Chapter 4

I graduated with a Masters Degree in Accounting in November well ahead of anyone’s expectancy. I was barely twenty-one years old and already studying for the CPA exam. I had contacted Amanda Peat once month prior to my graduation so she could prepare things for me.

I was scheduled to be at Butler, Land and Reyes on December the fifth to meet with Richard Butler and get settled in. As expected, I was extremely nervous now, due to the fact that I was basically on my own now. Before the campus had been my comfort zone, but now that was gone.

On December the fifth at eight-thirty in the morning when I opened the front door to Butler, Land and Reyes my life changed forever. I looked at the directory board in the lobby and saw that Amanda Peat was on the third floor, room 317. I took the elevator up to the third floor and got out. I followed the hallway to the frosted door marked three seventeen. I opened the door and walked into a small outer office where a young woman was seated behind the desk. I was wearing a pair of blue jeans, sneakers and a white pullover shirt that was a bit too small. She looked up and smiled at me.

“How can I help you?” she asked.

“I’m here to see Amanda Peat.” I answered.

“You’re Mr. Williams?” she asked, looking me up and down.

“Yes, I am.” I replied.

She picked up the phone and notified Amanda Peat that I had arrived in the lobby. Less than a minute later, the side door opened and Amanda asked me to follow her to her office. We started in right away filling out forms and applications for virtually everything. For the next two hours, I filled out paperwork for a 401K retirement package, health insurance and an application for a bank account at the company bank which was only two doors down from our office.

She then issued me a company credit card and recorded the number in her ledger. She told me they would explain the credit card to me later. I then followed her down the hall to the IT office. Within the next hour, I was issued a Mac Book Pro, an IPAD and an IPhone. They even gave me a shoulder bag with the company logo to place all of the equipment in. We finally finished up around eleven o’clock. I was sitting in the lobby of Amanda’s office when Robin Woods open the door.

Though I was not sure if possible, she looked even prettier than the first time I had met her. She was wearing a fire engine red dress with a slit up the right side to mid-thigh. She had on sheer stockings and a pair of red spiked heels.

“Hello, does Amanda have you ready to go Tim.” she asked.

“Yep, he’s ready for the shark tank Robin.” Amanda laughed.

“Ok, follow me.” Robin laughed.

I thanked Amanda and followed Robin back to the bank of elevators. Robin informed me that we were going to meet with Richard Butler on the top floor. As Robin stated, the higher floor you were on the more important you were. We exited the elevator on the top floor and walked over to a large lobby where an older woman perhaps in her early fifties was sitting behind a large desk. The was a name plate on the desk that had Carla Davenport on it.

“Carla, I would like for you to meet Tim Williams. Tim, this is Carla Davenport. Carla is the most important woman here, remember that.” Robin laughed.

“Nice to meet you ma’am.” I said, shaking her hand.

“Same here Tim, I heard a lot of nice things about you.” she replied.

She motioned for us to follow her down the hall to a very, large set of double doors. She knocked loudly twice, then opened the right door and ushered us through. There was an older man in a suit sitting behind the desk on the phone talking to someone. I followed Robin to the three chairs sitting in front of the desk and facing Richard Butler. I sat down next to Robin as quietly as I could as Mr. Butler ended his conversation. He hung up the phone and immediately turned to the two of us.

“Jesus Christ Robin, did I hire a CPA or a middle linebacker?” he laughed, shaking my hand.

“This is Tim Williams. Tim, this is Richard Butler.” she said, making introductions.

“Just how big are you son?” he laughed.

“I’m right at six foot one and about two hundred nineteen pounds, sir.” I replied.

“Damn, you must have logged a lot of hours in the gym.” he stated.

“All I ever did was study or workout.” I answered.

“Well, it’s safe to say you excelled at both.” he replied.

In the next thirty minutes or so, Mr. Butler informed me that I was already enrolled at SMU for the next semester and I would be taking some civil litigation courses although I would not be required to pass the bar. These class were strictly related to divorce, family law and personal injury. Of course, as Mr. Butler stated the faster, I finished up my classes the better it would be. So, I only had to finish up one year of law school and pass the CPA exam, no big deal.

Finally, when it seemed that the list of my requirements were coming to an end, Richard added one last thing.

“Tim, please don’t take this the wrong way because I don’t want any bad feelings between the two of us. I want you to always be straight forward with me as I will be with you. I feel we are the best law firm in Dallas and I want all of our employees to present themselves in that manner. When you come to work here you must always wear a suit and tie, no exceptions.” he began.

