by Dale Mayer
She sat down on the bed. “We never discussed selling of the VR program to Burning Edge. Warren knew how I felt about that particular company. I thought he felt the same. Burning Edge operates on the shady side. Never once did Warren mention it was his stepbrother’s company.” She frowned. Then added slowly, “Why was that? Obviously Warren probably didn’t want anyone to know. And of course he knew how poor a reputation Burning Edge had. Tommy would have known as well.”
“Whether he was ashamed of his father or just angry still over him being an absentee father, I imagine Burning Edge was something Tommy would not want brought up over and over.”
“Right. There’s no way any deal prior to my arrival would’ve been made because we didn’t have this progress on the VR system yet, so, if the contract was made afterward, that would mean Warren was trying to sneak something over on me.”
“Why would he do that?”
“No idea. We have to talk to the lawyers. That’ll tell us what contracts there are and whether they are legal and binding.” She ran her hand over her face, stopping to rub her tired eyes. “This is such a nightmare.”
“Or it could be perfect. On his death, his interest in the company reverts to you a hundred percent.”
“I signed something like that too.” She brightened. “Do you know that for sure?”
“Sure as I can be without seeing the paperwork. And of course that means, as far as the police are concerned, you move to suspect number one.”
“I always was suspect number one,” she said drily. “But I also have you as an alibi. And, if Tommy is inheriting Warren’s house and his bank accounts and anything else …”
“I know he inherits a lot. I don’t know if he inherits everything.”
She nodded. “That makes him suspect number two.”
“Exactly.”
“With no other family but Tommy, I guess the funeral arrangements fall to him and Warren’s stepbrother.”
“Yes.” Tyson thought about Tommy with his lime green pants and purple tie. “I can’t really imagine Tommy setting up funeral arrangements.”
Kai gave Tyson a sad smile. “I like that about him. He is innocent in so many ways. I’m really hoping this doesn’t change that. But of course losing a mentor and family member you care about, well, everything changes.” She looked at Tyson. “How can it not?”
He focused on his keyboard because of course she was right. Hadn’t it changed for him? “Have I changed that much?”
She stopped on her way to the bathroom, her eyebrows raised. “I wasn’t thinking of you when I said that,” she said. “In a way, I was thinking of me.”
It was his turn to be surprised. “In what way?”
She gave a crooked smile. “I’m more me. Back then when I was with her, I was an extension of Tracy. When I was alone, I felt like I wasn’t quite complete. The last two years was all about learning who I was. Doing things because I wanted to and not because she wanted to. I was learning the foods I like again versus the food she wanted. She was a force of nature, and I was a happy tree to bow in the wind. But, when I lost her, my energy wasn’t directed in one way or another.” She laughed a bit. “I had to figure out who I was, what direction I wanted to go. Just as Tommy will have to do.”
She walked into the bathroom, closing the door gently behind her. He stared at the door in wonder because Tracy had, indeed, been a force of nature. She’d been very good at coercing people into doing what she wanted them to do. Always with a gentle smile, but no doubt she had been a dominant force directing her world and his. He hadn’t been thinking about getting married, but, as long as she wanted to, he was good with it. He hadn’t been delirious about having a family, but, before he knew it, it was already happening. Even the house they bought together had been because she had adored it. When she was happy, he was happy.
For the first time he understood Kai’s earlier question about whether his relationship with Tracy would have lasted. Would his marriage have gone the distance? Would they have survived ten or even twenty years together? He’d still like to think so. But to do so, he knew there would’ve been a lot of compromise on his part.
At the time he’d been totally okay with that. Now maybe he was a little more like Kai, in that he’d learned a lot. As if that year with Tracy, working and smiling and laughing, had made his world brighter and so full of joy. Then, when it emptied out, he had reverted to the same quiet person he’d been before.
As he leaned against the headboard, he had to wonder if that was a bad thing.
Not that he was quiet because he was sad, and it wasn’t that he was depressed. He was just naturally reserved. It’d been exhausting being around Tracy. But he’d never wanted to let her down, never wanted her to look at him with disappointment. He’d have done anything and everything he could to keep the sunshine on her face. Going forward he would’ve adapted.
But it was so strange now to realize just how different life was without her. And yet, it was not that it was bad. In fact, maybe for the first time, he realized it would really be okay.
Chapter 16
After coffee Kai looked at him and said, “What do you want to do now?”
He closed the laptop, placed it off to the side and turned to look at her. “It’s Saturday. What would you like to do?”
“I think we should return to the office, go through Warren’s computer, find out if there’s anything we should know about.”
“I have no problem with that. You should probably stop by the lawyer’s too, if he’s willing to see us on a Saturday.”
“Will the detective give us an update?”
“Hard to say. I can call him later and see.”
“Okay, breakfast first? If you’re hankering for pancakes.”
He grinned. “I’ve always got room for pancakes.”
They showered and dressed quickly. He drove to the restaurant and sat down with yet more coffee.
“You think there is any chance the autopsy will be done today?” Kai asked.
“I doubt it, but considering it’s now a murder investigation, I can’t say for sure.”
