Embezzled

She was always ready with a big smile whenever I visited the client.

If we did a luncheon she always called to ask me what I wanted to eat.

“I eat everything except mushrooms,” I said. “No fungus among us.”

The owner of the company truly depended on her, often shifting me in her direction when something needed a fast answer.

Turns out, she was robbing them blind!

An elaborate scheme that was eventually found out, but resulted in some pretty good times for her as the company battled to stay afloat.

“That’s about the fifth middle-aged woman I’ve heard about who was busted for stealing huge amounts of money,” one of the guys on the sites said. “There was a church treasurer in my town who stole a half a mil over time and gambled it all away.”

“It’s just that I can’t picture this nice woman doing it,” I said. “She was always smiling.”

“Cause she was happy!” He said. “Who knew she was rich for a little while there?”

There will be jail time. Perhaps a decade. Woman is my age.

Not the way to spend your golden years.

“How does someone do it and not feel guilty?” I asked. “Nuns did a number on me. Someone gives too much change at a store and I correct their mistake.”

The guy laughed.

“People learn to live with their own shortcomings,” the guy said. “First time she got away with it, she was done.”

I guess.

Crazy.