Harlequin Intrigue March 2021--Box Set 1 of 2

by Cindi Myers

  “Clearly, the man is not an idiot,” Ruffino said. “And he was somehow able to bypass our system.”

  “We can’t identify the man and nothing was taken,” Sanderlin said. “There’s not a lot we can do.”

  “That is Dane Trask!” Ruffino stabbed a finger at the screen. “At the very least, he’s trespassing.”

  “I suggest you file a complaint with the Montrose County sheriff,” Sanderlin said. “This is their jurisdiction, not ours.”

  “But the Ranger Brigade is in charge of the hunt for Dane Trask,” Ruffino said. “This is your problem. I want to know what you’re going to do about this.”

  “We’re continuing our investigation,” Sanderlin said.

  Ruffino leaned toward them, finger upraised as if he intended to poke Sanderlin in the chest. He refrained. “You’ve questioned Trask’s daughter, haven’t you?” he asked. “She must know something.”

  “Ms. Trask has cooperated fully with our investigation,” Sanderlin said.

  “And what has she told you? Does she know where her father is hiding? Has he told her what he has against us? How he plans to smear our name?”

  “The details of our investigation are confidential,” Sanderlin said. He turned to Larry. “We’ll need a copy of that footage,” he said.

  “Of course.” Larry ejected the disc and handed it to Hud.

  “Why do you think Dane Trask has targeted TDC Enterprises?” Sanderlin asked.

  “Because he embezzled from us and he’s trying to deflect the blame,” Ruffino asked. “He has the mistaken belief that by trying to make us appear in the wrong, it will lessen his own guilt.”

  “What, exactly, is he trying to make you appear wrong about?” Hud asked. “Was it just the false reports about the levels of contaminants removed in the mine cleanup, or is there something else?”

  “Dane Trask faked those reports.” Ruffino’s voice rose. “We did nothing wrong.”

  “What about the construction debris that was illegally dumped on public land?” Hud asked. “Could some of that come from TDC?”

  “Is that what Trask is saying now?” Ruffino asked. “It’s absolutely untrue. And I believe one of your men already talked to our construction superintendent about that and we were cleared.”

  “Where were you Friday, about six thirty?” Hud asked.

  Ruffino glared at him. “Why are you asking?”

  “Where were you?”

  “I was here, at the office. I told you, it’s not uncommon for me to work late.”

  Ruffino didn’t have to have been the sniper who fired on Hud and Audra. It would be more his style to hire a professional to do the job for him.

  “I expect you to report back with your findings,” Ruffino said as they turned to leave.

  Sanderlin made no answer. When he and Hud were back in the cruiser, he asked, “What do you make of that security camera footage?”

  “I would expect a company like TDC to have better quality security cameras,” Hud said. “I noticed on the way in, they have cameras at the entrances, in the lobby and in the elevators. Even if the intruder knew to take the stairwells, and for some reason TDC doesn’t have security cameras there—which would be a big oversight—I don’t see how he avoided being caught on film everywhere but that one spot.”

  “Maybe he really was able to bypass the system,” Sanderlin said.

  “I’m not convinced that was Trask in the video,” Hud said. “And for all the guy was going through drawers, it didn’t look to me like he was searching for anything in particular. The whole thing felt staged to me.”

  “Staged for TDC, or staged for us?”

  “Staged for us. I think Ruffino wanted an excuse to get us to his office so he could try to find out whatever we know about Trask.” He frowned. “He seemed particularly focused on Audra.” That really bothered Hud. Could Ruffino and TDC be behind the bad press Audra had suffered lately?

  “Take a closer look at that video footage and see if you find anything significant,” Sanderlin said. “From what I’ve learned about Dane Trask, he might very well be capable of bypassing a security system. But if he got into TDC headquarters to steal something in particular, I don’t think he would have abandoned the task after ten minutes.”

  “What are you going to do about Ruffino?” Hud asked.

  “Nothing for now. But we’ll keep a close eye on him.”

  Hud would be keeping an eye on Ruffino, too—and looking for anything that might link him to Audra’s woes. An attack on her was beginning to feel very personal.

  * * *

  AUDRA WAITED UP for Hud to return from TDC headquarters. She hadn’t objected when he had suggested he spend the night with her again. She felt more vulnerable lately than she had in years, and having him with her eased her fears somewhat. Plus she was anxious to know what he had learned from Mitch Ruffino.

  It was after eleven when his cruiser pulled into the driveway. She met him at the door, but only offered a hug and a kiss, resisting the urge to pepper him with questions. He shed his gun and utility belt at the door, then went into the bedroom, where he removed his body armor and uniform and changed into sweats from the bag he had brought with him. “Are you hungry?” she asked. “I could make eggs or something.”

  “Somebody ordered in pizza at the office,” he said. “So I’m good.” He opened his arms. “Come here.”

  He hugged her tightly, and she wondered at his ardor. “What’s wrong?” she asked, searching his face for some clue to his emotions.

  “I can’t prove anything,” he said. “But I don’t think it’s a bad idea for you to be wary of anyone and anything having to do with TDC.”

  She pulled away. “What did you find out?” she asked. “Did Mr. Ruffino say anything about me?”