They ordered breakfast. When they were almost done, Tyson got a phone call from Ice. “Good morning to you too.” Tyson smiled, put the phone on Speaker and laid it on the table. “You’re on speakerphone, Ice. Go ahead.”
“The coroner is doing the autopsy this week. We’ll hopefully get a full report by Friday. It will give us something solid to go on. Her tone was such that Kai knew it was more worry about them than thinking they were taking too many chances. “We have several investigations ongoing here but answers on some fronts take time. I don’t need to warn you guys about being careful.”
Kai chuckled. “I’m not planning on doing anything major. Right now we’re having pancakes.”
“Lucky for you guys. I missed breakfast. However, Alfred’s making me something right now.”
“Lucky you.” Kai laughed. “I’d take Alfred’s breakfast over restaurant food any day.” She caught Tyson’s strange look but ignored it.
“We’re heading into the office afterward,” Tyson said. “We want to check Warren’s computer, particularly if this is a murder investigation. The police are likely to come and take everything.”
“That’s not a bad idea. Make sure you go through any physical files and whatever else might be pertinent.”
The longer she sat there, the more Kai worried the police would do just that before they had a chance to look for themselves. She faced Tyson and said, “I sense a sudden urgency to go.”
He got up to pay the bill. By the time he was done, Kai waited impatiently at the front door. As he hopped into the vehicle, he asked, “Any reason in particular?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know how long before the autopsy is completed. Once it’s declared a murder investigation, I’m afraid the company will shut down for a while.”
He drove straight to the business and pulled into the parking lot. She was surprised to see several vehic
les there. “Why is anybody here? We’re closed today.”
“Let’s go find out.”
“Has Ice said if anything unusual has shown up on any of the security cameras we installed?”
“No, and that means no one has. She won’t relax on this one.”
When she let them into the office, they found Tommy and Larry sitting off to the side. Tommy looked a little worse for wear. When he saw her, he walked over, his arms open wide. She gave him a hug and held him. For all his brainpower, he was still just a big teenager.
“I’m so sorry, Tommy.”
He sniffled and stepped back. “Still can’t believe it.”
“I know. The autopsy is this week.” She walked over to Warren’s office door and tried to open it, but it was locked. She turned toward Tommy. “Did you lock it?”
Tommy shook his head. “I figured you did. I came in to make sure everything was secure. I started to think about the police shutting us down. I tried getting into his office but couldn’t.”
“How long have you been here?” she asked, suspicion still driving her instincts forward. She glanced at Larry. “And you?”
“We came in together. Just got in about ten minutes before you,” Tommy said.
When she turned back to Warren’s office, the door was open. Tyson gave her a bland look. She walked in, headed to the back of Warren’s desk and turned on the computer. His laptop was still here. She frowned. She took hers home every night. Then again how many did he have? She only had one. “Was there a laptop in Warren’s apartment?” she asked Tyson.
He shook his head. “No, there wasn’t. Were you expecting one to be here?”
She frowned. “I knew he had one. I just wondered if he had two.”
“I take my laptop back and forth,” Tommy said from the doorway. “Warren has two laptops, I think. But one was so old it almost wasn’t workable anymore. I think it’s in the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet.”
“Has anybody touched the servers or accessed the computer in the last twenty-four hours?” she asked, walking over to check the filing cabinet. Sure enough a laptop was there.
Tommy looked at her in surprise and frowned and then horror hit his expression, and he bolted to his desk.
Her stomach sank as she said, “I guess we’ll find out in a few minutes.” She sat down and opened Warren’s desk drawers.
Larry walked over. “Should you be doing that?”
“Yes, I should. Seeing that I’m the remaining partner in the business, I need to know what the hell’s going on.” She didn’t watch his face, only got an odd look from him when she glanced up. “That bothers you?”
“Tommy might be the other partner now.”
She looked at Larry for a long moment, realizing nobody really knew about the legal side of this yet. And how many of the employees knew about Tommy and Warren’s relationship? “That might be. But if you think I’d do anything to destroy the business, you’re wrong. I need to know what’s going on, and that means going through Warren’s desk. Regardless of who gets Warren’s shares, I’m still the majority shareholder.”
Larry shrugged, stepping back slightly. She watched him as he glanced over at Tyson. But Larry’s face was hard, his glance steady on the doorway.
“Did that seem odd to you?” she asked in a low enough tone so Larry couldn’t hear them.
“Oh, yeah. I’ll contact Ice and see if she ever got a full report on him.”
She nodded. “Do that.”
She went through all of Warren’s desk. In the file drawer he had several matching folders like the ones she kept her contracts in. However, also in the drawer was a sealed black leather case. She pulled it out, opened it up and inside found the Burning Edge material. While Tyson went over the laptop, she pulled out the paperwork and took a closer look. It included copies of emails, contract details on the product and more that she handed over to Levi for testing. “Well, isn’t this interesting?”
“What did you find?”
“The Burning Edge folder. And what appears to be a contract.”
“So he was doing this without your permission?” He studied her carefully. “I’m sorry.”
