Chapter 232 - The Receipts (2/2)

The couple continued to chat into the night about the events of their day and Jackson ended up helping Halia analyze the receipts she had gathered.

”Right off the bat, I can see some problems with the legal fees that Roy charged. He charged all the hours under the rate of a senior lawyer, but I'm sure he got his previous legal assistant to do a lot of the work because I definitely did some of the more recent work that he billed for. Besides, there's no way he would have spent 10 hours just on 'compiling doc.u.mentation'.” Halia said as she pointed to a particular receipt from the law firm.

”Also, there are about 10 receipts for 'legal consultation'. All within one month before the client's death and all lasting about 4 hours. I don't know what kind of consultation he provided, but that seems really excessive. Even our will-reading meeting today was only a couple of hours long,” Halia added.

”Then, there are some questionable mortgage repayments and loans that don't quite make sense. All these suspicious ones are relatively small numbers and slipped in inconspicuously amongst the large number of receipts, but when we add them all up, it's almost 8 million yuan.”

”Take photos of everything and send them to Sean,” Jackson instructed. ”Have you spoken to him lately?”

”No. I spoke to Natalie and she told me they are getting married in a month, so I assume they are preparing everything at the moment. I don't want to disturb him unless necessary. But, I will definitely contact him about these receipts,” Halia replied.

”By the way, are there any updates on when you are coming back to Beijing?” Halia asked, hoping that her fiance would return soon.

Jackson shook his head, ”No. At this rate, I don't think we'll see each other until Natalie and Sean's wedding.”

”What?” Halia asked in shock. ”That's an entire month! I can't wait that long...”

She had already waited 2 weeks. Another month would be unbearable.

”I'm sorry, you know how it's like...” Jackson replied regretfully.

Halia sighed and said with understanding, ”Yes, I understand...”

...

The next day, Halia returned the briefcase to Roy as though nothing had happened.

”How did you go?” the man winked suggestively as he held onto the briefcase. Obviously, he did not hear about Marissa going to the hospital.

”Did you even open this briefcase last night? Or did Marissa open up to you instead?” he asked with a dirty smile.

Halia cringed at this sleazy talk, but reminded herself she was a man and replied calmly, ”No, we were going through the receipts in detail and she fainted.”

”She fainted? You actually went over the receipts in detail? How thoroughly did you look through them? Why did she faint?” Roy asked with slight angst.

Halia noticed the man's discomfort and knew he definitely had something to hide.

”She was shocked by the large number of receipts and she found a few of them quite questionable,” Halia said, testing for the man's reaction.

”You idiot! Didn't you get my hint? That wasn't what you were supposed to do. You were supposed to please the client and make her happy, specifically in bed...if you know what I mean. How could you make her faint? That's it! You're off this case!” Roy yelled angrily as he shooed Halia out and twiddled his thumbs nervously.

As Halia walked out of the office, she heard Roy pick up the phone and call Marissa. ”Mrs. Qian, I'm sorry that Mars upset you last night and made you faint. He's new and doesn't understand a lot of things and he may have made some of the receipts sound confusing. But, I can assure you that they are all correct and normal. There's nothing to be concerned about.”

”That's alright,” Marissa replied on the other end. ”I already spoke to Morton. Just go ahead with everything. I don't want to deal with this anymore. I trust you.”

Roy smirked. The little legal assistant almost ruined everything! Fortunately, Marissa didn't notice a thing.

”But, I have one request,” Marissa suddenly said.

Roy listened with curiosity.

”I want you to send Mars to me one more time. I have an event to attend this evening and I need a partner. I'm giving him a chance to make up for what he did last night. Let him know that if he doesn't come, the consequences will be dire,” Marissa threatened.

Roy listened to the request questioningly. Didn't Marissa faint after looking at the receipts? Why did it sound like the legal assistant had done something more serious than that?

Regardless of what actually happened, it wasn't his problem. So, Roy agreed and went to speak to Halia again.