Chapter Forty-Two

Jack Angelhart

Jack left Luisa in the security office to review the footage while he met with Ron Tucker in a temporary office on the first floor. The fire department had determined the building was secure and allowed staff into the first and second floors, but the top two were blocked off for the investigation.

"Gavin O'Keefe will be back tonight," Tucker said. "I need to have answers by then."

Tucker looked exhausted. He probably hadn't slept last night after the authorities contacted him.

"We're working on it," Jack said.

"The police told me they interviewed all the staff except for Jennifer White. Maybe you were wrong, I was wrong, I shouldn't have trusted my instincts about her. I just—I can't see her doing this." He shook his head. "I don't know what to think anymore."

"My colleague found Jennifer. She left for personal reasons, but will be here to talk to the police tomorrow."

Tucker took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "I've spent all day getting the office halfway functional in a space a third of the size. We have responsibilities, and thank God our primary server is off-site, or we would have lost millions of dollars. As it is, it's going to take us a week to be fully operational, and without Jennifer here to help facilitate IT, I don't know how we're going to handle the load."

Jack didn't have an answer, so didn't say anything to that. "How long has Brad Parsons worked for you?"

Tucker looked confused at the change of subject. "Since the beginning. He helped set up the office six years ago when Mr. Monroe and Mr. O'Keefe launched the venture."

"You were here then?"

"Yes. I have experience with financial start-ups."

"Does Mr. Parsons normally work nights?"

"We're a financial services company. We operate primarily expanded bankers hours."

"Jennifer has evidence that someone may have been stealing money off every transaction, charging a processing fee ranging from a few cents to ninety-nine cents. She confirmed that she was responsible for the download that alerted you that something was wrong, because she planned to analyze the code on her own time."

"Why didn't she come to me?"

"She claims she did, but you told her to fix the problem. She said you've been going through a divorce."

At first, he looked angry, then his face fell. "I remember the conversation now. Honestly, I wasn't paying much attention, and trusted Jennifer to figure it out. Then I forgot. The divorce—anyway, I shouldn't have let my personal problems interfere with my job. But what does this have to do with Brad Parsons?"

"Jennifer will bring you her analysis." Jack didn't want to share what he'd learned about Brad Parsons, especially since Jennifer had no hard evidence Parsons had stolen the money.

"But you asked about Brad."

Jack said, "When we first looked at all employees, only Jennifer stood out. Now we're digging deeper into Parsons. I suggest that you lock him out of the system and change your password. Right now, I have no evidence that he is responsible for the theft, but between my team and Ms. White, we'll get to the truth."

A knock on the door and Tucker said, "Come in."

Luisa stepped in. "I found something."

Jack introduced Luisa to Tucker.

"I looked at the security feeds from this building as well as the entire business complex and every business within a block radius that has cameras," Luisa said. "Brad Parsons's vehicle was in the garage until cameras went out at nine twenty p.m. That's when I estimate he set the fire and left, after the attempt to gas Tess and myself failed. Then at nine thirty-seven, his car drove past the coffee shop on the southwest corner—I matched his vehicle to their feed at that time. I can't tell if he's driving, but the police may have better tools."

"The police have the video as well?" Tucker asked.

"Yes, the security officer said they have copies of everything, and I assume they also checked surrounding businesses, though Jack can tell them about the coffee shop if they haven't looked yet."

"The 9-1-1 call came in at nine forty-one p.m., which gave him the time to get out of the building before the fire spread," Jack said.

"The arson investigator hasn't issued his report," Luisa said, "and I couldn't get too close to the flashpoint, but I took a look and it seems he accessed the ventilation shaft from the fourth floor to ensure the fire spread to the Desert West offices. It wasn't the fire that destroyed equipment, but the water from the sprinkler system. The investigator is testing the accelerant, but it's likely a gasoline compound."

"Brad," Tucker said in shock. "He's been here from the beginning, working up from receptionist to my assistant to assistant CFO. I mean, I work with him every day. I can't believe he would do this. I need to talk to Gavin."

Luisa said, "He may have thought the water would destroy the computer systems and files, and he's right—but your archives are stored off-site."

"Yes," Tucker said. "The IT department is already working to restore our systems. Well, the two team members who are left, since Jennifer is still missing."

"Last night I uncovered a virus in the system," Luisa said. "I isolated it, but it erased everything I wanted to look at. However, it's doubtful that the virus could have affected the archives. I can help your IT staff reverse engineer the bug so it doesn't corrupt your system when you reinstall your software."

Jack knew his sister was smart, but he hadn't quite realized how smart.

"Thank you," Tucker said. "Have you already met the staff?"

"Yes, I'm working with Kevin Gorman."

"Okay, good. Thank you so much, Ms. Angelhart."

She nodded and left.

Yep, Jack was impressed by his little sister. He sometimes forgot she was all grown up. "You need to tell the police everything you know. Corporate espionage is one thing," Jack said, "but Parsons—and I'll stake my reputation that he is responsible—set fire to a building with people inside. The police are going to want to interview him about his whereabouts, and they will arrest him if they find evidence."

Tucker nodded, though he looked miserable. "Let's call them now."