By the Book

Chapter Seven: Reaching for Clarity

Miles leaned against the counter, methodically pouring latte art into a waiting cup while I flipped through invoices at the nearby table. Percy had taken up residence at Ben's feet, his stubby tail wagging lazily as Ben half-heartedly poked at his phone. I was vaguely aware of the soft hum of conversations around the café, but most of my focus was on the financial mess spread out in front of me.

Miles glanced over as he passed the latte to a customer. "Any luck?"

"Not yet," I muttered, scribbling notes in the margins of my notebook. "There's a pattern here; I just can't put my finger on it."

"You always this stubborn when you hit a wall?" he teased, wiping down the counter.

"Always," Ben chimed in without looking up, earning a chuckle from Miles.

"Glad to know it's a family trait," Miles said, flashing a grin. "What about you, Ben? Got any bright ideas?"

Ben shrugged, still scrolling. "Dunno. Maybe they're like Mom."

I paused, glancing up. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Ben leaned back in his chair, finally looking at me. "You know, like how she used to split the grocery bill across two pay periods when things were tight. You'd always figure it out, but she'd have to get creative with the budget first. Maybe your supplier is doing something weird like that—splitting invoices or spreading charges out."

Miles raised an eyebrow, glancing at me. "Does that make sense?"

At first, I dismissed the idea, shaking my head. "Suppliers don't usually—" But then it hit me, like a switch flipping in my brain. "Wait. Wait, that's—Ben, you're a genius."

Ben blinked, caught off guard. "I am?"

I shoved the notebook into my bag and grabbed the nearest stack of receipts. "If they're splitting charges across billing cycles but applying them to overlapping dates, that could explain the discrepancies. It'd look like double billing on the surface, but really, it's just—"

"Creative accounting," Miles finished, his tone catching up to my realization. "So, they're billing me twice for the same inventory, but across different cycles?"

"Exactly," I said, already heading for the back office. "I need to check your account records again."

Miles called after me. "Should I be worried that your teenage brother figured that out before you did?"

Ben smirked, leaning back in his chair. "You're welcome."

"Don't let it go to your head," I called over my shoulder, already pulling up the supplier's portal on the computer.

The moment I was back in the office, the pieces started falling into place. I cross-referenced the supplier's invoices with Miles' payment records, sorting them by date and amount. Sure enough, several charges overlapped, but the quantities didn't align perfectly—an intentional obfuscation that had slipped under the radar.

"It's a workaround," I muttered to myself, the fire in my head burning brighter with each discovery. "They're padding their margins by splitting large orders into smaller ones and double-counting the overlap."

Miles leaned one arm on the desk, the other on the back of my chair, leaning down to look at what I found. "Good news or bad news?"

"Both," I said, twisting in the creaky chair to face him. "Good news: You're not crazy, and you didn't mess up your records. Bad news: Your supplier's been skimming off the top."

His face darkened. "Skimming?"

I nodded, gesturing to the screen. "It's subtle, but they've been inflating your charges by splitting them across multiple invoices. It looks like a billing error at first glance, but it's deliberate."