Trial & Tribulations

by Rachel Dylan

  Grant decided to close his eyes and listen to the prayer.

  “Dear Lord, we come to You today and thank You for all the many blessings You’ve given us. I know that right now we have people in this congregation who really need You, Lord. We all have needs. Spiritual needs, physical needs, emotional needs, financial needs. Please give us strength and guidance. And let us lean on You because that’s what You want us to do.” He paused. “And Lord, I also know that there are those here today who haven’t yet come to know You. But they’re here, God. They’ve taken the first step. I pray that you will guide them along the path. A path that starts and ends with You. And finally, Lord, I want to say a special prayer for those here who are facing some battles. Those who are being tempted by the devil just like You were. And those who are facing down evil in their daily lives. You know who they are, Lord. You’ve heard their prayers. Please be with them. Grant them the power to do battle against the devil. And the peace to continue. We ask all of this in Your name, amen.”

  Grant opened his eyes and looked over at Olivia, who had a couple of tears flowing down her cheeks. He couldn’t stop himself as he reached out and wiped a stray tear away.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  “Yes. Just a lot on my mind, that’s all.”

  He wasn’t sure where this flood of emotion was coming from that he was seeing in her, but he knew it was genuine. He followed her lead as she stood up and walked back down the aisle toward the church exit.

  Pastor Dan was standing by the door shaking hands. When it was their turn, he shook Dan’s hand.

  “So, what did you think of the sermon, Grant?”

  “It was interesting. A lot of new information and, if I’m being totally honest, some of it was a bit confusing.”

  “That’s totally understandable. If you want to talk about any of it, or anything, for that matter, my door is always open.” He paused and looked toward Olivia. “And you have a great friend here who is totally on top of all of this stuff.”

  She smiled at Dan and gave him another hug. “Great sermon.”

  The two of them walked out of the church and to her car.

  “Want to grab some lunch?” she asked.

  “Sure.”

  “I’m in the mood for pizza. Would you object to that?”

  “A man never objects to pizza.”

  She laughed. “Pizza it is then.”

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure,” she said as she started the car.

  “Are you and Pastor Dan involved?”

  “What?” she asked loudly. She stopped the car in one of the parking spaces and looked over at him.

  “I mean, romantically.”

  “What in the world would ever give you that idea?”

  “You just seem really close to him, and all the hugging and smiles.”

  “I’m sure Pastor Dan is a wonderful man, but I don’t have any interest in him like that. The poor man just recently lost his wife. I’m sure he’s still grieving.”

  “Doesn’t mean he isn’t interested in you.”

  “Pastors care about all of the congregation. What you think is romance is you not fully understanding how caring and loving a church body can be.”

  “Maybe. I didn’t mean to offend you with the question.”

  She started driving. “You didn’t offend me. Just surprised me. It wouldn’t have even occurred to me to look at him in that way. Although, I wouldn’t see anything wrong with it if I did. But I don’t. Okay?”

  “Got it.” He’d obviously said something wrong, but it was too late to take it back now.

  He gave her directions to his favorite pizza place in the neighborhood. They ordered an extra large with everything, because he’d assured her he would take the rest home.

  She picked up her iced tea and took a sip. “I want to hear your unfiltered answer to what you thought about the sermon. I knew you were going to be polite and professional when Dan asked you.”

  He laughed. “What, did you think I was blowing smoke up his—”

  “Grant!” She cut him off.

  He put up his hands in defense. “Seriously, what I told him was the truth. But it’s just really complicated. I came out of there a lot more confused and with more questions than I went in with.”

  “I’m all ears.”

  “That’s the problem. I’m so overwhelmed, I don’t even know where to start with the questions. Pretty much every single thing he said today was new to me, except the most basic of propositions.”

  “Such as?”

  “Well, I’m obviously aware of talk of the existence of Jesus and of the devil. But beyond that, everything is murky. Especially the whole rising from the grave after three days things.”

  She nodded. “I think you got thrown into a pretty deep sermon. Which is good and bad. We may need to step back and start with some more core ideas to be able to build upon.”

  “And you want to be the one to teach me?”

  “If you’re interested.”

  “I don’t really know what I want right now.” He sighed and looked into her eyes. “But I’m at least searching for answers to some questions.”

  “That’s good, because I don’t want you to go down this road because of me. If you want to take this path, it needs to be for you and about what you feel.”

  “So talking to you is just an added bonus.”

  “I guess so.” She smiled.

  “We don’t have to go there now, over pizza. Give me a little time to think about it. Then we can talk later. How does that sound?”

  “Perfect.”

  And just in time, the pizza arrived. He needed some time with his own thoughts before he started peppering her with questions.

  The only thing he knew for sure was that he was left searching for more. A lot more.

  **

  Olivia sat down with the forensic expert, Blake Sanchez, on Wednesday morning. He’d worked all weekend to deliver his findings. But then he had taken two more days to write his report and get everything in order. Her heartbeat sped up as she waited for him to speak.

