Coded Love (A BWWM Romantic Suspense)

by Tiana Cole

  “Look, I didn’t do anything wrong–”

  “No, no,” the first officer, his nameplate read Officer Thomson, said with a soothing tone. “You are not in any trouble, please, if we could come in?” he asked, repeating his partners question and finally Alicia nodded, taking a step back and letting them pass by her.

  She gestured to the living room and the empty couch and they took a seat. She sat down, immediately reaching for her cup of coffee and when she saw their twin gazes, asked if they would like a cup as well.

  After a few minutes of preparing two more mugs of hot coffee, she sat back down in the armchair across the coffee table from the couch. She couldn’t help but feel like this felt like an interrogation already, but shook it off.

  “So, what happened? You are obviously here for a reason. And how do you think I can help?” Alicia took a tentative sip from the still steaming liquid, giving them a chance to answer, but still they took another moment, the shorter dark haired cop, Harrison, deferring to Thomson. Finally, Thomson spoke, his words slow and deliberate and they sent a chill of terror shooting through her.

  “Early this morning, a woman was found dead. Murdered. The night before, she had told a friend that she was going on a date with a man she had met through a dating website.” Alicia’s heart sank. She didn’t need to hear the rest to know what he was going to say. The poor woman had used Ayden’s website, the program that she had built from the ground up.

  “Oh my god, I can’t believe it. I can’t…But, I don’t understand, how can I help?” Alicia asked, her stomach knotting painfully as all the implications set in. She had put in safeguards and the best in background check technology. Had she failed? Had she made a mistake that had cost someone their life? The questions circled round and round like buzzards, but there were no answers to be found.

  “Well, we were hoping to be able to track the account that sent the original message to the victim, and then track that back to the perpetrator. Our tech guys took a look at it, but they were embarrassed to say the website was too complicated for them, and they couldn’t figure it out. They recommended we search out the original programmer and that, well, that’s were you come in.” Thomson looked at her again with his big eyes, so full of tragedy, and what he was saying finally sank in.

  “You want me to hack into my own program and find out which account had been corresponding with…with the woman who had been...” She stopped, unable to say the words out loud, but Harrison and Thomson both just nodded. There was no question in her mind.

  “Of course. Anything I can do to catch this sick bastard. I’ll start immediately.” She felt pang of regret for the lost hours of work, but there was nothing that compared to catching who did this. Than catching the person who had jeopardized everything that she and Ayden had worked so hard for.

  “Great. Here’s my card.” Thomson handed her a small, wrinkled, rectangular piece of paper with his name and phone number. “If you need anything or find out anything let us know. Also, if you would like to use our tech lab, feel free. I’m sure our boys wouldn’t mind learning a thing or two from you. And we have state of the art computers or whatever it is that you use.” He shook his head as if to say he didn’t understand that new fangled technology, but Alicia just nodded once, firmly.

  “I’ll be there this afternoon,” she said immediately, and Harrison glanced at his watch, and then back at her with a raised eyebrow.

  She fought off the blush she could feel rising hot on her cheeks and just looked back at him. “Well, give me an hour to get ready, I’ll be there as soon as I can.” The officers both nodded and made their way out of her home. Just before he left, Thomson turned back, his gaze earnest on her own.

  “The perp could be targeting another victim as we speak. We need to find them, and quickly.” Alicia stared back, unable to say anything as they finally turned to go.

  She watched as they climbed into the squad car and drove away, her heart beating in a quick rhythm that had her chest aching. It took her much less than the hour she requested to get ready and find herself on the way to the address on the card officer Thomson had handed her.

  She walked into the large brick and steel building, and was overwhelmed by the size, and all of the bustling people, especially after her self imposed solitude for the last several weeks. Alicia walked up to what looked like the reception desk and showed the man behind it the card with Thomson’s name. He quickly handed her a security badge, telling her brusquely that it had to be visible at all times. He directed her to the third floor, barely glancing at her the entire time as he continued to type into the computer on the desk top.

  Alicia followed the man’s instructions and soon found herself standing nervously in front of Officer Thomson’s desk. Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be seen. She glanced around, hoping for some other sign of where to go when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to find Officer Harrison, his expression still slightly sour as he gestured for her to follow him down a long hallway. Finally, he stopped, facing her.

  “This is the tech lab, where you will be working,” he said the words shortly and was about to walk away but stopped himself. “Thomson was telling you the truth. Another life could be on the line. We need you to take this seriously.” He didn’t even give her a chance to respond before he was off, his back disappearing behind a curve in the hallway. She shook her head, trying to dispel the temper caused by his words. He had no idea just how seriously she would take this. She wasn’t about to let anyone, especially not this sick son of a bitch, ruin her good work.

  Alicia took a deep breath, and pushed open the heavy steel door to reveal a smaller room than she expected. There were two desks, each set up with a serious system of multiple monitors all filled with security feeds, images, and code, as well as keypads, towers, and modems. She waited for one of the guys sitting entranced at either desk to turn around and notice her, but when they didn’t, she cleared her throat loudly.

