“So I gather.” Wren glanced around at the boxes and bare walls. “Quite a comedown from your last digs.”
Simon snorted derisively. “Doesn’t mean a thing compared to the cost to Fresh Start. It will take a minimum of three to four weeks to get the warehouse converted and the program up and running again. How many women and children will we lose in that time, I wonder?”
“You’ll do the best you can. Sometimes that has to be enough.”
Simon leaned back. His handsome face looked worn and haggard, but his eyes were bright and sharp as they fixed on the reporter. “Okay, Andrew, what’s this all about? Lay it out on the table and get it over with.”
Andrew Wren nodded, reached into his briefcase, took out the copies he had made of the documents with which he had been provided and placed them on the desk in front o£ the Wiz. Simon picked them up and began scanning them, quickly at first, then more slowly. His face lost some color, and his jaw tightened. Halfway through his perusal, he looked up.
Are these for real?” he asked carefully. “Have you verified them.”
Wren nodded. “Every last one.”
The Wiz went back to his examination, finishing quickly. He shook his head. “I know what I’m seeing, but I can’t believe it.” His eyes fixed on Wren. “I don’t know anything about this. Not about the accounts or any of the transfers. I’d give you an explanation if I could, but I can’t. I’m stunned.”
Andrew Wren sat waiting, saying nothing.
The Wiz leaned back again in his folding chair and set the papers on the desk. “I haven’t taken a cent from either program that wasn’t approved in advance. Not one. The accounts with my name on them aren’t really mine. I don’t know who opened them or who made the transfers, but they aren’t mine. I can’t believe John Ross would do something like this, either. He’s never given me any reason to think he would.”
Wren nodded, keeping silent.
“If I were going to steal money from the corporations, I would either steal a lot more or do a better job of it. This kind of petty theft is ridiculous, Andrew. Have you checked the signatures to see if they match mine or John’s?”
Wren scratched his chin thoughtfully. “I’m having it done professionally. I should know something later today.”
“Who brought all this to you?” The Wiz indicated the incriminating papers with a dismissive wave of his hand.
Wren gave a small shrug. “You know I can’t tell you that.”
Simon Lawrence shook his head in dismay. “Well, they say these things come in threes. Last night I lost a good friend and half of five years’ hard work. Today I find I’m about to lose my reputation. I wonder what comes next?”
He rose from the desk and paced to the door and back again, then turned to face Wren. “I’m betting that when you check the signatures, you won’t find a match.”
“Quite possibly not. But that doesn’t mean you aren’t involved, Simon. You could have had someone else act for you.”
“John Ross?”
“Ross, or even a third person.”
“Why would I do this?”
“I don’t know. Maybe you were desperate. Desperate people do desperate things. I’ve given up trying to figure out the reasons behind why people do the things they do. I’ve got all I can handle just uncovering the truth of what’s been done.”
The Wiz sat down again, his eyes smoldering. “I’ve spent five years building this program, Andrew. I’ve given everything I have to make it work. If you report this, it will all go down the tubes.”
“I know that,” Wren acknowledged softly.
“Even if there’s nothing to connect me directly, even if an inquiry clears me of any wrongdoing, the program will never be the same. I’ll quit in order to remove any lingering doubts about the possibility of impropriety, or I’ll stay and fight and live with the suspicion that something is still going on, but either way Fresh Start and Pass/Go will always be remembered for this scandal and not for the good they’ve accomplished.”