It was late afternoon, and in just an hour Tom and his wife Sandy would get off work and head to their church. This was Friday, with the grand opening of the new wing on the church scheduled for Sunday. This was to be the final practice for the choir, which they and several of their friends were in. Tom and Sandy both worked for a large printing company, he as a plant supervisor, and she in the accounting department.
Tom and Sandy were both thirty-one years old, and had been high school sweethearts before being married after graduation. Tom had been employed by the printing company since high school, slowly working his way up the ladder. Sandy had various jobs before being hired at the plant three years earlier. Tom was 5'10" nice looking and well liked. Sandy was 5'5" well built, and very cute. She got a lot of looks when walking down the street.
Having bought more house than they could comfortably afford two years earlier, the couple had been barely keeping their bills paid. After paying what had to be paid, there was little left for incidentals. When the church expansion came up a year earlier all of their friends pledged thousands of dollars each for construction. Tom and Sandy were very despondent because they couldn't pay what they considered to be their fair share.
After not sleeping for several nights, worrying about what to do, Tom came up with a plan. They would borrow the money from the company. After many discussions Tom convinced Sandy that it wasn't really stealing, they would pay it back, and besides it was for a very worthy cause.
The plan was simple. Tom created invoices from a fictitious company and approved payment. Sandy, being in accounting, processed the invoices.
They pledged an amount similar to what their friends had pledged, and made payments on the pledge as the fake invoices were paid by the company. Everything seemed to be working well, and they were ready for a great weekend, celebrating the ribbon cutting.
Mark Stern, the owner of the company had, the previous day, been advised by his auditor that there was a problem, and had determined that they had paid a lot of invoices from a fake company. They found that all invoices had been approved by Tom and processed by Sandy. The address was a post office box. Mr. Stern and the auditor had spent the day documenting proof that the couple had embezzled over $10,000.00 in the past year.
Mark Stern was fifty years old. He was in reasonably good shape and played racquetball twice a week. He was well respected in the community, and within the company, where he was strict but fair. He took great pride in the loyalty of his employees. .....He was furious!!!
Mr. Stern's secretary, Marsha Keller, was ordered to call Tom into the office at 4:00pm, and to have Sandy there at 4:15pm.
Tom arrived at 4:00pm, and questioned Marsha as to why he was there.. Marsha said she didn't know, she was just following orders. She showed Tom into Mr. Stern's office.
Mark Stern met him at the door. Tom, come in and have a seat, we have a problem! The tone of the voice was making Tom quite nervous.
Mr. Stern stood behind his desk and slid the folder containing the fake invoices across the desk. EXPLAIN THIS!
Tom glanced inside the folder and turned red. He knew this was his worst fear. Please let me explain he said. He tried to not implicate Sandy. I had to borrow the money for my church. It's a good cause, and I'll pay it back with interest.
How are you going to do that? You and Sandy aren't even employed anymore. Wait in the next office. I have another visitor coming in. Tom was now petrified, knowing that Sandy was also implicated. Sweating profusely, he did what he was told, and went to the next office.
About five minutes later Sandy came to Marsha's desk. Since it was not unusual for her to be called to the office, she joked with Marsha as she waited.
Mr. Stern came to the door and asked her to come in. She could tell that he wasn't in a good mood, and assumed that there was a problem needing accounting help.
Close the door Sandy! Sit down! He again slid the folder across the desk. Like her husband, she took one look and froze.
Don't give me any crap about worthy cause or paying the money back! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU TWO THINK YOU ARE DOING!
On the intercom he told Marsha to send Tom back in.
Mr. Stern didn't say anything until Tom was seated. OK, I WANT THE MONEY BACK NOW, NOT TOMORROW, NOT LATER TODAY, BUT RIGHT NOW. Tom, tell me how you are going to do that or the police will be here in 15 minutes.
Tom knew that the money was gone. They had no way of getting it back. He just stared at the Floor. Sandy was motionless.
As Mr. Stern reached for the phone Sandy became frantic. WE CAN'T BE ARRESTED, EVERYONE WILL FIND OUT. PLEASE! PLEASE! She was almost collapsing from fear. Tom sat in the chair, not knowing what to do.
Mr. Stern looked at Sandy and half shouted – YOU ARE BOTH THIEVES. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS TO THIEVES!
Mr. Stern had been furious all day, after being told of the situation. He hadn't anticipated anything other than calling the police and having them arrested. The fear that they were both showing made him feel somewhat sorry for them. A plan was forming as he looked at them sitting there in fear.
No one spoke for several minutes. Finally Stern, in a quiet voice said – OK you have two choices, Option one – I can call the police and you will both go to jail for several years.
Second option – you can keep your jobs, and you can pay back the money by doing additional services that I currently pay outside people to do.
I'm going to get a cup of coffee. I want your answer when I get back. One final thing, if you decide on option two, and there are ANY questions or hesitation I will go to option one and call the police immediately. Do you understand this? Both Tom and Sandy acknowledged agreement.
When he was gone Tom turned to Sandy, his eyes filled with tears, and told her he was so sorry that he had gotten them into this mess. They looked at each other, knowing that they had no choice but to do whatever it was that Mr. Stern asked of them. Neither had any idea what he was talking about, but they couldn't go to jail.
Mr. Stern came back in and immediately asked for their decision. He again told them that there was no negotiating, no questions asked, either they wanted to pay the money back, on his terms, or go to jail.
Tom and Sandy had no choice, both immediately accepting his offer.
Ok, here's the deal. Meet me at 7:00 this evening at my club. Wear business attire, and don't be late. Marsha will give you the address. He ushered them out the door.
They drove home in silence. Their plans for choir practice that evening were gone, and they had no idea what their future held, but at least they weren't going to jail right now.
Tom wore a suit that he usually only wore to church. Sandy had no idea what to wear, so after her shower she tried on several dresses, finally deciding on her mid length red dress. She always felt good wearing it.
There was little conversation as they drove to the club. Both had the feeling of being trapped, and feared the unknown.