  “Holy shit, lady. You can’t scare us like that!” the one on the right exclaimed. He was shorter than she was with dark rimmed glasses and black hair that was pulled back into a ponytail.

  “For real. We are doing important work here, and we can’t be disturbed,” the one on the left added. He was a little taller and had shorter red hair that curled slightly. Even in the dim light of the room she could make out the freckles scattered across the pale complexion of his face.

  “Actually, my name is Alicia Banks. I’m here to help on a case,” she said with a smirk and a raised eyebrow and was rewarded when they both stated talking over each other.

  “Oh my god, Alicia Banks! The Alicia Banks.”

  “You are amazing, I’m such a huge fan. You are…just so amazing,” the red haired guy finally trailed off and she shifted under their sudden scrutiny.

  “Right, so, uh. Thanks, I guess. Listen, if you could fill me in on the case and what you have so far that would be great. Then I can take it from there.”

  The shorter, dark haired one, who introduced himself as Greg, quickly typed into one of the keyboards, pulling up the name of the murder victim, as well as some of her information.

  “This is all we have so far. Luckily, a friend ID’d her and we were able to glean a little info because of that, but honestly, Miss Banks, if I can call you that, your work was…impressive to say the least. We tried everything to get into the back end of the site, but the firewalls, the security. It was great. You are great,” he finally trailed off, his rambling words fading as she just nodded, trying to hold back the small smile.

  “Right, well. If I could just take a look, that would be also be great,” she said, and Greg immediately jumped up, offering her his seat.

  “Oh, of course, go right ahead. It’s all yours.” He stood right behind her and she tried to block out both of their presences. As Alicia settled in, she just let her fingers take over, typing the keys as she connected to her own secure server and back tracked through months and months of logs. It was going t
o take some time to search through everything, but slowly, bit by bit, she peeled back the layers. First, finding the victim’s account, and then searching through back logs of history. Every move she made on the website was traceable and Alicia wasn’t sure how long she had sat there, unmoving but for her typing fingers.

  Hours passed, and as the maze of code unwound around her she could feel excitement bubbling inside her. She had never faced a challenge like this, and she could begin to feel the answer was just behind the next firewall, just through the next level of security. Finally, she sat back, satisfaction rolling through her as she watched the information flicker to life on the screen in front of her.

  “I did it,” she said, wiping the few beads of sweat “I finally did it.” A few moments later Officer Thomson was in the room, staring incomprehensibly at the screen. Greg, and the other guy, she learned his name was Tim, were both crowded around her, staring in awe. Alicia scanned the information she had just uncovered and the satisfaction slowly morphed into dread.

  “Oh no. No, this can’t be possible.”

  “What is it?” Thomson asked, shaking his head in confusion. Alicia couldn’t look away from the computer screen and the answers it held. The last answers she would have expected. She swallowed hard.

  “The messages were sent from the second account I ever made. It was a test account belonging to Ayden Ross.” As soon as the words were said the implications rolled over her. “I have to go.” Quickly, she rose.

  “Wait, Miss Banks, are you sure? It belonged to Mr. Ross?” Alicia paused, desperately not wanting to answer the officer’s question, but she had no choice. She nodded slowly.

  “I’m positive.” With that, she fled the tiny, cramped room, her thoughts whirling madly through her head. There was no way Ayden was responsible. There was no way he could murder anyone. She didn’t believe it. It couldn’t be true. With a jolt, she realized were she was headed as she made her way out into the parking lot and into her car. She was heading towards Ayden. She needed to warn him.

  By the time her car was pulling onto Ayden’s street, she could already see the red and blue flashing lights. She hadn’t made it in time. Alicia pulled over to the curb and jumped out of her car, running towards the front of his property just in time to see him. His head was down and she could see the anger and confusion on his face even from that distance.

  Just seeing him again broke her heart, and put it all back together again. She hadn’t realized until that moment, watching him being escorted to the police car, just how much she had missed him. More than she had ever missed anything in her whole life. She could still picture perfectly the way he smiled at her, that gleam in his blue eyes. The way it had felt to have his arms around her, his body next to hers.

  She had forced all the emotions aside, focusing so much on her work in the hopes that they would all be drowned out, but the second she saw him they all came rushing back, overwhelming her. Oh my god, I’m in love with him.

  The thought ricocheted through her like a cannon shot and she stood there frozen in the middle of the sidewalk as he slowly disappeared, the police car turning down a side street, carrying him away from her. She was in love with Ayden Ross. The moment she’d had the thought she knew it was true; pure and simple. Well, maybe not so simple.

  Alicia shook her head. There was no way Ayden was guilty. There was just no way. And she was going to prove it.

  Chapter 14

  No more than three hours later, Alicia was standing in front of Thomsen’s desk once again, this time with a folder full of papers in her hand.

  “Listen, I have the proof right here. At least five other people at my company had access to that account and could have easily impersonated Ayden online.” Alicia held out the file again and this time the officer finally took it with a long look and a put upon sigh. Quickly, he flipped through the folder.

