The internal auditor had been waiting for this letter for nine months. Tatum had poured numerous hours into running canned reports on Black Bear's invoice system, reviewing vendor invoices, and generating thousands of lines on spreadsheets. When he had calculated the final tally, the sales tax refund was for nearly US$2 million, with almost US$1 million coming from one vendor. This was going to be a crowning moment for his tenure at Black Bear.