Chương 7
Then she sat back down.
"Fine."
Owen arrived three minutes later carrying a tablet and an evidence bag from his security kit.
He stopped when he saw Vanessa.
"Morning."
She gave him a look.
He looked at me.
"Token?"
I pointed to the table.
He photographed it before touching it, then slipped it into the bag.
"Serial number's visible."
He entered it into the tablet.
Vanessa stood behind him.
I watched her face instead of the screen.
Owen's expression did not change.
That was never a good sign.
"Whose?" I asked.
He looked at me.
"This token was assigned to Martin Cole."
Vanessa whispered something I couldn't hear.
I felt no triumph.
Only a slow tightening in my chest.
"Could he have loaned it to Daniel?"
"Possible."
"Could Daniel use it to access my study?"
"Not directly."
I frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Owen turned the tablet toward me.
"This badge was deactivated six months ago."
Vanessa stared at the screen.
"Then why was it here?"
"That's the better question."
He enlarged the record.
Martin had reported the token lost in February.
A replacement had been issued the same day.
I looked at Vanessa.
She looked back at me.
For the first time, neither of us had an accusation ready.
Owen scrolled farther.
Then he stopped.
"What?"
I asked.
He did not answer immediately.
"Owen."
"The lost token was used Tuesday night."
My skin went cold.
"Where?"
He turned the tablet around.
"Not at your company."
The access log showed a private service entrance connected to the underground garage of my house.
Someone had programmed my home's security system to recognize Martin's supposedly lost corporate token.
And whoever had done it had entered at 10:47 Tuesday night.
Twenty minutes before Daniel walked out of my study.
Owen read the line twice before speaking.
"Whoever configured this knew enough about both systems to make an old company credential work on a residential reader."
Vanessa folded her arms.
"Can Martin do that?"
"No."
"Daniel?"
"Also no."
I looked at Owen.
"Can you?"
"Yes."
Vanessa turned toward him.
He did not react.
"So can two people on my security team and the outside contractor who installed the garage system."
"Which contractor?" I asked.
"Hale Integrated."
I knew the name.
They had upgraded the house after my mother died, when my father became convinced that grief had made us careless.
Owen tapped the screen.
"The problem is, that token should have been useless anywhere after Martin reported it lost."
"But someone kept it alive here."
"Or reactivated it later."
Vanessa paced once across the rug and back.
"Why would anyone use Martin's lost badge instead of just entering normally?"
"Because normal entry leaves a name," Owen said.
"This leaves Martin's."
"That's almost too convenient."
"It is."
I watched him.
"You think someone wanted us to find it."
"I think we need to stop deciding what it means before we know who programmed it."
He slipped the tablet under his arm.
"Will that show who changed the permissions?"
"Maybe."
"Maybe?"
"If they used the admin console correctly, yes."
"And incorrectly?"
Owen looked irritated at the universe rather than at me.
"Then I get to spend my morning discovering which expensive security system feature we paid for but failed to configure."
Vanessa looked at me.
"Your face right now is very attractive."
"I'm glad paralysis hasn't ruined everything."
Her expression flickered.
The joke had crossed some line neither of us could see.
She looked down.
"Sorry."
"I made it."
"Still."
Owen pretended to be fascinated by his evidence bag.
The moment passed.
"I need Daniel here," I said.
"No," Owen replied.
Vanessa and I both looked at him.
He continued.
"If Daniel thinks nobody noticed Tuesday, calling him here tells him exactly what you've found."
"He already knows Clara saw him."
"Does he know she told you?"
"No."
"Keep it that way."
Vanessa sat again.
"You want us to act normal?"
Owen's expression remained flat.
"I'm told people do it every day."
I almost smiled.
"Monday is forty-eight hours away."
"Then we use forty-eight hours."
"Martin may be trying to remove me as CEO."
"And if he is, accusing him with a lost badge somebody deliberately made traceable to him is exactly how you help him."
I hated when Owen was right because he never enjoyed it enough to make hating him satisfying.
"What about Clara?"
Vanessa asked.
Owen looked toward her.
"What about her?"
"She found the badge."
"Which means somebody may know she has it."
Vanessa rubbed her palms against her dress.
"I knew."
"Did you tell anyone?"
"No."
"Daniel?"
"No."
"Martin?"
"No."
"Your mother?"
Vanessa looked offended.
"Why would I tell my mother?"
Owen waited.
She exhaled.
"No."
I believed her.
That worried me too.
Owen left with the badge, and Vanessa remained by the window.
Neither of us seemed eager to continue the conversation.
Finally she said, "You should tell Clara not to come back."
"That sounds like firing her."
"It sounds like keeping her out of this house until we know whether someone is watching her."
"She already resigned."
"Then pay her through the notice period."
I studied Vanessa.
"That is almost considerate."
She looked at me sharply.
"You don't have to sound surprised."
"I am surprised."
"Because I'm apparently a monster now."
"Because twelve hours ago you humiliated her in front of a room full of people."
Vanessa flinched again.
"Yes."
"And Tuesday you grabbed her hard enough to bruise her."
"I know."
"Do you?"
She stood.
"There it is again."
"What?"
"The part where you decide one terrible thing means you've learned everything about someone."
"You've been doing that to me since the accident."
Her face changed.
I regretted the sentence immediately.
Not because it was false.
Because it was true in a way that made both of us look worse.
Vanessa picked up her sunglasses.
"I have to go."
"Where?"
"Home."
"This is your home, remember?"
She gave me a tired look.
May you like
"No, Adrian."
"It hasn't been for a while."
