Five suppers.
One breakfast.
She looked back at the statement.
The company had deducted charges for fourteen meals.
She stared.
"Thomas, this says fourteen."
He nodded.
"That's what I thought."
Loretta checked her records again.
The figures were clear.
She looked toward Elias, who was stacking firewood near the stove.
He noticed her expression.
"What is it?"
She showed him the statement.
Elias read it.
Then examined her ledger.
For a moment, he said nothing.
Finally, he looked toward Thomas.
"Do you have the older statements?"
Thomas nodded.
"Some."
Elias looked toward Loretta.
"May be worth checking."
She took a slow breath.
Then she asked Thomas to bring whatever records he had.
He agreed.
Before leaving, he looked toward the new bench.
"That's nice."
Loretta smiled.
"It is."
Thomas glanced toward Elias.
Then said quietly, "Good to see somebody finally fixed it."
After he left, Loretta sat silently for several minutes.
Then she opened another page of her ledger.
She began comparing the company deductions to the actual meals served.
The discrepancies were larger than she'd imagined.
And they weren't limited to Thomas.
Men who ate five suppers were being charged for ten.
Men who'd been away from camp were billed for meals they never received.
And the company sometimes charged miners for the food while also deducting the same amounts from Loretta's kitchen account.
She felt sick.
Elias looked over her shoulder.
For several seconds, he studied the figures.
Then he said, "That's not a bookkeeping mistake."
Loretta swallowed.
"How can you be sure?"
He pointed toward the repeated entries.
"One mistake can happen. The same kind of difference appearing again and again needs an explanation."
She looked toward the ledger.
Then whispered, "They've been taking money from both sides."
Elias nodded slowly.
"That's what the records suggest."
Loretta stared.
For eighteen months, she'd believed the cookhouse was failing because she couldn't manage the expenses.
She had worked longer hours.
Reduced her own meals.
Delayed replacing equipment.
And endured humiliating demands because she thought the business was drowning.
Now she wondered whether someone had been deliberately keeping it underwater.
By Sunday, the Copper Pot had become a quiet meeting place for miners who wanted their pay statements checked.
Loretta didn't advertise.
Thomas simply told two trusted men that she had found discrepancies in his account.
Those men told others.
By afternoon, seven workers had brought papers.
By evening, twelve.