Christmas Data Breach

by K. D. Richards

  “What about the man who posed as a police officer to kidnap Mya? Does he sound familiar at all? Or maybe someone unfamiliar hanging around the building lobby or waiting in the parking lot. He wouldn’t have wanted to draw attention to himself.”

  It was the same question Gideon had posed to her earlier that morning, and the answer was the same. There were just too many people in and around the building on any given day to remember anyone in particular. Especially if that person didn’t want to be remembered.

  “Brian, have you heard from Rebecca? I haven’t been able to get in touch with her either,” Mya said.

  Brain blanched. “Me? Why would I have heard from her?” His eyes darted away from Mya’s.

  “You’re lying,” Gideon said.

  Mya shot a frown at Gideon. He didn’t take his eyes from Brian’s face, but she was sure he’d caught the look. She turned back to Brian. “I thought she might have heard about the fire and gotten in touch with you since she hadn’t called me.”

  “I’m not lying. I haven’t heard from her.”

  Like Gideon, Mya wasn’t sure she believed Brian but couldn’t think of a reason he’d lie about talking to Rebecca.

  Brian’s fitful gaze landed on the building. His tone softening, he said, “I guess it will be some time before we’ll be up and running.”

  The weight of all she needed to do—call the board members, check in with Detective Kamal, notify the insurance company—sent a headache pounding behind Mya’s eyes.

  She rubbed her temples. “I have to talk to the board and our investors. I’ll try to get them to authorize a temporary space for us and let you know as soon as I know.”

  Brian nodded and plodded back to his car.

  “He seems tightly wound,” Gideon said after Brian was inside the car and out of hearing.

  Mya slanted him a look. “Pot meet kettle.”

  Gideon’s expression remained impassive. “Does Brian forget to charge his phone regularly?”

  “I don’t know. It doesn’t really sound like him but—” Mya shrugged “—it happens to all of us.”

  From Gideon’s expression, she surmised he didn’t agree.

  A smile quirked the ends of her lips. “It happens to most of us then.”

  A ghost of a smile flitted over his face before vanishing quickly. “We should go.”

  “What about my car?” Mya pointed to her car, still parked where she’d left it last night.

  “You have the keys?”

  My nodded.

  “When we get to my offices, I’ll send a couple of the guys to pick it up for you.”

  They returned to his SUV and made their way to her townhouse.

  “You tensed when he hugged you,” Gideon said as they left the lab behind.

  She wasn’t surprised Gideon had picked up on that.

  If asked, she would have categorized Brian as more colleague than friend. Their working relationship was good, but there had been quite a bit of tension between them when she’d first been appointed director of the lab the prior year.

  “Brian has worked at the lab longer than I have.”

  Gideon nodded. “You got promoted over him to director and he resents it.”

  “I wouldn’t say resents,” she said slowly. “It has to be difficult for him, but the board wanted someone with a medical degree and a PhD for the director position and Brian doesn’t have a medical degree and never finished his PhD thesis.”

  Gideon was silent for several minutes. “The man who set fire to your lab was looking for you. He expected you to be there. That could have been because someone told him you would be.”

  Mya twisted in her seat. “Brian? No way.” She and Brian had their differences, but she couldn’t believe he’d burn down the lab and target her.

  “We have to examine all possibilities. Who is next in line for the directorship if you can’t do the job anymore?”

  “I don’t know. Brian still hasn’t completed his PhD, I don’t even think he’s trying any longer.”

  “But in the interim? Your investors or the board members might appoint him to serve as interim director which would give him a chance to show he could do the job.”

  That might be true, but Gideon didn’t know Brian. “Why would Brian set the lab on fire if his plan was to run it?”

  It was a gigantic hole in the theory that she could see Gideon wasn’t sure how to get around.

  He clenched his jaw. “I don’t know. What I do know is that someone targeted you, specifically, last night.” He shifted his gaze from the traffic in front of them to her face. “And until I know who, everybody is a suspect.”

  Mya was still contemplating what she should do when he finally turned the car down the small alleyway behind her townhouse.

  “Do you have the garage door opener?” Gideon asked, turning the car into her short driveway.

  “It’s still on the visor in my car at the lab. I can punch in the code, though.”

  “I’ll do it. I don’t want you to get out of the car.”

  She gave him the code. He got out, punched it into the security box, and was back in the car in less than thirty seconds. They glided into her one-car garage. Gideon shut off the engine and jumped out again, this time hitting the button on the wall to close the overhead garage door.

  Instead of getting back in the car, this time he walked around to her door. She lowered the window.

  “Stay here until I clear the house.”

  She frowned, unhappy with the order, although she knew letting Gideon make sure all was well inside was the smart thing to do. She handed him the key to the house.

  No matter how much you wanted them, discoveries didn’t work on anyone’s timetable. She’d had years of practice cultivating patience as a scientist. Still, it seemed like Gideon had been in her house for far longer than necessary to ensure her small tri-level home was free from interlopers.

