Hi readers! There was tension in the office as we had our coffee, notably between Coco and the Chief Accountant, as Coco had moved her chair as far away as she could from him. I thought this was childish, and I began to wonder if there was, indeed, or, had been a romantic relationship between them. Was he her toy boy and the relationship went sour when he began to frolic with the said Rose?

Coco, who must be around my own age, is still a very attractive lady the South-South way, with curves in the right places and a commanding personality. The guy’s good-looking, but it would be a come-down for her to date him.

I mean, his jacket was a bit oversized, and the trousers a bit too tight and short. I know that many accountants are brilliant people who, male and female, are more concerned about figures than dressing trendily, but... This was why the other gals and I had to work hard on Tayo many years ago, so that she would shed that garb and begin to swing with fashion. She imbibed this fast and surpassed everyone, except, of course, me. Isn’t that why I don’t have as much money as she does?

As we were getting through with coffee, I could see that Joe was silently worked up.

“Can you give me the address of the said Rose?” he asked, as soon as the coffee lady had cleared away our things. “We must get her here.”

“I went personally to check her up,” said Coco, “but I was told that no-one by that name lives there. I don’t know if she ever lived there. Yet, that was the address she gave early this year when we employed her. It was Madam Belinda and the Chief Accountant who brought her in.

When I reported to our boss, he said Belinda says she has no recollection of recommending anyone by that name for employment here. It’s left to the Chief Accountant to produce her.”

“She’s not missing. She moved from that address to another one, but failed to give the new address to Personnel. She took permission to go bury her father in the east.”

“We’re sorry she lost her dad, but, what happened to the money she collected?” Tayo asked.  

“She normally goes to lodge cheques in the bank, so, after collecting those cheques, she went straight to the bank to lodge them. Unfortunately, her bag was snatched while she was riding on a motor bike. She returned here in tears, but before we could report to the issuers so that they would stop them, the cheques had been cashed.”

“How come?” asked Joe. “Weren’t they made out in the name of this company?”

“No, because we were short of money, we asked that they be made out in her name so that we could have access to the money to the money that very day. She’s gone to withdraw more money than that for us before. We had to issue receipts to our debtors because the money had been cashed. We had no reason for saying that they had not paid.”

“Mr. Man, but you know that this story sounds hollow, don’t you?”

“Sir, I didn’t handle those cheques and I never cashed the money. I’m not telling lies.”

“I didn’t say you were. What I mean is, how would you react if I, as Chief Accountant, tell you such a story? How would you take it if I told you that I asked that company cheques be made out in the name of a staff and the cheques made open for her to cash?

For such a huge sum, (no matter how you see N3 million), was it prudent to ask her to take an okada to cash the cheques on her way back to the office? Shouldn’t you have seen the cheques first, recorded them, and then sent someone else with her to go cash the cheques?”

“Well, sir …”

“You didn’t tell me this when you recommended that a loan be taken to pay salaries,” said Tayo.” You said money was short.  To save the situation, I had to go get a loan myself to give you.  I don’t like what I’m hearing.”

“Madam, I’m sorry. One doesn’t have peace of mind around here. Madam Coco has been making life a misery for me. I can’t think straight. If she sees me talking to a female staff, she accuses me of sexual harassment! What would I do that for? Can’t I talk to my staff?”

“As Admin Manager, I had to warn you to desist from locking your office when you have a female staff with you.”

“Locking my office? Were there complaints about this from anyone?”

“No, but you always lock your door when that Rose is with you. You were setting a bad example for the rest of the staff.”


“I don’t know about that, madam. I can’t recall locking my office door. I don’t need to harass staff for sex. I’m a responsibly married man. I have my own wife. I’m okay with her.”

“Hey, mister!” said Tayo sternly, “we’re not here to discuss your love life. Rather, we’re trying to trace missing money. This is a case for the Police. Why didn’t you report the matter of the snatched handbag?”

“The truth, madam, is that Rose wasn’t sure if she had the bag with her on the okada, or had left it at her last place of call. She had another carry-all bag with her. We tried to trace it, but those people said they saw her leave with her handbag. We were trying to find a way out when Madam Coco came to bang on my office door, saying that I shouldn’t be locked up with a female. It was most embarrassing.”

“You didn’t need to lock your door to do that,” said Coco, calmly. “It was company money, and it shouldn’t have been a private discussion. In fact, you should have reported it to me so that we would investigate properly. You shielded the girl and now she’s run away.”

“She hasn’t run away. She went to bury her father. It would be heartless of me not to grant her the permission to go do that.”