“I know you are just graduating from school and probably not prepared for this. I spoke to your high school principal Mr. Peterson and he gave me an insight into your early years. I also spoke to many of your teachers at college including your guidance counselor. Everyone to a person has high praise for you and what you have accomplished. I’m investing a great deal of time and money on you, so I had to be sure.” he continued.

“Amanda issued you a credit card with a fifty thousand dollar limit on it. Robin will take to you to Porters Men’s Wear to see Jacque, he is the best. I get most of my clothes there, trust me you will not be disappointed. Put whatever you spend on the card and get with Amanda and she will make a weekly deduction from your payroll check until you pay it back.” he ended.

“Yes sir, I will.” I replied.

We both got up and left Mr. Butler’s office and closed the door behind us. We got in the elevator and Robin pushed the button to her floor where we had to stop for a moment. I leaned back against the wall of the elevator and exhaled catching Robin’s attention.

“A little overwhelming isn’t it? Don’t worry, I felt the same way, Tim”, Robin laughed.

We exited her elevator and walked down a long row of desks occupied by younger women for the most part. By the time we got to the middle of the row I was sure all eyes were on us. Robin, quickly went into her office, grabbed her purse and returned. I followed her back down the row of desks where she informed the receptionist we were going out to lunch and a meeting. She pressed the button and the elevator doors opened once again. We got in and she pressed one for the lobby and the doors closed.

“Boy, are you going to be the talk of the building.” Robin laughed.

Robin decided that we should go to see Jacque at Porter’s before going to lunch so she drove to over to Porters Men’s Wear where she parked on the side of the building. I followed her in where she walked across the store and hugged an older man with a tape measure around his neck.

“Jacque, this is Tim Williams. Mr. Butler told me to tell you, do what you do.” Robin laughed.

“Hello Tim, come with me.” he said, heading to the middle of the store.

He led me to a small opening in the middle of the store when there wear several elevated platforms. He asked me to step up on one of the shorter one and remove my pullover shirt. I did have a sleeveless undershirt on and I quickly pulled the outer shirt off. I could see the look on Robin’s face as I handed her the shirt.

Jacques took the tape measure and started to measure my chest then the width of my chest. He checked the length of my arms then around my waist. Finally, he got off the platform and checked my inseam writing the measurement’s down on a small pad and putting it back in his pocket.

“No ... No good ... Jacque cannot do this. Everything too big. Here ... here ... here.” he stated pointing to my chest, shoulders and arms. “I will have to alter everything but the pants.” he complained.

“Jacque, how long.” Robin asked.

“Seven maybe ten days ... I dunno.” he sighed.

“Ok, no problem.” Robin replied.

“Ok, you big man ... come with me.” he suggested, leading me to a large rack of suits.

Robin sat down in the chair and crossed her legs giving me a quick glance at her white panties. She leaned back in the chair and took out her cell phone and began to look through the messages. I had to believe Robin was taken, no woman this good looking would not have a husband or boyfriend.

“Ok, you need two black suits, one brown, one blue and then you choose other colors.” he instructed.

Jacque picked out the two black suits, the brown and dark blue one. I moved along the isle where I found a charcoal grey suit and a lighter grey suit. For the time being that gave me five suits. Jacque explained that all these suits had to be dry cleaned but you could wear them two to three times before having them dry cleaned. He then explained to me that shirts were critical and they need to be cleaned after every use. I needed at least three to four shirts per suit. Same with ties, at least three different ties per suit.

Jacque had an associate lay all the suits on a table where he quickly began to pull shirts from the rack and match them. He was writing everything down as he went then quickly went to the ties. After fifteen ties, five pairs of suspenders, three belts, eighteen pairs of socks and six pair of shoes it seemed I was done.

I followed him to the register where he began to ring up all the items he had written on his pad. After he had finished, I handed him the credit card Amanda had issued to me. He informed me that would be another charge for the custom made shirts and the alteration on the suits and handed me the receipt. I did not look at it and followed Robin to her car. Once she pulled away

I then glanced at the receipt showing that I had already spent over eight thousand dollars. I would have to get with Amanda and figure out how to pay this back. Robin drove across town to a small restaurant where we had lunch and she filled me in on how the office operated. Co-workers dating other co-workers was prohibitive, but it was happening all over the building. The key was to keep it very low key and discreet. Married men were sleeping with married women and vice versa. Apparently employees at Butler, Land and Reyes worked hard but they played hard too.