  Unwilling to wait any longer, Mya slid from the car and entered the lower level. The garage door opened into a small vestibule with the stairs leading to the primary living spaces. To her left, the basement—a nine-by-thirteen-foot space she used primarily for storage and housing the small private server that stored her research.

  She took a step inside the basement and stopped. Her stomach lurched, bile rising in her throat.

  Rebecca, the lab’s receptionist, lay with arms and legs outstretched on the floor. Her eyes focused sightlessly on the popcorn ceiling. The dark red pool of blood congealed around her head left no doubt that she was dead.

  Footsteps pounded down the stairs.

  “I told you to stay in the car,” Gideon barked.

  Mya turned from him, pointing at the form sprawled on her basement floor. “Rebecca... I don’t understand? Why is she in my house?”

  Gideon wrapped an arm around her shoulder and attempted to steer her from the house. “We’ll figure that out, but we need to leave and call the police now.” He reached for the door.

  “Wait!” Mya twisted from under Gideon’s arm and slid by him.

  Her eyes scanned the basement, once, twice, her heart dropping as she realized that the murder wasn’t the only thing that had happened at her home.

  Gideon placed a hand on her shoulder. “Mya, we need to leave.”

  She heard the words as if they were coming at her from underwater.

  “The server with my research. Gideon, it’s not here. It’s gone.”

  Chapter Five

  Police cruisers lined the narrow back alley behind Mya’s house. Yellow police tape blocked off the entrance to the driveway, and a white coroner’s van was backed up to the open garage.

  Detective Kamal had arrived a half hour earlier and, after briefly speaking with them, had asked them to wait.

  Gideon punched in the number of a direct line within the West
Investigations offices.

  “West Investigations. James West speaking.”

  He didn’t waste time with formality. “Mya and I found TriGen’s receptionist dead in Mya’s basement. She’d been bludgeoned.”

  He got along with all his coworkers, but out of everyone at West, James was probably the person he was closest to. Maybe it was the military thing. After putting Mya to bed last night, Gideon had called James to let him know about her sudden appearance and request for help.

  James let out a curse. “She okay?”

  He shot a look several steps to his left where Mya sat with her feet hanging out of the passenger side of the Tahoe. He’d moved the car onto the street before the police arrived, not wanting to get boxed in by the ambulance.

  “She’s hanging in there. We need to know everything there is to find on the receptionist.” He recalled her name from the staff directory on TriGen’s website. “Rebecca Conway.”

  “On it.”

  Gideon cast a second glance at Detective Kamal. The detective had been throwing suspicious glances their way since she’d reemerged from Mya’s townhouse.

  “Could you also give Brandon a call?” Brandon West was the only son of James West Sr., West Investigations’ founder, who didn’t work for or own an interest in the company. He’d chosen a legal career over the family business, but West Investigations was one of Brandon’s biggest and most loyal clients.

  “Either of you under arrest?” James said.

  “Not yet, but I don’t like the way the lead detective is looking at Mya.”

  “Done. Listen, I was going to bring this up when you got into the office, but it looks like things are moving fast. Do you think you’re the right person for this case? I mean, will you be able to maintain perspective where your ex-wife is concerned?”

  He felt his jaw tighten and counted to ten before answering. “I’ve got it under control.”

  James sighed heavily on the other end of the line. “Just think about what I’ve said. I know your first priority is protecting Mya, but you might not be the best person to do that right now.”

  Gideon gripped the phone so tightly he feared he might crush it. “I’m not handing over this case. I won’t let anything happen to Mya.”

  He heard James mutter something that sounded like “pigheaded” and “man in love” before he ended the call.

  James’s concern that he wouldn’t be able to maintain the objectivity necessary to protect Mya stung, all the more because he knew there was some truth to it. He was still in love with her. He’d never denied it, at least not to himself. Love had not been an issue with them. He’d loved her since he was ten years old. If only things could have stayed that simple when they’d grown up and married.

  Gideon stretched his neck to the right then left, working out some tension that had settled there in response to finding the body and the call with James. Normally he was a stickler about not mixing business with personal. But ensuring Mya’s safety was nothing but personal and there was no way he was going to turn the job over to anyone else. Even if that meant he had to give up his job at West Investigations.

  Mya looked up as he stepped back toward the car. She gave him a tentative smile. “Calling for reinforcements?”

  “You could say that. Called in to the office to let them know what happened and to get them started on a background check on your receptionist.”

  Mya’s eyes widened in surprise. “A background check on Rebecca?”

  He kept his voice low so he wouldn’t be heard by the officer manning the crime scene perimeter. “We need to figure out why she was in your house. You have any ideas?”

  Mya shook her head with fervor. “None.”

  She began to moan quietly and leaned forward, letting her head fall between her knees. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

  “It’s going to be okay, sweetheart.” He crouched down, rubbing her back. “It’s just the adrenaline flowing through your body. Just breathe slowly.” He reached across her and turned the heat in the car up to its maximum setting while he continued to rub her back. “That’s it, sweetheart.”

  “She okay?”

