INTERIM LOVER, ryan howard.

012 ⋮ the accountants

ㅤㅤㅤThree thousand dollars was missing, so Angela Martin was compiling a list of suspects. On the top of her list was Kevin, followed by Meredith, Creed, then Michael. She was reluctant to keep the Temp off the list. Given his appearance and his personality, she had very strong suspicions about him.

"Are we sure it's not an accounting error?" Angela bit her lip. She wasn't looking forward to having to interview all these criminals. To think that she was working alongside criminals was already making her feel quaint.

"Well, I went over my books three times," Oscar shrugged, leaning back on his chair.

"Has anyone in the office bought anything nice recently?" Kevin suggested.

Angela's eyes fell to Oscar's wrist, only now noticing something adorning it. "That's a very nice watch, Oscar."

Of course, she was accusing him. She was not the type to hold back on her opinion of others.

"Yes, it is," he replied, not even sparing a glance at the watch. "My grandfather left it to me when he died."

"I've never seen it before," she pressed. She had to catch him in the act. "He must have died very recently."

"Yes, he did, actually. About three weeks ago."

That shut her up.

"Let's just ask around," Oscar decided. "Then we can ask Michael."

—

OSCAR
Every other time there's been money missing from the office, it's always been Michael. He's usually really obvious. Like, he'll say he spent $50 on a lunch with a client, and he'll submit a receipt from J. Crew.

—

Rachel picked up her mug of coffee and turned back towards the office. Through the kitchen blinds, she could see the accounting department marching towards her.

On the rare occasions where the accountants banded together, the office was in for a shit storm. Oscar's amazingly advanced problem skills in combination with Kevin's unpredictable waves of intelligence and Angela's fight was a force to be reckoned with.

She turned towards the Annex, hoping to hide out with Kelly or even Toby until whatever they were doing was over. But from the Annex, Kelly and Ryan were approaching in their usual lovebird state.

Before she could leap into the women's room, both doors opened simultaneously.

She was trapped.

"Goodie." Kevin rubbed his hands together as if observing his next meal. "We can kill three birds with one stone, guys. We can ask Kelly and Ryan and Rachel about the missing $3000—"

"Idiot!" Angela hissed. She truly was the human embodiment of a cat. "Now we don't have the element of surprise! We won't be able to register the look on their faces when we ask about the money."

Ryan, with an expression of dismay, instinctively turned to Rachel. She was blinking as if taken aback too. He knew that she had nothing to do with that sort of money.

"You think I stole $3000?!"

Kelly was clearly offended, and everyone was beginning to regret accusing her. Including Angela.

"You know what you are, Angela? You're jealous. Yeah, you're jealous that I'm so pretty and that I can sing, you're jealous that I have a loving boyfriend who visits me every hour—"