The Accountant's Wife

"My father?"

"Yes, he was at university with Roger, in a fraternity with him. Roger knew about your father's financial problems. Your father gets a fair chunk of money and a minority share in the holding company out of the deal. It's enough to clear his debts with a hell of a lot left over."

We all looked stunned at their revelations, but they weren't answering all the outstanding questions.

"Hang on a minute," I said. "So they used the threat of the court cases to get rid of the firms in Eastern Europe, how did they know that the court cases would go away?"

"Because they've got a high up official in the Romanian finance ministry in their pockets. For a piece of the action, he guaranteed that the cases would be dropped. They convinced the rest of the Board that if they allowed a so-called management buyout then, the Romanians were willing to drop the cases. As far as the Board was concerned, it was a win, win scenario. The corporation got rid of poorly performing companies and wouldn't be hit with fines that could have been in the hundreds of millions of euros."

"Why would Marcus put himself at risk? He's not out of the woods yet!" Karen commented. "He's still got the EU charges to face, and the penalties for those aren't insubstantial."

"That's where they cocked up," Owen said. "All of the firms they were targeting were supposedly wholly based in Romania, and it would have been the Romanian government who would have prosecuted him. It's also why they were so eager for Rebecca to get Marcus off."

"And they had bought off the responsible minister?"

He nodded, "But one of the firms had a very small subsidiary in Poland. When the Romanians dropped the charges, the EU got interested because the crime crossed borders. They picked up the case and decided to make an example of Marcus."

Rebecca still looked confused. "But Dad was pushing me towards Marcus well before the EU took over the case."

Logan said, "It's what we were telling you earlier. Marcus is fixated on you; you've become a goal that he has to achieve at all costs. When Roger wanted to involve your father, and it was obvious to Marcus how desperately your father needed the money, he saw his opportunity. Marcus required your father to ensure that you worked closely with him. He was arrogant enough that he was sure his natural charm would win you over. Apparently, your father didn't like Michael very much and was quite happy to aid Marcus."

Logan turned to me, "Did you notice an increase in cases referred to you that required a fair amount of long trips?"

I thought about it and realised he was right, so I nodded.

"That was their doing; they recommended you to all the companies that they interacted with. They were trying to overload you with business and isolate Rebecca from you."

The sheer audacity of their plans stunned me. "How much of this is fact and how much is speculation on your part?" I asked them.

They looked at each other, and after a few moments, Owen responded. "About 70/30. We had to fill in a few gaps, but the majority is fact. Not that we could present it to a court, none of this was obtained legally."

"But we could send the details anonymously to the Board of Donaldson's' and the EU prosecutors," Logan added hopefully.

"There are a few journalists on both sides of the pond we could send the package to as well," Owen said. "They would never be able to trace it back to us."

I stood up and motioned to Rebecca to follow me to the other side of the patio.

"If we do this it's most likely going to ruin your father," I said.

She thought about what I was saying. "I'm not worried about him; it's my mother I care about. She and Dad have been living separate lives for the last couple of years. She's independently wealthy, and their home has always been in her name, so go ahead."

I didn't need to think; my response was immediate. "Do it!" I called across to Owen and Logan.

They grinned, high-fived each other and rushed off to their cottage.

The last movement; Aftermath.

We stayed at the villa until the New Year, so we missed the start of the fallout. Owen and Logan had put together a package with all the information and all of our conclusions. They had gone over everything, ensuring that they removed all traces of their illegal stroll through the internet.

In addition to the Board of Donaldson and the EU prosecutors, we decided to send the information to a pair of investigative journalists who specialised in finance; one based in America and the other in England.

Owen convinced me to add a friend of his, a blogger, to the list; her name was Gillian, and she was a genius. Once she got the story out, her site had over a hundred thousand page hits in the first 48 hours.

We had been back in the UK for a couple of days when we got our first real clue that the seeds were starting to take root. Rebecca's mother called to wish us a happy New Year. After the call, Rebecca told me that her father had been interviewed by the FBI.

Six months later, we were able to take stock of all that had occurred. The list was extensive.

Rebecca's father had been stripped of his qualifications by the Georgia Bar Association and was currently serving a two-year sentence in a low-security federal prison. He'd plea bargained, turning states evidence against the rest of the conspirators. Rebecca's mother, Rachael, had decided she'd had enough, and was in the process of divorcing Conrad. She is staying with us for the next couple of months, completely spoiling her grandchildren.

Roger is looking at a minimum of ten years behind bars, and a fine that has more noughts in it than some small countries' annual income. The Donaldson Corporation was also suing him to try and recover the fraudulently sold companies. He was going to lose everything. His wife, Pam, was following in Rachael's footsteps and was divorcing Roger.

Rebecca is working part-time for a women's rights group based in Brighton. She'll be taking a break in a couple of months as she's expecting our third child, a result we think, of a rather intimate model session we did for Francesca on Christmas day. Well, she wanted authenticity, and we got a bit carried away. The resulting painting is amazing and lives above our bed, just in case we need any inspiration in our old age.

Finally, Marcus, did Marcus get his just deserts? Hell yes, he did. The Romanians want a piece of him. So does the EU, and the Americans want what's left. Then there's a Chinese 'businessman' who wants to have a long discussion about the money he lent him to finance the original purchase of the Romanian companies. He's currently sitting in jail in Romania, sharing a cell with a couple of Neo-Nazis and that's probably the safest place for him. Geraldine reckons that he'll be in his 70s before he is eligible for parole.

Rebecca and I saw him at his last court appearance, and we barely recognised him. He stood in the dock, old bruises marred his face, and he looked at least ten years older. It didn't look like he was best friends with his cell mates. His eyes scanned around the court, stopping in shock when he saw us. Rebecca stood briefly so he could see she was pregnant. He blanched, then turned his face away. He never looked at us again.

The End

There are a few acknowledgments' I want to to make. First and foremost is Blackrandl1958 for organizing Legends day II. She and Ahazura have worked hard to make it a success.

Additionally BR1958 took time out of her busy personal schedule to edit and comment on the original tale. Her skill has made this a much story. Any remaining errors are mine as I can't resist tweaking!