  “You’re saying that you are one of the suspects?” he said, looking at her her with one bushy eyebrow raised. Alicia just shrugged.

  “I’m just saying that everyone on that list had access to that account. Yes, the account was for Ayden Ross, but–”

  “I am aware that you and Mr. Ross worked together for several months.”

  “Well, yes, we did,” Alicia finally said with a shrug, “And I’m saying that I know him, and know he couldn’t have done this. It just doesn’t make sense; why would he jeopardize his business like that? His entire company?”

  Thomsen just sighed again, before letting the file and the folder flop to he desk.

  “I know,” he said simply, forcing Alicia to look at him in confusion.

  “What do you mean, ‘you know’?” she finally asked.

  “It means; I know it doesn’t make sense. But murder rarely does, and I think you need to keep that in mind, Miss Banks.”

  “Alicia, please. Call me Alicia,” she said distractedly as she mulled over his cryptic words.

  “Well, Alicia, I think you’ve done a lot of good today. You helped us get a step closer to solving this case and hopefully preventing another attack. And I also think you should go home, and let us do our jobs now.” Thomson gave her one last look and she knew he wouldn’t listen to anything more she had to say.

  She just nodded and turned, leaving the building all the while knowing that Ayden was in there somewhere, locked in a cell or in an interrogation room being told that he was a suspect for that poor girl’s murder. And it was her fault.

  ***

  “Listen, I’m telling you. I have an alibi for the night of the murder. I was at home, working on some last minute promotional stuff for this new marketing campaign. I never left, and my cook, Roberta, was there from six o’clock that night until after midnight, which is when you say the murder took place.” Ayden looked from one officer to the other, “So I don’t understand why I’m still here, or why I’m here in the first place.”

  “Listen, Mr. Ross,” Thomsen, the older of the two said calmly, “We have evidence that the messages to the victim came from the account Miss Banks made specifically for you.”

  His heart lurched painfully at the mention of Alicia’s name, and then it sank as the officer’s words registered.

  “Wait a minute, my account? How is that even possible? I haven’t been active on that account since we were still in testing stages. It was just for testing purposes.” Ayden shook his head, hoping they would believe him, but he could see the doubt in their eyes.

  “Mr. Ross, were you aware that your cook, a Mrs. Roberta Morales is an illegal immigrant?”

  The question came at him from Harrison, the younger shifty eyed officer and Ayden just shook his head.

  “I had no idea, she told me she was here on a work visa and everything checked out, so I just assumed…”

  “It’s going to be real hard for that alibi to hold up in court, Mr. Ross,” Harrison said, the glee in his eyes cut short just as the door opened to admit Ayden’s lawyer and friend, John Ackerman.

  “My client has been released due to lack of evidence,” John said shortly and the officers immediately jumped to their feet, protesting, but John just gestured for Ayden to follow him outside.

  “Don’t leave the city, Mr. Ross,” Officer Harrison called after him, and Ayden just kept walking, all the while picturing his world crumbling around him, and worst of all, Alicia, staring at him with hatred and accusation in her beautiful dark brown eyes. He shook his head. He knew he was innocent, and the facts of the case would prove it.

  He thought of Alicia again, and hated the fact that she had been pulled into such a gruesome thing as murder, and he also hated that it might jeopardize all of the long hours and hard work they had put into launching the dating website and program. He didn’t want that to happen. It would hurt her reputation, and probably destroy his company right along with it.

  How could they possibly think that he had anything to do with it? Why would he put his own security and company at risk like that? There were no answers for his questions, only
ever more questions.

  “Thanks, John. Thanks for getting my release.” He turned to his lawyer with his hand outstretched.

  “Of course, Ayden. They had no call to hold you. The only evidence that linked you to the crime came from the programmer of the website who was able to trace messages from the victim’s account to the account they claim was yours.”

  Ayden shook his head. So Alicia had thought it was him, that he was capable of doing such a thing, but his lawyer continued.

  “But she came back a few hours later with proof that several people, herself included, actually had access to the account.” John shrugged, leading him outside and Ayden couldn’t help the deep breath as he inhaled the fresh air. He also couldn’t help the smile that broke across his face like sunshine. She really had believed in him. Alicia had even gone so far as to implicate herself to try and get him free. His heart expanded in his chest until he thought it might burst.

  Ayden had known for some time that he was in love with her. He had been since that first night after the launch party, maybe even before then. The months that they had spent just growing closer together, getting to know each other. He loved her, and it had broken his heart when she had left him after Venice, had broken it even more when she hadn’t answered his calls, messages, emails or even his singing telegrams. But hope sprung up like a well inside him. Maybe she wasn’t as unaffected as she pretended. Maybe she really did care about him as much as he did her. He smiled again. There was only one way to find out.

  Chapter 15

  Alicia jumped when the doorbell rang and stood stock still in the middle of her kitchen for a full minute as her wine muddled brain tried to make sense of the noise. She had heard from Officer Thomsen that Ayden had been released the night before and had been warring with herself whether or not she should call him.