Chapter 6 - Teresa’s Books
Teresa was not just Mauricio’s mother.
She was the bookkeeper.
For years she described herself as retired.
She was not.
She maintained MRO Consulting’s QuickBooks.
Prepared invoices for Lakeview and Northstar.
Moved money between accounts.
Signed checks.
Paid subcontractors.
Her home printer produced several forged forms.
When federal investigators later searched her house, they found a folder labeled WBG.
Westbridge Development Group.
Inside:
Invoice templates.
Old org charts.
My signature specimen.
A photocopy of my employee badge from a charity gala photograph.
Printed email chains.
One handwritten note:
V rarely checks AP.
M says promotion may change access.
My throat closed when Sarah showed me later.
Teresa had been studying me.
Not personally.
Operationally.
What I checked.
What I did not.
My career habits had become vulnerabilities.
Then another note:
If V and M split, keep vendors away from her.
I stared.
“How old?”
“Forensic ink dating can’t give exact, but paper metadata and surrounding documents suggest at least eight months before ballroom.”
Mauricio and Teresa had considered divorce risk before I did.
Maybe because they knew scheme relied on my proximity.
That changed how I viewed last year of marriage.
Every apology after shove.
Every accusation that I spent too much time at work.
Every demand that I share calendar.
Was it control?
Fraud protection?
May you like
Both?
People rarely have only one motive.
