The Audit Followed The Advance Into My Partner's Other Business

Marisol laid the invoice on a cleared sheet of plywood.

Hume Event Desk had charged Lantern Spur $18,000 for emergency publicity services.

The invoice date was April 17. The payment had left our account that afternoon, after the buyer's advance arrived.

"What publicity?" Saanvi asked.

"That's the question," Marisol said.

She had asked for a contract, a work list, proof of ads, and the name of whoever approved the charge. So far, Travis had supplied only the invoice.

The payment line said owner distribution.

The invoice said services.

Neither matched the expense list he had described in court.

"Could it be money we already owed him?" I asked.

"I'm checking that too."

I liked her more for saying it. I needed a report that could survive someone trying to tear it apart.

She also found a $2,700 cash withdrawal on April 17. The three crew statements accounted for every dollar of it. It had been entered in the books as loading supplies.

"There were no supplies," Ada told her.

"Say what you received and what you were asked to do," Marisol said. "I'll handle the account names."

She gave each disputed charge its own number. Beside it she listed the bank record, the invoice, and the person who could explain it. Blank spaces stayed blank until she found an answer.

"What if he calls it a mistake?" I asked.

"Then we record his explanation and check it."

She turned the invoice over. There was nothing on the back.

I had spent years tracing shapes before cutting foam. Watching her work felt familiar. She checked the edges before deciding what she had.

Meanwhile, the customer deadlines kept coming.

We had four days until the Las Palmas parade. The committee chair, Mrs. Bell, came to see the heron herself.

"Are we losing our deposit?" she asked.

"Your float is here. We can finish it by Thursday. I won't ask for the balance until you've seen the safety checks."

She walked around the base, looking at the bare plywood still showing between painted reeds.

"Travis sent us a different story."

She handed me her phone.

He had said I had seized the warehouse and blocked delivery. He offered to route the committee's final payment through Hume Event Desk to protect their booking.

I took a breath before answering.

"Please send that to Elena. Don't pay either business until we give you a written payment plan through counsel."

Elena sent every customer the same short notice that afternoon. It included the current management authority, the company payment details, and a direct contact for questions.

She also gave Travis's new email to the court.

He called me at six.

"You told customers I couldn't take their money?"

"The order says you can't make new company deals."

"They called me first. Those are my relationships."

"Then you should have told them where their float was."

He wanted to argue about who had shaken whose hand at which lunch. I told him to speak to Elena and ended the call.

That night, we rolled the garden across the marked test lane. Saanvi had borrowed heavy sandbags from a stage shop so we could test the frame under load.

One corner dipped.

"Stop," she called.

Milo stopped pushing at once.

The wheel bracket had a crack near an old weld. It would have been hidden by the skirt if Travis had loaded the float on Saturday.

I photographed it. We replaced the bracket and repeated the whole test.

At midnight, I found Ada sitting on an overturned bucket, staring at her empty hands.

"I keep thinking about that truck," she said.

"So do I."

"Would you have let me stay if I hadn't returned the money?"

"Returning it helped. Telling the truth mattered too. You still have to show me how you work now."

She nodded and went back to fastening the flower guards.

On Thursday, the heron lifted its head during the powered test and held steady. Noah checked the wire draw. Lena checked for hot spots around the lights. Saanvi signed the inspection sheet only after they finished.

Mrs. Bell watched the last test and paid the $14,000 balance into the company account.

We finished the other two floats the next morning. Their balances brought in another $10,500.

Every payment got an invoice and a receipt.

Marisol delivered her first report that afternoon. Hume Event Desk belonged to Travis. He could show no work for its $18,000 charge. His claimed owner payment had never been approved under our agreement.

Elena asked for the money back, correction of the books, and payment of the audit costs. Caleb's lawyer joined the demand for return of his advance.

Travis answered through counsel.

He wanted a settlement meeting.

Then, ten minutes before we closed the shop, a process server arrived with his counterclaim.

He accused me of taking the molds from him.