  “He asked if we had questioned you. He said he was sure you knew something about your father and his ‘plans.’ He’s definitely convinced your dad has it in for the company—and maybe for him personally.”

  “But he didn’t threaten me or anything, did he?” Her stomach trembled at the thought.

  “No. But he’s a man who’s used to having a lot of power and using it to get what he wants.”

  “Did my dad break into TDC headquarters?”

  Hud put an arm around her shoulders, and together they moved toward the living room. “Someone was on a security tape they showed us. There was a lot suspicious about the footage, which I won’t go into. But there’s no way to tell it’s your dad. I don’t think it is. I think the whole thing was an excuse to get us to his office so Ruffino could try to find out what we know. He ended up disappointed.”

  “TDC could have paid that private investigator to dig into my background,” she said. “Then they leaked my past to the news media. And I wouldn’t put it past them to have put pressure on the superintendent to drop me from the school contract. They donated the land for the school, and that probably bought them some influence.” She sank onto the sofa. “Or I could be imagining all of it.”

  “What can you tell me about Jana Keplar?” Hud asked.

  “Jana?”

  “Her husband, Larry, works for TDC. Did you know that?”

  “I think she might have mentioned it. Lots of the parents who have children in the school work for TDC. It’s one of the largest employers in the area. Did you meet her husband?”

  Hud sat beside her. “Yes. He’s head of the IT department. He’s the one who gave us the security footage. I thought he looked nervous, and was clearly watching Ruffino for cues.” He rubbed her back. “What happened with you and Jana? Did you fire her?”

  “Yes. We never saw eye to eye on the whole bullying issue, or anything else, really. But this morning, I got to my office a little early, and she was there, going through my desk.” Anger rose as she remembered the scene. “I caught her red-handed and she didn’t e
ven try to deny it. Instead, she accused me of overreacting and tried to change the subject. Obviously, she wasn’t happy about being fired, but I stood up to her.”

  “Who will teach her class?” he asked.

  “I have a couple of moms with teaching experience who have agreed to fill in. And an ad will start running tomorrow for a new teacher.” She turned to meet his gaze. “Why? Do you think she’s the link between me and TDC? Or her husband?”

  “I don’t think anything. I was going to warn you to be cautious, since she was working for you. Now that she’s not around, it shouldn’t matter.”

  “When I got home this evening, I had a message on my phone from Brenda, my assistant. She said Jana is already talking bad about me all over town. She also said she heard a rumor that the school district has awarded Jana the contract for the new day care and preschool.”

  “That has to hurt,” he said.

  “I’m getting past hurt and moving on to anger. Now I wonder if Jana might be the one who hired the investigator and told the media about my addiction history.” She hugged a pillow to her chest. “Or maybe I’m being paranoid and it’s all coincidence. No one has made me a target. It’s just my turn for bad luck.”

  “It’s not all bad,” he said.

  “No.” She tossed aside the pillow and put her head on his shoulder. “Meeting you has been good. Whatever happens, I’m not going to regret that.”

  * * *

  THE NEXT MORNING, Hud ran through the video footage from the TDC break-in again and again. The intruder entered the room at 3:52, went straight to the first tall filing cabinet and opened the drawer. He did a quick scan of the contents, pulling out one file, then putting it back before moving on to the next drawer. He performed a similar scan of each drawer, moving quickly, as if searching for something obvious that he did not find. He didn’t read the contents of any file folder, and unless he was a speed reader, wouldn’t have had time to read the title of each folder. He pawed through the drawers of a desk and looked through two other file drawers. At 4:03, he exited the room.

  Enlarging the images was no help in identification, proving that the image was blurry as well as grainy and ill lit. Which begged the question of how the intruder had managed to determine anything about those files, since he wore no headlamp and carried no flashlight. From the height of the door, Hud was able to determine that the intruder was approximately six foot two—Dane Trask’s height. He wore gloves and a knit hat, a long-sleeved dark jacket, possibly a windbreaker, and dark slacks, possibly jeans. He kept his head down so that it was impossible to tell much about his features. Even Audra probably wouldn’t be able to identify her father if he was, indeed, the man in this video.

  He closed the file and sat back in his chair. “Any luck?” Beck asked, looking up from his own desk, across from Hud’s.

  “Nothing. I need to talk to Larry Keplar again.” He stood. “If anyone is looking for me, I’ll be at TDC headquarters.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Hud didn’t go into TDC’s building, but parked near the entrance to the employee parking area and waited. He had been there an hour when Larry Keplar strolled out and headed toward the back row. Hud started his engine and drove slowly, arriving just as Keplar was unlocking the door of a white Jeep. Hud rolled down his window. “Hello, Larry.”

  “Hello, Officer.” Keplar glanced toward the building, as if checking to see if anyone was watching.

  “I wanted to talk to you about that security video you gave me,” Hud said.

  “Is something wrong?” Keplar swallowed, his freckles dark against his very pale skin.

  “I just need to clarify some things.”

  “Now? Here?”

  “It doesn’t have to be here,” Hud said. “Is there someplace else you’d like to meet?”

