Chương 11
She asked Tasha to begin with the last time she had personally seen the computer.
“Yesterday morning.”
“What time?”
“Before school.”
“Approximate.”
“Seven ten.”
“You used it?”
“I checked a render.”
“What does that mean?”
Tasha blinked.
“A video project.”
Morales nodded.
“Was the computer functioning normally?”
“Yes.”
“Did anyone else have permission to use it?”
“No.”
“Ever?”
“My dad sometimes, if he needed to print something.”
James nodded from the wall.
“Not without asking.”
Morales wrote that down.
“And Devon?”
“No.”
Devon shifted on the bed.
Tasha looked at him.
“He had used the monitor before.”
“With your permission?”
“Yes.”
“The computer itself?”
“No.”
“Did he know the password?”
Tasha hesitated.
“I don’t think so.”
Devon cleared his throat.
“I did.”
Everyone looked at him.
Tasha’s stomach tightened.
“How?”
“You typed it once when I was standing there.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“Devon.”
“Months ago.”
Tasha stared at him.
Morales looked between them.
“Did you access the computer?”
“No.”
“Yesterday?”
“No.”
“Before removing it?”
“No.”
“You are sure?”
“Yes.”
Tasha folded her arms.
“You watched me type my password and remembered it for months?”
Devon’s eyes dropped.
“It was your birthday.”
Tasha felt heat crawl up her neck.
“Of course it was.”
James frowned.
“You used your birthday as a password?”
“Dad, not now.”
He lifted both hands.
“Fair.”
Morales asked whether any personal information had been stored on the machine.
Tasha said yes.
School projects.
Saved passwords.
College application drafts.
Tax forms Renee had scanned the previous spring.
Photos.
A folder containing copies of Tasha’s driver’s permit documents.
Renee straightened.
“What tax forms?”
“The ones you sent me so I could upload proof of household income for the scholarship portal.”
Renee closed her eyes.
James swore softly.
Morales stopped writing for a second.
“Were those files encrypted?”
Tasha’s silence answered.
“Do you know whether the drive was removed in the photograph?”
“I can’t tell.”
“Can you identify the drive if it appears?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Tasha hated the word good.
Nothing about knowing how to identify a stolen drive felt good.
Morales asked her to send the photograph.
Devon forwarded the image from Malik’s number to Tasha, and Tasha forwarded it to the address on Morales’s card.
The act felt weirdly bureaucratic.
Her ruined computer passed between phones while a box of cereal sat open downstairs because someone had forgotten to put away the groceries.
Morales asked Devon to describe exactly how he removed the computer from the house.
He took a long breath.
“I waited until everybody left.”
Tasha’s eyes narrowed.
“Everybody?”
“You were at work.”
“Mom?”
“Dentist.”
Renee looked at James.
“And you?”
“At the gym,” James said.
Devon nodded.
Morales asked, “Did you plan around their schedules?”
Devon looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
That answer hurt Tasha more than she expected.
She had imagined him making a stupid impulsive decision.
Instead he had watched them leave.
He had waited.
He had known he needed privacy.
Morales kept her tone level.
“How did you move it?”
“Put it in a laundry basket.”
Tasha looked at him.
“You put my computer in a laundry basket?”
“It was heavy.”
“That is what bothers you?” James asked her.
“I don’t know what bothers me anymore.”
Morales let the interruption pass.
“Then what?”
“I carried it out the garage.”
“Was Malik waiting?”
“No.”
“I thought you said he drove you.”
“He picked me up later.”
“So where did the computer go first?”
Devon rubbed his palms together.
“My car.”
James stared at him.
“You put it in your trunk.”
“Yeah.”
“And drove to school?”
“No.”
“Where?”
“I parked behind the library.”
“Why?”
“Because Malik said he could not meet until noon.”
Tasha looked at the clock.
It was almost four now.
Everything had happened in less than twenty-four hours.
The computer had sat inside Devon’s trunk in a public parking lot while Tasha stocked frozen vegetables at work and complained to a coworker about a customer who had opened three cartons of strawberries before choosing one.
She had probably checked her phone during break.
Devon had probably texted her a meme.
She could not remember.
Morales asked whether the car had been locked.
“Yes.”
“Anyone else have keys?”
“My parents.”
“Any damage to the vehicle?”
“No.”
“When did Malik arrive?”
“Around twelve thirty.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
“He told me to follow him.”
“In your car?”
“Yeah.”
“So he was not driving you.”
Devon closed his eyes.
“Right.”
Morales waited.
“I forgot.”
“That is why we go slowly.”
Devon nodded.
Tasha watched him.
He looked exhausted.
For the first time, she wondered how much of his story had been distorted by panic rather than deliberate lying.
Then she remembered the cash box.
Both things could be true.
Morales asked if Devon still had the car keys.
James reached into his pocket.
“I took them when we called.”
“Good.”
This good sounded more reasonable.
The second officer returned and whispered something to Morales.
She listened, asked one question, then stood.
“We have another unit coming to take a look at the facility from the outside.”
James stepped away from the wall.
“Can they get in?”
“Not without proper authority or consent from management.”
“Can management open it?”
“That depends on the rental agreement and circumstances.”
James frowned.
“So the stuff could be sitting there and nobody can touch it.”
“It could also not be there.”
“That is not better.”
“No.”
Morales closed the notebook.
“I am going downstairs to make a call.”
Devon stood.
“Can I come?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because right now I need you to stay available and not contact anyone.”
He sank back down.
Morales looked at Tasha.
“You should change passwords for any accounts that may have been stored on the computer.”
Tasha pulled out her phone.
“All of them?”
“Start with email and anything financial.”
“I don’t have financial accounts.”
“Payment apps?”
“One.”
“School portal?”
“Yes.”
“Cloud storage?”
“Yes.”
“Change those.”
Tasha nodded.
Then another thought struck.
“My portfolio.”
“What about it?”
“It was on the computer.”
“Backed up?”
May you like
“Some.”
“How much?”
