document she is supposed to have signed. Would you get the documents so I can inspect them?”

“This is quite contrary to procedure and against the agreement made by me and my colleagues.” Joe Dobson sniffed in disapproval.

“However if you insist.” Joe could see no way of getting rid of them until they had seen the papers.

“Come in Alan!”

Alan Kramer sidled over and produced the papers.

“Be seated Alan.”

Kramer sat and seeing the way things were going to jump, blurted,

“I did it! I forged Amanda’s signature! I wanted her to go!”

Joe looked at him aghast,

"Shut up Alan!"

and after a moment, looking at Amanda,

“We have to offer you your job back.”

She got up and Steven followed her to the door. Turning at the door, she smiled,

“ I have to say thank you for firing me. I will soon be a Certified Fraud Examiner and will earn twice as much as I did here. I will have the chance of investigating cases of fraud, so you had all better watch out! I’m on to you! As one famous person said before me, ‘I’ll be back.’”