Rosie’s was one restaurant.
One location.
Amber nodded.
“I know.”
Ruiz made a note.
“What did he do with them?”
“He’d create them after closing. Sometimes hundreds of dollars at a time.”
My stomach dropped.
A restaurant gift card could function as a convenient temporary holding place.
Charge a customer.
Shift value.
Later redeem or refund it.
Hide a theft inside ordinary accounting noise.
“Could Kyle do that alone?” Ruiz asked.
“No.”
I answered immediately.
“He’d need administrative access.”
“Who has it?”
“Me. My accountant. Nina.”
“And Kyle?”
“Limited access.”
Ruiz looked at me.
“Someone upgraded it.”
I didn’t need to ask who could have done that.
Nina.
By evening, we had another problem.
The security footage was missing.
Not all of it.
Only selected days.
Days corresponding to some of the largest suspicious transactions.
Ruiz looked at me over the restaurant’s computer monitor.
“Who maintains the cameras?”
“A vendor.”
