Chương 9
"Anything else?"
"She said you would fight."
"And Martin?"
"He laughed."
Clara's mouth tightened.
"He said you couldn't fight if nobody gave you a battlefield."
I sat with that.
The dryer buzzed again.
This time Clara opened it and pulled out warm towels.
Ordinary work continued while the shape of my life shifted by inches.
"Clara."
She looked over.
"What are you afraid of?"
Her hands stopped inside the dryer.
For several seconds, she did not answer.
Then she straightened.
"Getting caught between people who can ruin my life and still sleep fine afterward."
I had no defense against that.
She stacked the towels.
"I don't know what they're doing."
"I believe you."
"I don't know if Mr. Daniel is helping your uncle."
"I know."
"I don't know if Miss Vanessa is."
"I know."
Her eyes met mine.
"Do you?"
That one hurt.
I looked down at the wheelchair.
For the first time, the deception felt less clever than cowardly.
I had placed everyone under a test they had not agreed to take.
Some had failed spectacularly.
Others might only have been reacting badly to a crisis I had deliberately falsified.
Clara mistook my silence for dismissal and returned to the towels.
"Good."
She glanced at me.
"Not because you've done anything wrong."
"I know."
"Because Owen thinks whoever used that badge may know you found it."
Now she looked frightened.
"How would they know?"
"We don't know that they do."
"That's not reassuring."
"No."
I reached for my phone.
"I take the bus."
"Today you don't."
Her shoulders stiffened.
"I don't need—"
"This isn't charity."
"It feels like it."
"Then argue with Owen."
"Is he worse than Mrs. Alvarez?"
"Much."
That earned another reluctant smile.
I called him.
He answered on the first ring.
"Tell me you found something."
"I found something," he said.
The tone killed what little humor remained.
"What?"
"The residential controller logs."
I turned slightly away from Clara.
"Who programmed Martin's badge?"
"No name."
"Why not?"
"Administrator credentials were used."
"Whose credentials?"
"Mine."
For a moment, I said nothing.
Owen continued.
"I was in Chicago when the change was made."
"Can you prove that?"
"Flight records, hotel cameras, conference registration, and thirty-seven people who watched me give a security presentation."
"Then somebody stole your credentials."
"Or had them."
"Who?"
There was a pause.
"Adrian, I changed that password after your accident."
I felt Clara watching me.
"When?"
"The day you entered rehab."
"Who knew the new one?"
"Me."
"Nobody else?"
"One emergency recovery copy exists."
"Where?"
"In a sealed envelope inside your office safe."
Not my home study.
My office at Cole Meridian.
The twenty-eighth floor.
The executive suite Daniel still had access to.
I closed my eyes.
"Daniel."
"Maybe."
"You don't sound convinced."
"Because the envelope is still sealed."
I opened my eyes.
"Then how?"
"That's what I'm trying to tell you."
Owen's voice dropped.
"The audit server shows somebody opened your office safe electronically two days after the accident."
My mouth went dry.
"Who?"
"The override authorization came from the acting executive authority account."
I already knew whose name that account carried.
Still, I made him say it.
"Martin Cole."
My first impulse was to call Martin and demand an explanation.
My second was better.
"Do nothing visible," I told Owen.
"Already there."
"Can you tell whether the safe was physically opened?"
"The office safe logs both electronic release and door position."
"And?"
"It opened."
I looked across the laundry room at Clara.
She was pretending not to listen while folding the same towel twice.
"How long?"
"Four minutes, twelve seconds."
"Enough time to remove the recovery envelope."
"Enough time to photograph it, replace it, and reseal the envelope if someone came prepared."
"Can we verify the seal?"
"Not without opening it."
"Then open it."
"No."
I almost snapped at him.
Then I heard the reason before he gave it.
"If Martin or whoever did this checks later, they'll know we're looking."
"Fine."
"We can inspect the exterior under magnification without breaking it."
"Do that."
"I also need access to your office cameras."
"You already have it."
"Not historical footage beyond fourteen days."
My hand tightened around the phone.
"The safe was opened almost a month ago."
"Exactly."
"Cloud backup?"
"Thirty days, unless someone changed retention."
There was a pause.
"Someone changed retention."
Of course they had.
"To what?"
"Seven days."
"When?"
"The morning after your accident."
A laugh escaped me, but there was nothing funny in it.
Clara looked over.
"Who authorized that?"
"Facilities ticket says executive security directive."
"Whose?"
"Mine."
"Again."
"Again."
I leaned back in the wheelchair.
The seat suddenly felt too small.
"How many of your credentials have been used?"
"At least three systems so far."
"Could someone have copied everything before I crashed?"
"Maybe."
"Could the accident have been the trigger instead?"
"That's what it looks like."
That distinction mattered.
If the scheme had started before the crash, then my accident might not have been random.
If it began afterward, then somebody had seen opportunity in catastrophe.
I wasn't sure which answer I preferred.
"Pull every administrative change made from the day of the accident forward."
"I'm doing that now."
"And Owen?"
"Yeah?"
"Check the crash."
Silence.
"We already checked it."
"Check it again."
Another silence, longer this time.
I ended the call.
Clara placed the towel on a stack.
"Was your accident not an accident?"
"I don't know."
Her face changed.
I immediately regretted saying it.
"That wasn't fair to tell you."
"Why?"
"Because now you'll worry about something I can't prove."
"I'm already worried."
She looked toward my legs under the blanket.
Then at my face.
"Are you safe here?"
The irony nearly made me laugh.
"Probably."
"That's not the same as yes."
"No."
A cart rattled in the corridor outside.
Mrs. Alvarez passed the doorway, saw us, and kept moving without comment.
Clara picked up another towel.
"You should leave too."
"I live here."
May you like
"So?"
"So leaving my own house because someone might be manipulating security systems would be inconvenient."