  Gideon glanced up to see Kamal watching them.

  “Adrenaline dump.”

  The detective nodded sagely. “I want to talk to you both down at the station. These officers can drive you.” Kamal gestured to the two uniformed officers standing behind her.

  “We’ll meet you at the station,” Gideon answered.

  Kamal smiled tightly. “I’d prefer if my officers drove you.”

  Gideon straightened. “Is either of us under arrest?” He knew Kamal couldn’t force them to go with the officers if they weren’t in custody. She couldn’t even force them to speak with her.

  He watched as Kamal mentally debated how far to push the issue. “I’ll meet you at the station then,” she finally said.

  He hopped in the SUV and immediately hit the redial button on his phone.

  “James West.”

  “James, we’re going to need Brandon at the police station. Right away.”

  * * *

  “SO, YOU DON’T know what Ms. Conway was doing in your house?”

  “As I’ve said before, no. I have no idea why Rebecca was in my home.” Mya forced herself not to shrink from Detective Kamal’s piercing gaze.

  “There isn’t any sign of a break-in.”

  Mya stared at the detective blankly.

  “Do you have any idea how Ms. Conway got into your house?”

  Mya gave the same answer that she’d given the prior two times Detective Kamal had asked the question.

  Mya felt her forehead crease. After a moment of thought she said, “I don’t know.”

  “There was no sign of a break in at your townhouse,” Kamal shot back.

  Mya threw her hands up. “I have no idea what to tell you. Maybe Rebecca stole my keys and made a copy. It wouldn’t be hard to do. I leave my purse in my office while I work.”

  Detective Kamal shot a dubious look across the table. “And you didn’t change the code in months?”

  “No, why would I? I trusted Rebecca.” She hadn’t changed the code since she’d set it the day she moved into the house. Something she was sure Gideon, and probably Detective Kamal, would note as careless.

  Mya reached for the glass of water. A scene from one of the TV cop dramas popped into her head. The TV detective was able to collect the bad guy’s DNA from the soda can he’d drunk from during the police interview.

  Well, she had nothing to hide, she thought, finishing the last of the water and setting the cup down on the table. She’d assented to be interviewed without an attorney and she’d supply her DNA or anything else the detective requested. She just wanted the police to find out whoever had killed Rebecca.

  “Surely you can understand why that’s difficult to believe. A woman you work closely with is found dead in your house. The server with your research is missing. And all this happens just hours after your research lab is set ablaze and you know nothing at all about why any of it is happening or who could be doing it?” The thinly veiled accusation sliced like a paper’s edge through skin.

  Not for the first time, Mya questioned whether she should have listened to Gideon and waited to speak to Detective Kamal with an attorney. Detective Kamal had assured her that she was free to leave whenever she wanted, but Kamal’s questions, repeated over and over, made it clear that the detective thought she was somehow involved in everything that had happened over the last day.

  “I don’t know what to say to that, Detective.” Mya folded her hands in her lap and squeezed them together to stop the slight tremble there. Even though she knew she was innocent, it was intimidating to be in a police interview room, under the bright lights, so to speak.

  She really wanted to have Gideon by her side, but he’d been whi
sked away to give his statement not long after they’d arrived at the police station.

  Detective Kamal’s eyes narrowed. “You could tell the truth. That’s all I ask.”

  Irritation pricked at the back of Mya’s neck. She suspected that was exactly what the detective intended, so she did her best not to let it show.

  “I am telling you the truth. I returned to my house this morning intending to pick up a few things, and that’s when we found Rebecca.”

  Detective Kamal looked down at her notes. “And last night you sought out your ex-husband after escaping a kidnapper dressed like a cop? Do I have that correct?” Incredulity dripped from her words.

  “Yes,” Mya snapped.

  Detective Kamal’s brow went up. “You’ve been divorced from Mr. Wright for twelve years, but you went to him instead of the police?”

  “Gideon is a security specialist. I didn’t trust the police, after what happened last night.” She couldn’t help herself from taking the dig at the cops.

  So, she’d kept up with what was going on in her ex’s life. It hadn’t been hard with her mother dropping news about Gideon’s life into most of their conversations.

  “I guess that distrust of the police is why you didn’t call us and report this alleged attempted kidnapping?” Detective Kamal flipped the pages of her notepad, ostensibly looking for Mya’s past statement on the topic, although she didn’t buy the hapless routine. The detective was as sharp as a newly honed knife. Mya wouldn’t have been surprised if she remembered every word that the two had exchanged since meeting the night before.

  “You’ve got your very own personal security guard now,” Detective Kamal peered at her.

  “We planned to call a detective friend of Gideon’s after I’d picked up a few things from home. Obviously, that plan changed.”

  One sculpted eyebrow went up. “And who is Mr. Wright’s detective friend?”

  Mya exhaled. “I don’t know.”

  Detective Kamal’s lips twisted into a smirk. “Let’s go back to last night and the fire. The man you saw in the building, can you describe him for me?”

  “I told you, I never saw him. I only heard his voice.”