I had turned him down. Now his company was receiving money from my business. I called him. "Liam, this is Alan." There was a short pause.
"Alan? What's going on?" "I found your company in my financial records." Another pause. Then he said quietly, "You should talk to Tammy."
I tightened my grip on the phone. "That's exactly what I'm planning to do." Before I could say anything else, Liam hung up. That was when I knew this had nothing to do with a simple affair. Someone had been preparing for my divorce long before I filed it.
The next morning, Gregory came to my office with a folder under his arm. He closed the door behind him. "You need to see this." I opened the folder. Inside were copies of emails between Tammy and Liam.
There were dozens of them. Most were about money, company contracts, and meetings. Then I saw something that made the whole situation clear. Three weeks before Tammy ever mentioned the date, she had written to Liam, "Once Alan signs the divorce papers, the company becomes vulnerable." I looked at Gregory.
"What does that mean?" "It means we need to find out what she was planning." I kept reading. Tammy had also discussed one of my largest customers, a shipping company called Northstar Marine. Liam had been trying to win their contract for almost a year.
Tammy had access to our pricing information. She had been sending Liam internal figures. "He's trying to take one of my biggest accounts," I said. Gregory nodded. "And your wife was helping him."
I closed the folder. "Then the date was a distraction." "That's what it looks like."
That evening, Tammy came home and found me waiting in the living room. She stopped when she saw the folder on the table. "You've been digging." "I've been protecting my company." She dropped her purse onto a chair.
"You really think I'm trying to destroy you?" "I know you gave Liam confidential business information." Her face hardened. "He was helping me." "With what?"
"My future." "Your future included stealing my customers?" "I wasn't stealing anything." "You sent him my pricing." She said nothing.
I stepped closer. "You also tried to put a $180,000 loan against my company." "I was going to use the money to start over." "With my business?" "With what I helped build."
I stared at her. "You balanced the books. You didn't build the company." Her expression changed. "You've always made me feel like I was just your wife."
"And now you're proving why I stopped treating you like a business partner." She looked toward the door. "You're making a mistake, Alan." "No, I made one 19 years ago." She flinched.
Then she picked up her purse. "I could make this very ugly." "You already did." She walked toward the door. Before leaving, she turned around.
"You don't know what Liam has planned." I watched her leave. That sentence stayed with me. I called Gregory immediately. "Find out exactly what Liam is planning."
"I already started." "Then find it faster."
An hour later, Gregory called back. His voice was different. "Alan, the loan isn't the worst part." "What is?" "Someone has been preparing documents that could make you personally responsible for your company's debts."
I sat down. "Who?" Gregory paused. "Your wife." That was when I stopped thinking about divorce as a personal matter.
Someone was trying to put my entire life on the line.
The next morning, I met Gregory at his office. He had every document spread across his conference table. "The loan application was only the beginning," he said. "There are guarantees here with your name on them." "I never signed these."
"I know." He pointed to one page. "The signature was copied from an old business contract." I looked at it carefully. Whoever had forged it knew exactly what my signature looked like.
"Can we stop the loan?" "Yes. But I want someone else looking at the money trail." Gregory gave me a name. Martin Keller.
Martin had spent 15 years investigating financial fraud before starting his own consulting firm.
By that afternoon, he was sitting across from me with the documents. He didn't waste time. "Your wife didn't build this alone," he said. "I know." "She had help."
"Liam?" "Liam is involved, but there's someone else." He slid a bank statement across the table. Several payments from my company had gone through a subcontractor called Bayline Services before reaching Harbor Point Consulting. "Who owns Bayline?"
I asked. Martin looked at me. "Daniel Pierce." I stared at the document. Daniel was my office manager.
He had worked for me for nine years.
I called him into my office that afternoon. He walked in smiling. "You wanted to see me?" I closed the door. "Sit down."
He saw the documents on my desk. His smile disappeared. "You've been sending company money to Harbor Point." "I can explain."
"I don't want an explanation. I want the truth." Daniel lowered his head. "Tammy said she needed help." "How much did you take?"
"$22,000." "And Liam?" "I never dealt with him directly." "That's not what I asked." Daniel looked at me.
"Tammy said Liam would make sure I was taken care of when the company changed hands." I leaned forward. "What did she mean by changed hands?" "She said you wouldn't be running it anymore." That was enough.
I stood and called Martin. He told me to keep Daniel there until he arrived. When Martin came, Daniel gave him access to the payment records. Within an hour, we had the missing link.
Tammy and Liam had been preparing to force me out of my own company. The $180,000 loan was supposed to create debt against the business. The redirected payments were supposed to make the company look unstable. Then Liam planned to approach Northstar Marine and take over the contract. And Tammy would walk away with enough money to start over.
That evening Tammy called me. "You've gone too far." "No, you did." "Alan, we can still settle this privately." "What are you offering?"
"I'll walk away from the company." "In exchange for?" "$300,000." I almost laughed. "You're demanding money after trying to steal my business?"
"Think about it." "I already did." I ended the call. Then I looked at Martin. "Send everything to the investigators."
I was done protecting Tammy from the consequences of her own choices.
Two days later, Gregory called me before 8:00 in the morning. "The investigators want you at the office." I drove there immediately. Martin was already waiting with Gregory. On the table was a thick file containing bank records, emails, forged documents, and payment histories.
"They've confirmed the fraud," Gregory said. "How much?" "More than $200,000 moved or attempted." I nodded. "And Tammy?"
"She has been questioned." I looked at Martin. "What did she say?" "She blamed Liam." That didn't surprise me.