Sweet Caroline (19 page)

In the hall outside her apartment, she found a locksmith, and a note from Mick.

Caroline,

I'm picking up Annie at San Francisco International at 2. The family's having a reunion dinner this evening, so I'll stay over at the ranch and fly out first thing in the morning. The locksmith is here as I write this. I asked him to make sure you get a new set of keys before he leaves but I also asked him not to wake you.

I don't fancy your staying here alone. I'd much rather you
went to the ranch with me, but I have a pretty good idea
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you'd stubbornly refuse. So I've done second best
—
asked
Brian and Ramona to come by while I'm away.
I'll call you when I can. My cell and pager numbers are below. Call me if anything comes up, anything at all. Be safe. I'll see you on Friday.

Mick

"Here's your new set of keys, miss," the locksmith said, interrupting her concentration. "Mick wanted to make sure you had them."

"Thanks." Joy swelled in her heart.
I'll see you on Friday,
he'd written. He hadn't forgotten or changed his mind. She was halfway to the offices of ZyQyx when her cell phone rang. "Hello, this is Caroline," she said, hoping to hear Mick's voice to start her day.

"And this is Ian," the voice answered. "A very embarrassed Ian. I hope you're not disappointed to hear from me."

"Of course, I'm not," she lied. "How are you feeling?" She almost felt sorry for him, listening to him struggle to find the right words.

"My headache will eventually go away, and some day I may have an appetite again, but nothing I can say or do will ever excuse my boorish behavior last night. I am profoundly sorry, Caroline. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?"

"Oh, Ian, we've all been there. I've forgotten it already."

"What a glorious woman you are and what a lucky man am I."

What? Her mind spun at the arcane-sounding phrase. "Are you going to the office today?" She changed the subject. "I'm on my way there now."

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He hesitated. "Not unless things improve at my end."

"You convinced me last night that I hadn't looked deeply enough. I'm going in to see what I can do. You take care now, y'hear. Even bosses don't have to work seven days a week."

"This is a first for me, Caroline. I hope you understand that. I don't want you think..."

"Ian, I told you, it's forgotten. Take some aspirin and lie down. I'll see you in the morning."

* * * *

FOR THE NEXT two hours, Caroline stared at the code rolling down her screen, page after page of characters and symbols that might seem unintelligible to non-geeks, but made perfect sense to her. She'd written special programs to monitor the activity generated by all the processors in the entire I.S. department. So far, she'd seen nothing amiss. All ports were opening and closing with monotonous regularity, following paths to all the right addresses and closing again. With one eye on the screen watching the code run, Caroline dialed Travis. After several rings, his answering machine picked up.

"Sorry, I missed you again, bro," she said. "It's a little after four here. Thought you might be home cooking dinner. I'll try back later."

She hung up, pulled out a drawer, and propped up her feet. She'd stay 'til 5 p.m., then call it ...
Whoa! what's this?

Suddenly, a line of code jumped to the far right. A port that shouldn't be opening at this time had just done so. 182

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Instantly alert, Caroline watched the columns grow, letters and numerals leading her along a path she'd been trying to find for almost a week. Simultaneously printing what was building in front of her, Caroline grabbed print-outs she'd made earlier in the day. With a fingertip, she traced series after series until the found the matching port.

"Gotcha!"

Just as suddenly, her excitement vanished. The address of the port she'd identified was assigned to Brian Mahoney.

"Oh, Brian, why?" She rested her chin in her hand and watched transaction after transaction electronically deferred to a port outside of ZyQyx. Just as suddenly, the port closed, the transactions stopped, but not before almost $100,000 in product revenue had been channeled outside of the company.

"No, no, no." Why would he do this, why?

She unlocked her desk and took out his file. Even with this new development, she saw nothing in his background or financial records to hint at embezzlement. Discouraged and disheartened, Caroline put the file back and continued to monitor the activity on her screen. There wasn't another incident, and at six she set her computer to record automatically throughout the night. She ought to call Ian, to let him know she'd found something. He'd want to know whose processor was involved, but she didn't have the heart to tell him he'd been right.

Caroline gathered what had printed so far. Ian was convinced that the thief had to be one of the Mahoneys, yet how many times in the past had she seen employees at companies she'd investigated look guilty in ten different ways 183

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only to discover they'd been sabotaged by an angry or jealous colleague? From what she saw and knew of Brian, he appeared like a fairly lucky guy; great job, great gal, great family. The kinds of things others might envy. Was it enough to drive them to conspire against him?

The papers she'd stuffed into her briefcase held the answer. This evening she'd begin the task of analyzing what she'd found so far and then create an algorithm to prove or disprove her analysis and conclusions. That's what Ian had hired her to do. To find the truth, not to support his suppositions, and that's exactly what she planned to do. Ian had waited this long, he could wait a few days more.

* * * *

AT HOME, CAROLINE tried to settle in but the building was too still. No sound, no movement, no Mick.

Before trying her new key, she'd tried his door, and found it locked as tight as the shining new lock in place to protect it. Tonight she needed Mick's closeness, even if it was just the scent of him. More, she wanted to look into his eyes and know that neither he nor a member of his family could possibly be involved in embezzling funds from ZyQyx. Silence greeted her in the empty hallway.

By seven she realized she hadn't eaten a thing all day. She'd finally talked with Travis and written down the place and time of his wedding. Feeling restless, she had no appetite for TV and no heart for the task at hand. If she couldn't satisfy her heart, she'd feed her body. "Dinner it is." She grabbed her keys and headed for the Calla Lily. She knew 184

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she'd find a good meal there, and with any luck, a lingering trace of Mick.

Twenty minutes later it wasn't Mick who stood in front of her. She closed her menu and looked up to see Ian Foy.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, so surprised she never considered how she must have sounded to him. Dressed casually, well-groomed as always, he stood holding a long thin box covered with gold foil tucked under his arm. Only the dark circles under his eyes betrayed his foolishness last night.

