Hunch

“I will kill you, if you ever tried to pull something like that. What were you thinking entering that property without permission and then spying on people inside from those bushes.”

“I know that was a little irresponsible…”

“A little? You were very far from being called “a little irresponsible”, my friend. A little would have been if you woke up this morning and in this age thought to walk to the office instead of taking the bus. A little would have been if you forgot to take your medicine, but this was opposite of “a Little. And…”

“Ok, I am sorry.”

“And you also took me along with you. You know I get a little short on breath when my blood pressure goes up. And to top it all you called me on Saturday evening on pretext of doing something important together, when you know very well that this is my Tom and Jerry time…I mean my grandchildren watch it and I overlook them.” 

“Wait a minute, you are angry because you missed your TV?”

“No, I didn’t say that. I missed quality time with my grand kids, that's it.”

“That’s very normal I guess, a grandmother of 65 years enjoying Tom and Jerry with her grandkids. I see why you are upset.”

“See it’s not for me, it's for them. They love that show and you know me being a grandparent I have to be responsible, nurturing, understanding and other adjective words, you get my point, right?”

“I was not understanding it very clearly earlier but then you drove the point home by saying “other-adjective-words”. How can one not understand after that?”

“No need to be apologetic now, it's alright in your age the brain gets a little slow in processing things.”

“You know I am a year younger than you..”

“Is it? Well in that case age is just a number. So, what was the big exciting thing for which you ruined my Saturday evening?”

“I know the reason behind our company’s best profitable year turning into a subpar year.”

“What? But how? I mean what is it?”

“We are standing in front of it.”

“You mean this car. But how did this car eat our company’s profits? That Human Resource secretary was right, you are going cuckoo in your head?”

“No you idiot, I am talking about this mansion.”  

“Oh…that makes sense.”

“You have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Not a clue.”

“The reports that you were going to shred that day, I studied them and everything looked right, apart from one transaction. In bank statements there was one money transfer entry to an entity which I know for a fact is closed for the past thirteen years, or I thought I knew that it’s closed. And precisely for the past thirteen years.”

“You are not making any sense to me. Did you skip your meds this morning?”

“I am alright and I know what I am talking about. Around 27 years ago when this company started, it took some time for both the brothers, our CEO’s father and his younger brother, to take the business off the starting block. But when they did, there was nothing holding them back.”

“And how is this related to this 13 year closed entity and then to this mansion?”

“Both brother’s learnt the tricks of trade very early in their career and not all of those tricks were on the right side of the law. This closed entity was one such trick. They created this to create an artificial loss on delivery to clients and then they used the loss to offset against their income, which in result reduced their tax outlay.”

“Ohhh…but then you said it's closed for the past 13 years?”

“When the CEO's father passed away, his younger brother also decided to leave the business but before leaving he made sure he was handing over a business which is a law abiding enterprise, so he closed that fictitious entity and alongwith buried other skeletons.”

“But if it was closed 13 years back then how come this year we made payment to this entity? Wait a minute, is it what I am thinking it is…”

“What?”

“The new CEO came to know about this entity and he kept on using this to do what his old man was doing prior to him. That's smart.”

“That’s really smart of you, Byomkesh. I think you nailed it, shall we go to the police.”

“I told you I don’t give enough credit to my wisdom…, wait a second you agreed with me. You never agree with me, what's the catch? Spill it.”

“So you are right in saying that the entity was kept alive even after the CEO's uncle left. And I confirmed this by checking the past years bank statements. Each year money was sent to this entity, but I think it was not the CEO who was sending this money.”

“Then who? I think it was him only, otherwise who else will gain from showing lower income to the authorities. Isn’t he the only executive who gets part of the net profits as an annual bonus?”

“Hmmm…I have two reasons to believe it is not the CEO, who is embezzling money away from the business and using it to buy mansions”

“No hurry at all, it's not like I have dinner to cook and medicine to take. No Rush At All.”

“Ok, Ok, no need to get cranky. I will take you to McDonalds after this, at least I can pay you in burgers if not in cash.”

“Not burgers alone. Happy Meal.”

“Fine, Happy Meal it is, “Miss-my-grandchildren-watch-tom-and-jerry-not-me”. So reason number one, if the CEO was himself embezzling the money then why did he hire that boorish man for a Govt Policy role and that too from his own salary cut.”

“It makes sense but not enough of it. What if hiring this new guy is just for optics?”

“Fair enough. Here is my second reason for believing, it is not him.”

<<CEO’s secretary shows the photographs she has taken just some time back when she was hiding in the bush.>>

“Is that the CEO’s wife and…”

“Your dear boss, Finance Director.”

“But..but, why?”

“You mean why are they snuggling in this photograph? Or..””

“No, I mean yes, but also why is he doing this?”

“Good question. My hunch is it's related to the snuggling and the partner he is snuggling with.”

“I agree with your hunch.”

“Wait a second, you are agreeing with me. You never agree with me.”

“What are you talking about? I have an agreeable personality?”

“What is that supposed to mean?

“That, you are taking me for a Happy Meal and telling me how you know all this.”

“I told you already, I went through the papers you were going to shred.”

“The papers didn’t have the story which you told me about the fictitious entity.”

“You were right, we don’t give enough credit to your wisdom.”