“How can you leave the Admin dept out of such a thing? The whole thing’s very fishy.”

“There’s nothing fishy there, madam. She was in my department.”

“Okay, let’s not drag this further,” said Tayo. “Mr. Chief Accountant, you continue with your duties, and the Admin Manager here will continue with hers. We shall find a solution. Treena, what do you say?”

“I agree with you, but that money has to be produced, and soon. N3 million may not be a fortune, but there are those guys out there, working-to-rule. The action is holding up production and sinking this company into further financial mess. Yet, they’ve worked. They have to be paid their wages. They have their own financial responsibilities.”

“Quite true, sis,” approved Joe. “The Bible says we should pay the worker his wage when due. To hold it back for one reason or the other means procuring the wrath of God. Companies which do that are holding back blessings on their organizations. Go on, sis.”

“To start with,” I continued, feeling very clever, “we shall have to put an advert in the papers declaring that Rose missing, and having absconded with company money.

That would further set us back several thousands of naira, but it would be worth it, because she would be forced out of hiding, if indeed she was keeping away from work deliberately. It would embarrass her and her family and friends, and would hinder her prospects of another job, at least, for a while.”

From the corner of my eye, I could see that the Chief Accountant looked rattled, while Coco looked very pleased.

“Madam, may I say something?” he asked contritely.

“Of course.”

“Eh, one has to be careful here, madam, because Rose had written for permission to be away for a burial and I had approved.”

“You did what?” screamed Coco. “You had no business to do that. Sorry, Joe, Tayo, Treena. I can’t  bear this any more. I’ll have to leave the room so that I don’t explode. What I’m hearing is becoming unbearable.

In all my years of running the Admin department here, this is the first time that a staff would seek and get another person’s permission to go on casual leave. Even our boss’s personal workers have to get permission from my department first before doing so. This sort of thing would encourage marginalization of my department, which could lead to a break down of law and order among the workers.”

“You’re right, Coco, but please bear with us. We should come to an amiable solution. Anger won’t help us, even though we get your point,” Joe said, trying to pacify her.

Tayo said she would take the books away again and try to find out just how deep in the red the company was.

“I have to leave now. Sorry, everybody. There’s a lot of work waiting for me, and I have to look in at CLAWS first, since Shola won’t be back from Kwara State until later in the day. I’ll take time to go through these books here. Treena, that shouldn’t disturb whatever decision you’d want to take.”

“Okay, thanks.”

“I must go too,” said Joe, getting up. “We’ve thrashed all the points that need to be thrashed. Treena should be given a chance to get her teeth into the matter. Sis, you don’t mind my leaving, do you?”

“Of course not. Wait. I’ll come see you both out.”

“Oh no!” the both said, clearly eager to get away.

“I’ll do that,” offered Coco, as she followed them out.

I was then left with the Chief Accountant. I lifted my face and began to study him properly, trying to get behind his mind. This was a trick we were taught many years ago in Britain as Personal Assistants to CEOs. You stare straight at them to make them know that they have your attention. That makes you look efficient.

The man in front of me stared back for a while, and then began to shift uncomfortably in his seat.

“My mind tells me that you can recover that money,” I told him suddenly.

“Er, madam, …”

Before he could continue, I asked him if Seb was aware that Rose lost that money, and if it was, indeed Belinda who had brought the girl in.

“Our boss is aware. I met Rose when she used to come spend her holiday with her uncle who used to be a co-tenant where I live. When she finished her OND, her uncle asked me to help her look for a job. There was no vacancy here then, but I wanted to help, so I asked Madam Belinda to help approach our boss and Madam Coco. She did and Rose came on board. There’s no complaint about her job.”

“Good. I’m meeting you for the first time, and you seem a decent professional to me.”

“Thank you, madam. I had worked several years with Madam Tayo and she had no problem with me.”

“I see. So, it’s in your own interest to see that that money is recovered. How do you feel about that?”

“Madam, that was what the girl and I were trying to work out, because I must confess that I wasn’t happy with her about the snatched handbag story. It’s a stain on my work. While our boss was here, she used to go collect money for salaries, and not one kobo would be missing. I couldn’t understand this one. She hasn’t run away, even though the poor girl has every reason to do that, with Madam Coco calling her a whore who wants to ruin my marriage. I hadn’t complained that Rose was after me.”

“Hm, okay, don’t worry about that. Do your best to see that the money returns here. Now, that’s how I would handle the matter if I were you. Your image is more at stake here than anyone else’s.”

He agreed and promised to do his best. I hope his best would be positive.  

Tara.

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