Tristan went over the list of numbers for the fourth consecutive time, still not quite ready to believe they were as bad as they seemed to be.  He was about to compare several of the hard copies for a third time when James interrupted his concentration.

James: “See what I mean?  It’s a nightmare.  Can you imagine what sort of trouble we’d be in if I hadn’t noticed this?  An audit would be the least of our worries!”

Tristan: “This isn’t just sloppy, it’s downright malicious.”
James: “Are you sure you can’t fix it?”

Tristan: “Ever-changing equation, James.  Or did you not catch that part before we were mysteriously disconnected?”

James had the decency to look slightly embarrassed, though he quickly brushed it off.

James: “So what do we do?”

Tristan: “First off, we fire Mr. Rowland as soon as possible.  I’m sure he won’t be at the office at this hour, but we can always try his cell.  At the very least we’ll leave him a message to contact us at his earliest convenience.  Then we simply find ourselves another accountant.”

James: “The first part’s easy enough, but how the hell are we even going to be sure that the next guy we hire isn’t just as crooked?  Stone has his mitts in just about everything in this god forsaken town.”

Tristan let his gaze drift over the sea of numbers in front of him and let his mind drift for just a moment.  Something about the situation felt familiar somehow, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on why.

After a few seconds, something clicked.

Tristan: “Maybe we shouldn’t hire another guy.”

James: “What?  You just said we have to fire Jason, and we can’t do this ourselves.”

Tristan: “Get with the twenty-first century, James!  We should hire a woman.”

James: “Because Stone wouldn’t dream of having a female do his dirty work.”

Tristan: “I’m talking about a specific woman.”

James: “Who?”

Tristan: “One Marion McMally, in fact.”

James: “Mary Joe?  She’s not an accountant, Tristan.  She’s an artist.  I don’t see how she’d do any better than either of us.”

Tristan: “On the contrary, James.  It just so happens she was an accountant before she moved out here.”
James: “How the hell do you know this?”

Tristan: “I got to know Mary pretty well when we were in the Under World.”

James: “Lovely.  I think your dating Emily has really scrambled your brains a bit.”

Tristan: “Come on, you have to admit she’d be perfect!  There’s no way she’s working for Stone, and think of how single-minded she can be.  We’d be fools not to hire her.”

He waited with patience as his friend looked from one set of papers to another.

James: “Fine, we’ll try her.  But if we end up worse off for this, I’m holding you responsible.”

Tristan: “Did you want to call her, or should I?”

James: “I think she’d probably respond better to you.”

Tristan: “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of her.”
James: “Honestly I’m just being practical as that woman does not like me.”

Tristan: “Somehow I doubt that’s the case.  Besides, I’m sure you’d gain a few points with her if you offered her a job.”

Again, James’s gaze drifted down to the paperwork.

James: “Think it’s too late to call tonight?”

Tristan: “I wouldn’t think so.  I know Emily mentioned they were having a girls’ night in thing, so they’ll probably be up for quite a while.”

James: “In that case, you fire Jason and I’ll hire Mary.”

James handed Tristan the account’s business card with a grin.

James: “Good luck.”

Tristan: “You, too.”

Without much hope, he went into the foyer and dialed the first number on the crisp white card.  Unsurprisingly, after several rings a standard office voicemail came on informing him that, as it was currently after business hours, no one was available to take his call and he was more than welcome to leave his name and number. 

He grudgingly obliged before repeating the routine with the second number on the card.

After hanging up for the second time, he wandered back into the kitchen and waited for James to finish talking to Mary.  It didn’t take long before his friend hung up the phone and sat back down.

James: “She agreed to work for us, quite readily I might add.  I offered her the same rate we were paying Jason, plus a hefty bonus assuming she can straighten out his mess.  Truth be told, it went a lot smoother than I was expecting.   I take it you didn’t get a hold of anything other than voicemail?”

Tristan: “Not surprisingly, no.  I left messages on both, of course.”

James: “Too bad we never got his home number.  I’d love to give him a call at ungodly o’clock and give him a serious piece of my mind.”

Tristan: “You and I both.”

James: “Do you really think Mary will be able to fix this mess?  It’s not exactly easy to find people in this town who aren’t under Stone’s employment.”

Tristan: “I hope so.”

James: “You’re beginning to fail at keeping me from going into a blind panic.”

Tristan: “Everything will be fine, James.  We survived the Great Depression and several recessions, I’m sure we can get through this.”

James: “In case you didn’t notice, we haven’t exactly heard from our financial fairy godmother in a very long time.”

Tristan: “Maybe Mary is our new good luck charm.”

There was a brief silence as James stared moodily at the piles of paperwork scattered around his kitchen.  Tristan jumped when his friend suddenly slammed his fist down on the nearest pile.

James: “Right, enough.  There’s nothing else we can do tonight, and sitting around here twiddling our thumbs isn’t going to change anything.  So let’s you and I get take a cue from the girls and bond.  And drink a lot, preferably someplace that isn’t the Xenon.”

Tristan: “Karaoke at Hiroshi’s?”

James: “You read my mind.”