“Me too. I wonder if I ever knew him.” She started to pore over the contract, not liking the terms, not liking anything about it. If he’d already made a deal with them, albeit without her permission, why was it he’d been okay with her taking the VR system to Levi as a prototype? According to the contract before her, Burning Edge would have had exclusive rights to develop and market the VR system.
When she got to the signing partners’ signatures, she found a spot for hers, but no signature was there. And she was pretty damn sure that made the contract illegal.
She’d have to read the contract and see what the details were but later, much later. Even after that she’d have to run it by her attorney. She folded it up, put it away and continued looking in the rest of Warren’s desk drawers. Leaving the black leather case on the desk, she walked over to the filing cabinet and went through it. She’d been through these files many times before as these were the only hard copies of the company’s files. Behind all the files was a strong box. She drew that out. “And this is interesting too.”
Tyson looked up, his gaze lighting when he saw the box in her hand. “Put it down here. If it’s locked, I’ll pop it open for you.”
She put it on the desk, and of course it was locked. She looked in the top drawer, finding a small jewelry box where Warren kept the key. Inside was cash. A lot of cash. Hearing footsteps outside, she quickly closed it and put it on her lap so nobody walking in could see it.
Tommy came in. “It doesn’t appear anything’s been touched on the servers.”
The relief in his voice made her realize just how much Tommy had invested in this company as well.
“Good. Now can you check if anybody used Warren’s log-in to gain access, and, if they did, what files they looked at?”
Tommy nodded. As he turned away, his gaze landed on the black case. “Oh, that’s Warren’s. I saw him with that earlier.”
She looked up, patted the black leather case and said, “You mean this?”
Tommy nodded.
“Inside is a contract he signed with Burning Edge for exclusive development and marketing rights on our VR system.”
“What?” Tommy looked shell-shocked. “How could he do that? They have a horrible reputation. I know he’s my father with a shitty company, but … I had no idea he was such an asshole.”
“Yeah, that could be why Warren’s dead. Warren signed a contract—without my signature—to give Burning Edge the VR system.” Inside her stomach hurt. She needed to contact her lawyer on that one. Why would Warren do that? Fast cash? Or did his stepbrother have something to hold over Warren’s head as leverage? It would have to be something major …
Tommy stared at her in horror. “Please tell me that contract’s not legal.”
“I’m not sure yet. But I sure as hell didn’t sign this contract. The lawyers will have to hammer it out. And then they’ll have to hammer out Burning Edge, but I’m hoping to confirm the contract is not binding.”
“You know what we have going here is huge, right?” His earnest expression showed even through his mop of hair covered most of his face. “We can do so much better than that nightmare company.”
“And that’s why I don’t understand why Warren did it.” She shook her head. “It doesn’t make any sense. Maybe he knew it wasn’t legal. Maybe he did it to get them off his back, and when they found out …” She let her voice trail off.
Tommy winced. “Oh, I can see that. Burning Edge has an ugly rep.”
“How good are your hacking skills?” Tyson asked him.
Tommy gave him an innocent baby-blue-eyed look. “Hacking is illegal.”
“And we all know about your history. It looks like Warren has his laptop security coded. Any idea how to get into it?”
“Man, why would he do that? This is his office unit,” Tommy
said.
“Exactly. Which is why we need to get into this computer. We need to know if somebody used his log-in information. How good is your security here?”
“The best,” Tommy said. “It’s what I do.”
“You mean, it’s what you used to do,” Kai said with a chuckle. “Now you’re only involved with legal activities.”
“One has to learn how to break the bank in order to understand how to stop others from doing the same thing,” Tommy said absentmindedly. His gaze focused on the laptop. “I’ll use password breaking software for this. It won’t take too long. Then I should be able to get in through the network. But that won’t allow me into his personal emails. He has a company email we can access without any trouble. But his personal emails are a different story.” He picked up Warren’s office computer. “You want me to do this now?”
“Yes. Before the police show up with a warrant and take anything they want.”
Tommy looked at Kai in horror and raced out the door.
Tyson stood and whispered, “I’ll watch him. We need everything on that laptop.”
“Go do that. We have to figure out why Warren has so much cash sitting at his desk.”
Tyson gave her a hard look as he walked out. “Because he needed it to run.”
He closed the door behind him, giving her a chance to open up the strongbox again and take a serious look at the money. Over thirty thousand in cash sat in the box. As she stared out the window, she had to wonder. “Warren, did you take a bribe? And, when they realized the contract wouldn’t stand up in court, did they come after you? Thirty thousand wasn’t worth killing you over.”
She closed the box and placed it inside her bag. It was a damn tight fit, but no way would she leave that kind of money here. Not when the guys all had access to it. She didn’t know how this worked. Did she have the rights to it? Yet another question for the lawyers.
*
Tyson followed Tommy out to the main office where he sat down in front of a hard drive connected to his main computer, then connected it to the laptop. Instantly, Tyson saw the password cracking program start working on the laptop. He smiled to himself. “How often do you get to use that program?”