  All kinds of doubts bombarded her. What if Grant was right? What if Nina Marie had straight up played her? It wasn’t exactly like Olivia thought Nina Marie was trustworthy. But the thing that she kept coming back to was the fact that Nina Marie was shrewd, careful, and calculating. Would she have ever sent an email like that?

  Guess I’m about to find out, she thought.

  “So, Blake, thank you again for working over the weekend and the long hours this week.”

  “No problem. In my business, the long and erratic hours are perfectly routine. Most people aren’t calling in guys like me unless there’s a high stakes problem.”

  And she knew that. Blake Sanchez was one of the best, working at a top litigation consulting firm that specialized in computer forensics, but he charged a hefty hourly rate.

  “Talk to me, Blake.” She hoped that she hadn’t just ruined her career by going down this dangerous path.

  “To put it simply, the file has been digitally altered.”

  She let out a breath and sent up a prayer. Thank the Lord that she wouldn’t be sanctioned by the court. She knew the firm would freak out if that had happened.

  “All right. Give me details.”

  “The biggest finding was that the digital alteration was done on site. Specifically at Nina Marie’s computer.”

  “You mean from inside the Astral Tech building? From her office?”

  “Yes. I assumed it was an outside network hack, but once I uncovered everything, I found out that wasn’t the case. I went through this step by step in painstaking detail for the expert report I’m providing to you. And I can testify to these points as well.”

  She nodded. “Okay, I don’t need every single detail, but give me the major high points.”

  He opened up his laptop. “Sure. I can email you a summary report, too. But the facts I’ve gathered are this: The email was di
gitally altered from Nina Marie’s computer. I wasn’t able to nail down the exact time of the alteration because the person covered those tracks. I can provide a window of a couple of days. That’s the best I can do and still be able to provide solid technical support for my finding. I know you would prefer an exact time, but the person who did this had skills. Most forensic guys would’ve actually missed it. But the guy or girl made one mistake which left an opening for me to step through, so to speak, to get the digital footprints I needed to make this conclusion.”

  “All right. I need you to be one hundred percent honest with me. Your honesty and forthrightness is much more important to me than what your actual answer is.”

  “Believe me, Olivia, in my business I’m used to these types of highly sensitive matters. My job is never to advocate. That’s the job of the lawyers. I’m here to provide my expert opinion and analysis as a computer specialist.”

  “Great, and I definitely appreciate your professionalism. My question is this: How certain are you of your findings? Will Grant’s computer guy that he hires come in and say the exact opposite?”

  Blake smiled and shook his head. “Absolutely not. This isn’t a gray area, Olivia.” His brown eyes were intent as he stared at his laptop. “Look at this.” He pointed. “These are the digital signatures I was able to identify. This is irrefutable evidence of alteration.”

  “My next question is this…”

  “Go for it.”

  “You said that you’re certain that the changes were made on Nina Marie’s desktop computer?”

  “Yes. And I know that because this was a change made to the native file residing on her hard drive and not to the file as it sat on the shared server. Plus some other highly technical things I can go into if you need me to.”

  “No, that’s just the starting point for my next question. Are you able to tell whether someone logged in with her password or hacked into the computer?”

  Blake smiled. “I didn’t know if you were going to ask me that.”

  She couldn’t help but smile back. “Is that a good thing or bad thing?”

  “I like it when lawyers think through all the technological issues. It makes my job a lot easier. And yes, I did determine that it wasn’t a hack like what you would think of on the street as hacking into a computer, but someone did break the password.”

  “And I’m guessing if someone is sophisticated enough to pull this off to begin with and almost completely cover their tracks, that cracking a password wouldn’t be difficult.”

  He nodded his head. “Let me put it to you like this. Cracking the password would be a complete piece of cake for this guy.” He paused. “And I keep calling him a guy. That’s an assumption on my part based totally on statistical probability of who would most likely do something like this. It’s not something I would ever testify to as to my opinion, because I realize there are human factors not known to me, and it could be a male or female who did this for sure.”

  “The gender of the perpetrator isn’t as important as the fact that it actually happened. That’s why I wanted to be crystal clear with you on the alteration itself and whether it happened. In your opinion, is there any room for another expert to have a different theory on the fabrication?”

  He chuckled. “You’ve been a lawyer long enough to know that an expert can be paid to say anything. But anyone who is truly a computer forensic expert couldn’t deny this evidence.”

  “So I’m assuming they’re not going to just roll over. What would you do if you were presented with this if you were on the other side?”

  “Concede the alteration happened, but claim that my client didn’t do it. Things like whether the person had access to the building, and are there security cameras here which could document everyone’s coming and going during the couple day window I provided you?”

  She was writing furiously on her legal pad. “You’re so right. I didn’t even think about the cameras. The issue will be whether we still have the tapes from those days, or if they’ve already been recycled back into the rotation.”