  “You know Newberry’s?” Keplar fiddled with his key fob.

  “Sure,” Hud said. “Why don’t we meet there?”

  “Okay.” Keplar jerked open the driver’s door of the Jeep and dived in. Hud waited for him to pull out, then followed him to Newberry’s, a combination convenience store/tavern/gas station/post office near the lake. Keplar parked at one end of the gravel lot and led the way into the dim interior lit by neon beer signs and smelling of ancient cigarette smoke, even though smoking had long been banned in bars.

  He took a seat at a booth along a side wall and Hud slid in across from him. When a middle-aged waitress in a pink sweatshirt and jeans appeared to take their order, Keplar asked for Bud Light, and Hud ordered a Coke. A country tune began playing somewhere near the back of the bar, and Larry slouched lower in his chair. He had discarded his tie on the drive over and rolled up the sleeves of his white dress shirt. “What did you want to talk to me about?” he asked.

  “I was wondering if you figured out how your intruder bypassed the security system,” Hud said.

  “No.” He looked up to accept the beer from the waitress and look a long pull. “I never met Dane Trask, but people say he was really smart. Still, I didn’t find anything showing the system had been messed with. That sort of thing usually leaves some kind of electronic fingerprint, so to speak.”

  “And you didn’t find anything?”

  “Nothing. No blank spaces or destroyed data or time gaps or anything.”

  “Nothing suspicious at all?”

  Keplar took another long sip of beer. He wiped at a drop of moisture on the table with his thumb. “Mr. Ruffino told me not to talk to the police or the press,” he said.

  “When was this?”

  “After you left yesterday.”

  Hud sipped his drink, letting the silence expand between them. He had a sense that Keplar wanted to tell him something. “You’re not obligated to tell me anything,” he said. “But there’s no need for anything you do say to get back to Mr. Ruffino.”

  The door opened, and two men came in. Keplar started, then relaxed as they took seats at the bar. Not fellow employees, Hud guessed. “The only thing odd was, the camera lens in the file room looked as if it had been smeared with Vaseline,” Keplar said.

  “Do you think the intruder covered the lens with the Vaseline?” Hud asked. That would explain the blurry, distorted image.

  “Maybe. Maybe he wanted us to know he was there—that’s why he let himself be filmed in the file room—but he didn’t want anything that could identify him.”

  “Walk me through everything that happened after the break-in at headquarters,” Hud said. “Your part in the whole aftermath.”

  Keplar finished his beer and set the glass down on the coaster. “I got to work yesterday morning at nine, and Mr. Ruffino called me to his office maybe half an hour after I got in. He said he thought someone had been in the file room the night before and I needed to check all the security footage.”

  “Did he say what made him think someone had been in the files?” Hud asked.

  “No. And I didn’t ask. When the VP tells you to do something, you do it.”

  “So you looked and found the footage showing someone in that room at 3:52, is that right?”

  “Right. I noticed what poor quality the footage was, so I went to the file room to check the camera. It looked like someone had smeared something sticky—like petroleum jelly or something—all over the lens. They had tried to clean it off, but there was still some residue.”

  “And there wasn’t footage showing an intruder anywhere else?” Hud asked. “You checked all the other feeds?”

  “Yes, and the entrance logs.”

  “Did any of the other cameras show signs of having been covered or tampered with?”

  “No.”

  “Had anyone entered the building around that time? Say, between midnight and 3:52?”

  “The system showed that one person checked in at 3:45. They used a generic card—the kind we give to vendors or visitors. They have to surren
der them at the front desk. Each generic card is coded with a number we can match to the guest and vendor registry, but this card wasn’t linked to anyone. In fact, it was a brand-new card, made just the day before.”

  “How do you make a card?”

  “It’s a little machine—the same kind they use for hotel key cards. You swipe the blank through the reader and it codes the metallic strip to unlock one or more doors. If someone forgets to turn in their key, we can void that key remotely.”

  “Has that happened lately? Someone forgetting to turn in their key?”

  “No. I checked.”

  “So you don’t have any idea who used the card?”

  “I assume it was the intruder—Mr. Ruffino is sure it was Dane Trask.” Keplar frowned. “But anyone using the card should have shown up on the security feed for the front entrance—that’s the entrance they used.”

  “I know you said you didn’t find any irregularities. But if you were going to bypass the system, how would you do it?” Hud asked.

  “You can buy technology that will interfere with the system,” Keplar said. “Disrupt the feed for a few seconds. If it was only a few seconds, it would be harder to detect.”

  “Where do you buy something like that?”

  “There are lots of places online.”

  “Anything else odd you noticed?”

  “Not really.”

  Keplar had been focused on his system’s failure, not the failure of the intruder to find anything worth taking in a quick perusal of files in an almost dark room. “I have to get home now,” Keplar said. “My wife will be wondering where I am.”

  “Your wife worked for Audra Trask,” Hud said.

  Keplar froze in the act of reaching for his wallet. “She did. Audra fired her.”

  “Did your wife tell you why she was fired?”

  “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “What did she tell you?”

  “She said Audra resented her because Jana knows more about kids and how to run a day care. She had her own day care center in Kentucky, where we used to live.”