Chapter 242: The Heaven-Sent Employee
"How is that possible?" Before Vance could say anything, a long-time employee who had come over to see what the commotion was about cried out in shock.
Everyone turned toward the sound and saw a middle-aged man with a rather sallow complexion standing behind the crowd.
Suddenly the center of attention, the man froze for a moment before steeling himself to speak. "That’s impossible. The auction house’s lots are taken from the showroom for the auction, and they’re returned to the showroom afterward. The showroom is guarded by dedicated staff twenty-four hours a day. There’s no way an incident like a lot being swapped out after an auction could happen."
After hearing the man’s explanation, Vance glanced silently at Arabella Donovan. Seeing only curiosity in her eyes and no sign of anger, he made the introduction. "This is Supervisor Lynch, who is in charge of safekeeping the lots."
As soon as she learned the man’s identity, Arabella Donovan understood why he was so quick to defend the process.
"Don’t worry," Arabella said. "I’m not implying that you were negligent."
But Supervisor Lynch’s expression remained grave. "Then..."
"And it wasn’t an inside job, either."
Supervisor Lynch: "..." ’Was my expression that obvious? I hadn’t even asked, but the boss already knew what I was thinking!’
"In that case, how could the lot..."
"The person who stole the genuine article wasn’t one of our own. It was an outsider."
The employees who had gathered for the gossip breathed a collective sigh of relief at her words, but they were still puzzled.
"An outsider? But outsiders are always closely watched by security the moment they enter the auction house. How could someone swap an item right under their noses without anyone noticing? Unless..."
"Unless someone was providing cover for him."
The group exchanged confused glances. "Someone provided cover? Who was it?"
"Could it be that woman’s... brother?" An idea flashed through Vance’s mind. He glanced down at the contracts in his hand and saw that most were from five or six years ago; the most recent one was from four years ago.
In other words, after his cousin was arrested, the man hadn’t had another chance to pull any more of his little tricks at their auction house.
"It was him."
Arabella Donovan hadn’t expected Vance to guess the identity of the thief after just a few simple hints from her.
When she had looked into Xiang Qiufu’s life story earlier, Arabella had decided to focus on Oscar Sanford. Her initial search for information about him didn’t turn up much, but a deeper look revealed a shocking secret.
From the woman’s memories, she could see that Oscar Sanford had come to the auction house several times with Vance’s cousin, using his status as the cousin’s brother-in-law.
Before each visit, he would learn from his sister, Xiang Qiufu, which lots were scheduled for auction that day and prepare corresponding forgeries to bring with him.
On the day of the auction, Xiang Qiufu would ask her husband—Vance’s cousin—to bring her brother to the auction house, under the pretext of letting him get out and see the world.
The cousin, who was the auction house’s accountant at the time, had to personally audit every lot after it was sold. Oscar Sanford would use this window of opportunity to slip away and swap the genuine items with his fakes.
He was clever, too. He knew that items like vases and paintings were too bulky, difficult to carry, and would be easily noticed. So, he mostly targeted smaller things like seals, jade pendants, and jewelry.
Auction days were the cousin’s busiest periods, so he never noticed when the ’little tail’ tagging along behind him would vanish. By the time the cousin finished his work, Oscar Sanford would have already completed his swap and reappeared by his side. This happened several times, and the cousin remained completely oblivious.
Because Oscar Sanford had been personally brought in by the cousin, who was related to the owner’s family, the auction house staff didn’t pay him much mind, giving him the perfect opportunity.
However, after the cousin was reported and arrested, Oscar Sanford lost his escort into the venue and thus his ability to carry out his schemes.
Oscar Sanford had even complained to Xiang Qiufu about it, blaming her and her husband’s extravagance for forcing his "brother-in-law" to take desperate measures and ultimately fail, which cost him a lucrative source of income.
Vance already harbored a deep resentment toward the Sanford siblings over what happened to his cousin. Now, learning that Oscar had dared to pull something like this right under his nose, he was consumed with rage.
"This is an extremely serious offense. I recommend we report it directly to the police."
Arabella Donovan was surprised by Vance’s decisiveness, but on second thought, she realized this was a good way to sever ties with the Sanford siblings.
That way, even if Oscar Sanford was later investigated for trafficking artifacts, the auction house, as one of the victims, wouldn’t be dragged into the mess because of the sensitive family connection.
"Alright. But before you do that, you should buy back those lots first to avoid any unnecessary trouble."
A glint appeared in Vance’s eyes as he agreed. "You’re right. We’ll handle this as quickly as possible. We’ll try to recover the lots within three—no, two days. Then we’ll deal with the theft itself. We’ll aim to give you a satisfactory resolution within a week."
"As long as you have a plan, that’s what matters. You know more about this than I do." Arabella Donovan nodded in appreciation, deeply impressed by Vance’s professional dedication.
’What a perfect employee, a gift from the heavens! The boss doesn’t even have to say anything, and he sets his own deadline. A slacker boss like me deserves a go-getter employee like him. A raise! I have to give him a raise.’
Caspian Rhodes: "..." ’Compared to a hands-off boss like you, he certainly acts more like the one in charge.’
Still...
Caspian Rhodes glanced silently at the smug-looking Arabella Donovan. ’I suppose some people are just born with the blessing of being able to slack off whenever they want.’
Even though Arabella Donovan had clarified that Supervisor Lynch and his team weren’t lazy, now that the whole story was clear, the fact remained that the lots had been swapped right under their noses. That in itself was a major failure.
Vance could see Supervisor Lynch’s anxiety, so he decided to address the issue head-on. "Ultimately, this happened because of a lapse in security. The staff let their guard down simply because my cousin brought him in, and that’s what led to this mess."
"We’re lucky those clients trust our auction house and probably didn’t inspect their purchases too closely. Otherwise, our reputation would have already hit rock bottom. How do you think we should handle this, ma’am?"
The moment Vance finished speaking, Supervisor Lynch tensed up and took a step forward. "The manager is right. This is the responsibility of my entire department. We failed to properly secure the lots, which resulted in the genuine articles being stolen and our clients purchasing forgeries. This is a major operational failure. I am willing to bear full responsibility and accept whatever consequences the company deems fit."
’Tsk, tsk. Why do working stiffs have to make things hard for other working stiffs? The only reason this slip-up happened was because your cousin brought the guy in, right? But... judge the action, not the person. Vance isn’t wrong. Since a mistake was made, someone has to take responsibility for it...’
With this thought, Arabella Donovan silently shifted her gaze to Vance.