We then went to the apartment complex where the firm had three apartments rented for different purposes. Sometimes, they had to bring in people to testify in court, other times they would let a potential witness use one or every now and then if an employee found themself displaced and needed shelter. All the units were completely furnished all you needed were your personal belongings.

Within a week, I was settled in the apartment, I was going to class at SMU during the day, I was given a Toyota Camry to use and I was studying for the CPA exam. Since it was the first part and there was a test schedule in two weeks, I signed up to take Auditing and Attestation which I had been studying for about two months.

I passed first section of the exam with a ninety-two score. I immediately dove into Business Environment and Concepts. After two months of studying, I took the second part and scored a ninety-five. The third part was the most challenging, but I decided to take both parts three and four three months later. Several weeks later, I was informed that I had passed both parts three and four with scores of eighty-eight and ninety-six respectively. During this time, I was constantly checking in with Amanda Peat and Robin Woods notifying them of my progress. Two days after I informed Robin Woods that I had concluded all of the CPA testing, she informed me that Richard Butler wanted to meet with me.

I had picked up all my clothes from Porters Men’s Wear and they were all hanging neatly in my closet. This was the first time, I would be wearing a suit and I was very unsure of myself. I picked out one of the black suits, with a white shirt and a red tie. As I dressed, I could see why everything was so expensive. All of my clothes had been altered and everything fit exactly like it should. Normally to get a shirt big enough for my upper arms, the chest and shoulder area were a bit too large. This time, everything fit exactly like it should.

I had an appointment at ten o’clock with Richard Butler in his office. I arrived at nine forty-five and Carla Davenport asked me to have a seat. She commented on how good I looked in the suit. Several minutes later, Carla ushered me into Richard’s office. They were two other men sitting in his office on the sofa against the right wall. Both stood immediately.

“Tim, I would like you to meet my partners, Carlos Reyes and Jeremy Land. Guys, this is Tim Williams.” he said, introducing us.

“We have heard a lot about you. It’s finally nice to put a person with the name.” Carlos Reyes stated.

“Thank you, sir. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” I replied.

“Sir?” Carlos laughed, looking at Richard Butler.

“Forget it Carlos, this boy is old school. Get used to it.” Richard replied.

Everyone sat down and Richard began to compliment me on everything that I had achieved up to date. I was not yet twenty-three years of age and had a Master’s Degree in Accounting, was soon to be a licensed CPA and was six months short of passing four different law classes. But as Richard explained that was school and it was time for me to hit the ground running. As Richard stated, I now needed practical experience and there was no time like the present.

He explained that for the time being, I was going to work on Robin Woods floor. She was going to look after me and help me with anything I needed. My office was already furnished and ready to go, I would begin today. He then instructed me to go down to Robin’s floor and she would get me set up. I thanked him and got up immediately and began to turn around.

“Tim, by the way ... nice suit.” Richard stated.

“Thank you, sir. Jacque did a great job with everything.” I replied.

“He always does.” Richard assured me.

I took the elevator down to the eighth floor and stepped out walking over the receptionist. I leaned over and told the young woman I was here to see Robin Woods. She immediately smiled at me and began to pick up the phone.

“Nice to meet you Mr. Williams, I’m Terri Clark.” she said softly.

“Nice you meet you too, Ms. Clark.”

As I stood at the reception desk waiting for Robin Woods to come down the hallway, a weird thought entered my mind. As I stood here at this very moment, I had a three hundred thousand dollar education, I was wearing a thousand dollars in clothing and had twenty-eight dollars in my wallet. I guess, I must have smiled at the irony because Terri asked if everything was ok. I confirmed it was as I noticed Robin Woods walking toward me.

She motioned me to meet her and I immediately began down the long hallway. Robin was wearing a pure white dress that was very short with white heels. Watching her ass sway back and forth as she walked was an incredible sight to see. We went down to the end of the hallway where she took a left into a large office.

“This is you for the time being.” Robin announced.

I looked around the office in awe of my surroundings. I had three bookcases which were full of leather backed books. I saw three essential books on one shelf, Quickfinders, The Tax Book and the US Master Tax Guide. On a shelf next to those were a complete set of law books including Casebooks, Legal Citation Guides, Law Dictionaries, Legal History Books and Legal Treatises.