"A final apology," he said and handed the box to her. "May I sit down?"

"Of course. Please join me."

He settled in while Caroline opened the box to find six violet-colored roses in almost the same color of her eyes, with stems as long as her arm. They were nestled among tissue paper and tied with a bow of golden lace. "These are fabulous, Ian. I've never seen a rose this color. How did you find them?"

"They're a hybrid I've developed over the years. Roses are my passion."

"These are incredible."

"For an incredible lady."

He picked up a menu. "Have you ordered?" She nodded yes, happy to see he'd attached a small glass vile of water to the stem of each rose. She returned them to the box and set it on the chair to her right. "I'm having the pasta special. The food here is superb." 185

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"How well I know. I almost bought the place a couple of years ago."

"It's packed every night. Would have been a good investment."

"Mick Mahoney thought so, too." He grimaced. "Doubled my offer at the last minute. Claimed he couldn't allow a family treasure to go to an outsider."

Not again.
She'd never before witnessed such unrelenting loathing between two people. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I deliberately bid high, almost twice the appraised value. I knew Mahoney would try to blindside me. You could say he got his comeuppance." Fortunately, Ivy, the waitress Caroline had met on her first night in town, brought her salad.

"Saints preserve us, I can't believe my eyes. Is that really you, Ian Foy?" She plopped the salad plate in front of Caroline. "How long has it been?"

"A couple of years. How are you, Ivy? Mahoney treating you well? Or do I have to deal with the rascal?" She barked a hearty laugh. "Go on with you, Ian Foy. You're even more full of the blarney than Mick." She tweaked his chin. "You know, you were always my favorite." Caroline munched on her salad and wondered how many times Ivy had said exactly the same thing to Mick. After Ivy took Ian's order and moved on to the next table, he sat back in his chair. "So what do you have for me, Caroline?"

She stopped chewing. She knew what he was asking, and that she would have to frame her answer carefully. 186

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"You told me you were on your way to the office. Did you find anything yet?"

Caroline rested her knife and fork on the edge of her plate.

"Ian, these things take time."

"I understand, but surely by now..." his voice trailed off.

"Cyber-thieves are very good at what they do. They have no problem covering their tracks with booby traps and black holes. I told you before you ever hired me, before I ever set foot on the plane, that I thought the job would take a minimum of eight weeks. I still believe that's true. I'm good, Ian, but not good enough to repair the damage of two years in six days." She paused to try to read his expression. "I know you're paying me a lot of money—"

"You're right, Caroline," he cut her off. "No matter what I pay you, it's only a fraction of what ZyQyx is losing daily. You can't blame me for wanting to stop the leak as quickly as possible."

She picked up her fork and jabbed a sliver of cucumber. "
If
there is a leak. People refuse to believe that computers can make mistakes, but they do. I've seen cases where companies had already gone to the police only to discover a network failure had caused the problem, that their accounts were intact and their losses only on paper. I'm not convinced that isn't the case here."

"You're quite the optimist, aren't you, my dear?"

"I like to think I'm objective."

"Or are you bent on doggedly proving the Mahoneys innocent?"

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Her fork clattered to the plate. She felt the heat of anger rise up her neck. "That's not fair and it's baseless."

"Is it, Caroline?" He looked at her as a father might a guilty child. "I saw how you looked at Mick last night, in front of the apartment and at in the restaurant."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"Do you think I don't know who helped you return my car?

Who you were with? It was almost daylight, Caroline. I saw the two of you together."

"Ian, I want you to stop this right now. Mick was kind enough to lend a helping hand. He's my landlord, for heaven's sake. We live twenty feet apart—thanks to you. You're the one who offered me the option to live there. If you despise Mick so much, why do you do business with him?" Ian's gaze darted furtively about the room. "Caroline, please." He squirmed in his seat. "Keep your voice down."

"No, Ian, let's finish this. If you don't trust me, or if you think you can find someone else to do the job quicker and better, that's fine with me. I can pack tonight and catch the first plane back to Dallas in the morning." Ian raised his hand to his face, shielding from Caroline what she guessed he must have been thinking. "I'm sorry, Caroline. I misspoke." He rubbed his eyes, still red around the edges. "I certainly don't want you to leave."

"Then please quit bringing the Mahoneys into every equation. Do you want the truth, or are you only interested in a witch-hunt? It can't be both."

Ian reached across the table, and to Caroline's horror, again covered her hand with his. It felt cold and moist, like 188

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something that had just slithered out of a swamp. She tried not to tense but she couldn't stop herself. He hadn't noticed her reaction. "Forgive my paranoia, Caroline. Brian and Ramona will be leaving the country in a few days. I'm worried what they might be taking with them."

"They're going on their honeymoon."

"To Ireland. Did you know that?"

She shook her head. "No, but so what?"

"So what?" he burst out, then lowered his voice to a harsh whisper. "Caroline, they have dozens of cousins and family friends still living there. These clans don't go away simply because time passes. What better place to seek safe haven with all of the money they've stolen from ZyQyx?" Caroline couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Ian, you can't make accusations like that without proof."
You sound
like a nut,
she wanted to add.

"I hired you to get me that proof. Now do you understand my urgency? I have to stop them before it's too late." Caroline tried to stay calm, even though red flags were popping up everywhere. Alternately, she'd thought of Ian as odd, smarmy, and eccentric. This side of Ian took him into psychosis. Since she'd begun her career, she'd seen anger and hatred expressed in dozens of different ways, but she had never looked into the eyes of anyone so near the edge before. Yes, he was right. She had to find the correct answer as quickly as possible—before he plunged into the abyss and took the Mahoney family with him.