Chapter 8 — Noah Finds One More Problem With the Receipt
Noah looked again at the receipt.
Something still bothered him.
“Mr. Harrison?”
“What?”
“The payment.”
Harrison looked toward the amount.
$1,200.
“What about it?”
Noah remembered processing the charge.
Aaron had handed him a corporate card.
Noah suddenly looked toward Elliot.
“Was it your card?”
Elliot’s expression changed.
Aaron looked toward the ceiling.
Ruth immediately noticed.
“Aaron.”
He sighed.
“Technically.”
“That word is never followed by anything good.”
Aaron admitted it.
The card belonged to Mercer Design Group.
Elliot’s company.
Aaron had once worked there too.
His name remained on an emergency expense card stored in Ruth’s desk because he occasionally purchased supplies for her home using the family business account.
He used that card for Salon C.
Elliot stared at him.
“You charged the dinner to my company?”
“I was going to reimburse it.”
“From what?”
“My bank account.”
“When?”
“Monday.”
Elliot laughed in disbelief.
“You forged my signature, used my name, and charged my company.”
Aaron’s face hardened.
“For Mom’s dinner.”
Ruth interrupted immediately.
“No.”
Aaron looked at her.
“Mom—”
“Do not use me as punctuation at the end of every bad decision.”
The room went quiet.
Ruth continued.
“I asked you to arrange dinner.”
“I did not ask you to impersonate Elliot.”
“I did not ask you to use his company card.”
“And I certainly did not ask you to put a young caterer in a position where his paperwork looked fraudulent.”
Noah looked toward the receipt.
She was right.
If Elliot disputed the charge later, Noah’s signed receipt would show Noah had processed a card for someone claiming to be Elliot Mercer.
Aaron’s family drama could have become an employee problem.
Aaron finally seemed to understand the full consequence.
He looked toward Noah.
“I’m sorry.”
Noah nodded.
“You should correct it with the manager.”
“I will.”
Harrison voided the original transaction.
Aaron paid using his own card.
The receipt was reissued under:
AARON MERCER.
His real signature appeared beneath it.
No secret identity.
No borrowed company account.
Harrison kept the original receipt as part of the incident report.
“Am I banned now?” Aaron asked.
Harrison considered it.
“From pretending to be your brother?”
“Yes.”
“Permanently.”