I had several different dictionaries, English books on Prose, and a large set of books for English to foreign language translation. On the desk there sat a twenty-seven inch IMAC computer, keyboard, mouse and large external hard drive. Across from the desk were two high backed leather chairs facing the desk. To the left was a small leather sofa for extra seating and on the right, a table with four chairs to work on. There was a small ice box in one of the cabinets with soda, juice and other things.

“Well, it looks like I have everything I need to start working, except something to work on.” I explained to Robin.

“Don’t worry, that will be down shortly.” Robin laughed, turning and walking to the office across the hall.

I took off my jacket and hung it up on the coat rack behind the door. I sat down behind my desk and was opening the different drawers finding all office supplies already inside. One thing about this place, you had what you needed to work. Several seconds later, my phone rang. I picked up the receiver and pressed the flashing light. It was Terri, she informed me that I had several boxes of files coming down the hallway along with someone by the name of Mark Berger, an attorney.

Apparently, Terri had notified Robin as well, she walked into the office as soon as the courier did with the rather large cart of file boxes. He unloaded them next to the table as Robin directed him to and left quickly. All the boxes were labeled Jameson vs. Jameson, no doubt a divorce case. Several moments later, a middle-aged man walked into the office. Robin introduced him as Mark Berger, one of the attorneys in Civil Law. Mark Berger apparently specialized in family law and had been with the firm for several years.

“So, this is the boy wonder.” Mark stated, shaking my hand.

“Cut your shit, Mark. Get to the point at hand.” Robin sternly replied.

Mark explained that he was handling Helen Jameson in a divorce against her husband Mark Jameson. They jointly owned Jameson Enterprises Inc. which consisted of three rental car companies, two travel agents, four insurance agencies, one payroll company, four tire dealerships and one car dealership. Apparently, Mr. Jameson had a knack for finding floundering businesses, buying them and restoring them to profitability.

Helen Jameson’ concern was that she felt for several years now her husband had been hiding money from her. She caught him cheating five years ago and she was pretty sure he was still seeing the same woman. She was also convinced that he had been moving money from the companies as a nest egg for the future. That suspicion got even worst when he filed for divorce several months ago out of the blue. My job was to go through companies record for the last few years and find anything out of the ordinary, if it was there. I was to also check the personal income tax returns and personal investments looking for anything out of the ordinary.

After Mark Berger left the office, I moved over to the table and started to separate into business and personal holdings. There were four years of files in six different large boxes. I decided to tackle the business income tax returns first noting they would be more complex. I was still up to my ankles in files when Robin walked in at five that evening.

“Time to go home.” Robin said, leaning into the doorway.

“I’m going to stay a while longer.” I replied.

“Ok, see you tomorrow.” she waved.

I left about seven o’clock that night bringing home one box of files consisting of business income tax returns. I sat up late that evening going over just about every business the couple owned. All of the businesses except the car dealership and the rental car business broke even or lost a few dollars. Not that this was unusual at all. Most smaller companies wanted to not show much of a profit. That way their tax burden would be low. The easiest way to achieve that goal was to make large expenditures, give employee bonuses or give the owners huge bonuses. In almost every company that showed little or no profit that is what was done. I finally laid down after midnight and fell fast to sleep.

I got to the office early and went right back to the files. Robin Woods arrived at almost eight forty five in a very business like pants suit. Terri had already brought me coffee and I was well underway. Robin waved hello and walked into her office.

I realized quickly that trying to go through each company’s financial report would be brutal. So, I tackled the Jameson’s income tax returns first. After going through the last four Jameson’s tax returns, I felt like I was missing something but could not put my finger on it. I had been trained in accounting and when it came to business there were only credits and debits. Every expense had to be categorized and every credit had to show a source.

One thing I did notice is that just about every company they owned had dealings with a corporation called JSI Holdings and Investments. Even on the personal income tax returns they were profits listed from JSI Investments. I removed the rest of the files from the table and only left the corporate returns and the personal returns on the table.

I started back on the earliest one and listed exactly what the Jameson’s took as a salary and in bonuses. Then I took the corresponding personal returns for the same year and added the salaries. In all four returns that I had, the Jameson’s personal returns did not reflect the checks that were written as salaries and bonuses exactly, they were all short.

That evening, I compiled a list of the difference in actual salaries and bonuses showed from corporate returns and corresponding W2 forms then compared that to salaries reported on personal returned. After seeing the numbers side by side there was a very serious discrepancy. In the four years of returns I had just reviewed, we were looking at over three million dollars unaccounted for. Then there were the sheer number of transactions involving JSI Investments, both on the corporate and personal side.