  “The person who did this had to have been in the building. So if the other side can prove they were never here, then that would be a big defense for them, in at least proving they didn’t do it. It doesn’t resolve the issue of the fact that the email would then be thrown out because it was altered, but it would get them off the hook for any criminal liability.”

  “Interesting.”

  “You’re thinking something. I can tell it when lawyers go into lawyer mode. They get the whole furrowed brow and big frown look. And you’re tapping your pen.” He looked over at her hand which was tapping away on her legal pad.

  “I’m just trying to think back.”

  “Has anyone from the other side been into the building that you know of?”

  No, he wouldn’t have. It couldn’t have been him. “The only person I know of for sure that has been in the building is the lawyer for the other side.”

  “Ouch, that would be huge if the lawyer was found to basically be evidence tampering. How well do you know that guy?”

  “Well enough. I can’t see him doing anything like that. Mainly because I can’t imagine he’d risk his career over this litigation. It’s just not worth it from any angle.”

  “Stranger things have happened. Never underestimate a desperate lawyer. Especially if they feel backed into a corner.”

  “But still.” She leaned forward in her chair. “There’s a big difference in pushing the envelope on litigation tactics and basically breaking into the other side’s computer and planting evidence.”

  Blake grimaced. “Yeah, when you put it like that. I just don’t know. That’s out of my territory. All I know is that the person who altered the email did it from Nina Marie’s desktop. Beyond that, I can’t help you out.”

  “You’ve already been beyond helpful. I’m very impressed with your work here, Blake. I’ll definitely recommend my firm use you again.”

  “That would be great. We’re always happy to get more of BCR’s business. I’ve heard that you have one vendor you use in DC which is understandable. But I’d like to think that my people and I are the best. And we go anywhere you need us to go. So traveling isn’t a problem.”

  “I will pass that along, don’t worry about that. Do you need any help from me getting ready for court?”

  “No, I’ll finish up this report, and then you’ll need to disclose it to Grant so he can provide it to his expert.”

  “If you come up with any more ideas on how they will try to debunk your theories, please let me know.”

  Blake smiled widely. “Believe me, these aren’t theories. They’re facts. Yes, I have opinion woven into them, but that file was digitally altered from Nina Marie’s desktop. That is a fact.”

  “Thank you. I’ll walk you out.”

  She led him into the lobby and then immediately went looking for Nina Marie. She would be thrilled with the news. But she was still worried about who the culprit was.

  “Nina Marie.” She walked into her office since the door was open.

  “What do you have for me?”

  “Blake’s done with his analysis of your computer and all of the evidence.”

  Nina Marie’s eyes were wide with interest. “And?”

  “He’s convinced that the file was digitally altered.”

  She threw her hands up. “And it took an overpriced expert for you to believe me.”

  “No, it’s not that. If I didn’t believe you, I wouldn’t have stuck my neck out in the first place.”

  “Really?”

  “Really. This is my job on the line. I told you that.”

  “So where does this leave us?” Nina Marie pushed back from her chair and walked over to where she was standing.

  “That piece of information wasn’t the biggest revelation that Blake uncovered. Basically, he determined that the change to the email happened on your desktop. Right here in your office.”

  “What?” Nina Marie
asked with a raised voice. “Are you sure?”

  “Unfortunately, yes. Now, the person was highly skilled. So Blake can only give us a window of time for when it happened. And I don’t know if the security cams will have the footage form those dates.”

  “It’s Layton, I tell you.”

  “Has he been here?”

  “Yes. He came once to see me.” She blew out a breath. “I was stupid and left him in my office alone for a few minutes while I was dealing with something else. What an idiot I was.”

  Her heart jumped a bit. She couldn’t help but be relieved. She would much rather think that Layton did this than Grant. “But this is actually good. If we can show that it was him, not only would the email get thrown out, their chances of winning the injunction would almost evaporate and Layton could be brought up on criminal charges. He had to have broken your password to get into your computer.”

  “Or correctly guessed it.”

  “I don’t know the law well enough on this without researching it, but I’m sure there’s something we could go after him with. At the very least, it’s a huge blow to the lawsuit. They will try to exclude this from the jury. We’ll have to fight to get it in. Between this and the restraining order, we can paint him in a very negative light.”

  “So what now?”

  “I need the security tapes.”

  “Let’s go to IT, and I’ll have them pull it for you now. I want this to be your top priority. Do you hear me?”

  “Yes.” This was the break in the case she needed. It could be a game changer.

  Chapter Twelve

  Grant held his tablet in his hand while he finished his dinner. Much to his surprise, Olivia had gifted him an electronic copy of the Bible on Sunday after they’d gone to church together. He’d discovered there were Bible apps as well, but he’d had enough of dealing with apps because of the lawsuit. He’d spent a chunk of the day and night on Sunday fully engrossed in reading and taking notes.

  He’d been a bit overwhelmed at first, but she’d also been emailing him different reading suggestions. He’d even exchanged a couple of emails with Pastor Dan. Feeling kind of stupid for questioning Olivia about her and the pastor, he was now more comfortable with all of it.