The Reserve Audit Found A Loan Behind The Missing Cash

“I never reviewed that certificate,” I said.

Farah slid a clean copy toward me.

“Write that on this one. Date it. Keep the statement narrow.”

I wrote that I had not seen, approved, or supplied the technical review claimed below Kent's signature. I signed my own name where it belonged, on my own words.

Nola read it before Farah added it to the review file.

“Your name isn't a signature here,” Nola said. “We'll describe exactly what it is. A claim that you reviewed something you didn't.”

Farah nodded.

“I won't build a case from a larger claim than the paper supports.”

For the next week, a bank statement mattered more than any speech Kent had given.

Stillwater hired an outside accountant, Paul Venn, to match the reserve ledger to actual cash. Wickett's board authorized full access after Farah said her team could not recommend the purchase without it.

Paul asked me for the signed reserve amendment and each statement sent under it. Then he asked the same questions again in different order.

I liked him for that.

“Was the monthly contract fee paid?” he asked.

“Yes. The $3,200 is current. The reserve is separate.”

“And you don't receive reserve deposits personally?”

“No. Wickett was supposed to hold them for approved work on its loop.”

He drew two boxes on his pad. One held my fee. The other held the plant's maintenance money.

“We keep those apart,” he said.

At the next meeting, he set down a five-page report.

No separate reserve bank account had ever been opened after the amendment. Each month, Owen had entered $18,000 as a reserve obligation in the books. Kent had then presented the running total as funded cash in the sale papers.

“Where did the available money go?” Farah asked.

Paul turned to a cash planning sheet approved by Kent.

Over the two years, management had redirected $432,000 that its own schedule had marked for reserve funding. Bank records matched $300,000 to an advance made to Kent and $132,000 to sale advisers and closing costs.

The sale expenses were real. They simply did not maintain a heat loop.

“So those invoices checked out?” Farah asked.

Paul kept his finger on the bank column.

“I'm reporting where it went. Spending it on a real bill doesn't mean it remained available for another one.”

I thought of the seal in Luis's plastic bag. That bill had been waiting too.

Kent's advance was another matter.

“Was the board told?” Nola asked.

“I found no board approval in the records provided,” Paul said. “I'm asking for any missing minutes.”

He did not call it theft. He put a yellow tab beside the gap.

Kent arrived late, shook rain from his coat, and looked at the report without sitting.

“It's a temporary advance,” he said. “Payable out of my sale distribution.”

“Then repayment should be simple,” Farah said.

“After closing.”

“Your certificate says the money is available now.”

“We were going to replenish it.”

“From what source?”

“The sale.”

Farah moved the certificate beside the cash report.

“The sale relies on this certificate. This certificate relies on the sale.”

For once, he had no quick answer.

I took the pocket thermometer out because its bent clip had caught my shirt. Kent watched me lay it on the table.

“Must you carry that thing everywhere?” he asked.

“It reminds me to wait.”

“You've made your point. Name your price for the consent.”

I opened the service estimate.

“Fund the $432,000 obligation. Approve the first $48,000 of work. Let the inspector verify it. Put the remaining money where the contract says it belongs.”

“That's company money.”

“Yes,” I said. “For company equipment.”

Farah closed her pen.

“And we need a corrected forecast, corrected sale disclosures, and a clear record of who can certify them.”

Two directors attended by speakerphone. Inez Vaughn, whose family had helped start Wickett, asked Kent whether any minutes supported his advance.

“I'll have Owen find them,” he said.

Owen stared down at his hands.

“There aren't any,” he said.

The room went quiet enough for me to hear water drip from Kent's coat onto the floor.

Inez asked that the report be sent directly to every director and the seller's shareholders.

Kent said the discussion was over.

“The meeting may be,” she said. “The discussion isn't.”

That night, Nola called while Denise and I were washing dishes.

“They filed,” she said. “Wickett wants a temporary order stopping you from asserting control over the supply contract. They've asked for a hearing Friday.”

Denise shut off the tap.

“What do you need?” I asked.

“Your originals. Your receipts. And the same patience you had in 2017.”

An hour later, a deputy came up our porch steps with the summons.