False Charity Read Online Free Page A

he doesn’t want to be tidying up loose ends from the agency, and maybe I shouldn’t have come bothering you but I didn’t know what else to do. I’ve tried ringing him, loads of times, and coming round to speak to him. All he says is that I can take it to the small claims court if I wish. But I can’t do that, can I? No more than I can go to the police.’
    â€˜Ah. No proof – of what?’
    Coral shrugged. ‘It was always a bother to me, keeping the wages straight, so I got my son-in-law to look after that side of things.’
    Bea jerked herself awake. ‘You let that no good son-in-law of yours keep your books? After the hash he made of costings for the open evening at the art gallery? I thought you said years ago, that you’d never let him loose on your books again.’
    â€˜He’s gone and done a business degree since then, and my daughter’s pregnant and begged me to give him another chance. And it was for a big do, wasn’t it? Charity organization. Proper letterhead and a cabaret and little pin things to give away. There was to be an auction and the guest list was to die for.
    â€˜Max passed the job to me, said it would do me a lot of good, get my name known with a better circle of people, people who count. I’d just lost one of my oldest accounts when they moved out of London so I was looking for something to fill the gap. The function was to be held in the Garden Room at a big roadside pub down the Great West Road.
    â€˜Silver service, of course. I had to call in a few extra to help, and my sister helped out with preparing the food and though I say it myself, it was a sight for sore eyes and not much left over, I can tell you. The place was packed. Loads of people complimented me on the food and I thought I was on the up and up. Till the charity’s cheque bounced.’
    Bea drew in her breath. She knew how much these events could cost. ‘How much were you out of pocket?’ She’d noticed that two of her pictures were crooked on the wall, so she got up to straighten them.
    â€˜Thousands. Far more than I could afford to lose. That wasn’t the worst of it. I rang Max and told him what had happened and he said he was sure there’d been some mistake, that he’d contact the people who ran the charity about it for me. Sure enough, they rang me the next day to apologize. A woman it was. Nice as pie. She said it must be some glitch or other and the cheque had probably been taken from the wrong account. Their accountant was on holiday but they’d send me a replacement cheque as soon as he got back.’
    â€˜And did they?’ She plumped up some cushions.
    â€˜Wait for it! She said they wanted to make it up to me. She could charm for Britain, that one. She said they’d another function coming up, even bigger. Would I be interested in doing that for them? Meanwhile she’d see that I got my money as soon as possible. Like a fool, I believed her.
    â€˜The next function was at the Priory Country Club, much the same as the first one, only bigger. All bare shoulders and bling for the women and silk shirts for the men, if you know what I mean. It’s true I got a cheque from the charity the day before the second event but of course there wasn’t time for me to get it cleared by the bank beforehand. That bounced, too. As did their cheque for the second event.’
    Bea felt dizzy. She climbed on to a low stool to straighten the mirror over the mantelpiece and had to hold on to it, to prevent herself from tumbling off. ‘So you didn’t get a penny for either? Why didn’t you go to the police? No, don’t tell me. Your son-in-law wasn’t up to date with his book-keeping?’
    â€˜Something like that,’ said Coral, in carefully neutral tones.
    Bea surmised that he’d probably been paying the staff cash in hand without covering insurance or tax or keeping proper records. If that was the