Whispers in New York - Book Two

~Chapter 26~

Chapter Song

Too Close – Alex Clare

A big thank you to @lucyryann for the song suggestion ;-)

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Adriana let out a long frustrated groan picking up the pile of cash on her desk for what seemed like the twentieth time. She had already separated the bills into sections the first time she counted them and could not for the life of her work out why they were short.
Reaching for her iced coffee with her other hand she brought the straw to her lips enjoying yet another caffeine hit. This was her third coffee; at this point she was averaging one coffee every hour.

Placing the coffee down, she returned her attention to the cash rapidly sorting through the bills murmuring the numbers out loud then referring to her spreadsheet for the matching total. She was a perfectionist and this would simply not do.
Placing the bundle down, she continued the process with the other bundles of cash constantly checking her findings with her original spreadsheet.

Nearing the end of her third bundle she heard the sound of the office door opening. Completely ignoring it she continued to count knowing very well it was Salvatore who entered the room.
Placing the final bill of the third bundle down she reached for her iced coffee once again taking another long drink before settling it back down and returning her attention to her excel spreadsheet.

"Adriana. I didn't expect you here today." Salvatore stated shocked to see her a day after the shooting incident.
Dealing with Jason's body the night before had taken a lot longer than expected. There were many lose ends for everyone to tie up before he could stop by to check on Adriana.

He had organised for the dump of all the surveillance footage that night starting from mid afternoon to not arouse suspicion should anyone come looking for Jason.
Salvatore also had two men locate his car and drive it to a wrecking yard of an acquaintance who owed him money from a deal gone bad.
Stefano had dragged the gentleman out of bed to crush Jason's car until it was totally unrecognizable. The gentleman knew better than to ask questions.

Salvatore had let himself into Adriana's apartment at twelve past four in the morning. He had shocked Luca who had dozed off on the couch and jumped up at the sound of the door opening revealing his boss.
After Luca had explained the women had fallen asleep a few short hours ago he decided it was best to let her rest. There was no point discussing anything while she was exhausted and emotionally distressed, it could wait for another day.

"Why wouldn't I be here Salvo? I've got work to do." She responded flatly twirling a pen between her fingers then bringing the end to her bottom lip tapping it lightly in a pensive state growing more and more frustrated by this morning's figures. They made no sense, just like last night.

He pulled her apartment swipe card from the back of his pocket holding it up to show her. "There was a lot going on last night, you left this here." He made his way to the encryption device inserting her card to encrypt receiving no response from Adriana.
"You know you don't have to be here today, you could take a few days off, if you need too."

Letting out a grumble, which sounded a lot like a mimic of the words if you need too, she shook her head at the screen. "I just don't get how we're out right now, none of this is adding up!"

"I think we should talk, you know about last night?" He suggested walking back towards his desk and taking a seat on the edge waiting for her to look up from her screen and acknowledge him.

"Clearly someone has taken money from the petty cash and didn't record it. I can't find a receipt that would account for it either." She was now tapping her pen loudly against the notebook on her desk. Back and forth the end of the pen smacked against the hardcover continuously.
"Did you take money from the petty cash?" She raised an eyebrow curiously finally looking over at him looking a little confused.