Chương 10
Tessa was already moving.
“No one goes near that office until I clear it.”
Marcus followed at a distance with Garrison and Natalie.
Renner remained behind with Derek, who looked as though he had aged five years in ten minutes.
The west tool crib sat beyond a yellow-striped aisle behind racks of sealed hydraulic fittings and electrical consumables.
The facilities office door was closed.
Tessa photographed the handle before opening it.
The room was barely large enough for a desk, a filing cabinet, and a chair with one cracked armrest.
A half-empty bottle of orange soda sat beside the keyboard.
There was a takeout receipt in the trash.
Marcus stayed outside.
“Anyone use this office besides facilities?”
Derek answered from behind them.
“Maintenance sometimes.”
Tessa turned.
“I told you to stay there.”
“I can see from there.”
He pointed from twenty feet away.
“That’s my soda.”
Tessa looked at the bottle.
“When did you leave it?”
“Yesterday afternoon.”
Marcus watched her expression change.
She pulled on fresh gloves.
The computer was asleep but still powered.
She woke the screen.
A login prompt appeared.
“Don’t touch anything else.”
Renner had joined them again.
“We need IT to image the machine.”
Tessa nodded.
“That’s what I’m doing.”
Natalie stood with her arms folded so tightly that her fingers had gone pale against the sleeves of her blazer.
Marcus noticed a smear of dust near the bottom of the door frame.
Not much.
Just enough to show a recent shoe contact.
He pointed.
“Tessa.”
She followed his finger.
A faint black mark crossed the painted metal.
She photographed it.
Garrison leaned sideways.
“Could be anyone.”
“Yes.”
Marcus crouched without crossing the threshold.
There was another mark inside, near the desk.
Then another beneath the chair.
Narrow tread.
Smooth edges.
Not work boots.
Natalie looked down at her own heels.
“Dress shoes.”
Marcus nodded.
Renner gave an immediate sigh.
“Half the executives in this building wear dress shoes.”
“So do salespeople.”
Tessa added.
“And vendors.”
Garrison leaned against the tool rack.
“Still better than a baseball cap.”
Marcus looked at him.
“Barely.”
Tessa’s phone rang.
She answered, listened, then glanced at Natalie.
“IT says someone used Derek’s facilities account from this workstation at 12:22.”
Derek spoke from the aisle.
“I was in hangar two.”
“They know.”
Tessa continued listening.
“What did they access?”
Another pause.
“Camera controls and alert suppression.”
Renner’s face hardened.
“That requires admin rights.”
Tessa nodded.
“Apparently Derek’s account had elevated rights because of a temporary software deployment last month.”
Derek’s mouth fell open.
“That was supposed to be removed.”
Marcus looked at him.
“Who knew the rights were still active?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who gave them to you?”
“IT.”
“Specific person?”
“Marisol Chen.”
Tessa relayed the name into the phone.
She listened again.
Then frowned.
“Marisol says she removed them on the twenty-second.”
Derek stared at her.
“Then how—”
Tessa raised one finger.
She listened another twenty seconds.
“Someone restored the permissions yesterday at 5:38 p.m.”
Natalie stepped forward.
“Who?”
Tessa’s eyes lifted.
“Graham Voss’s executive administrator account.”
Nobody moved.
Renner closed his eyes.
“That is not his personal login.”
“What does that mean?” Marcus asked.
“It’s an account associated with his office.”
“Who can use it?”
“Graham.”
Renner hesitated.
“And his executive assistant.”
Natalie’s gaze snapped toward him.
“Claire?”
“Yes.”
Marcus watched something pass across Natalie’s face.
It was not suspicion.
It was recognition.
“Where is she?”
Renner looked at his phone.
“She’s supposed to be with Graham in Chicago.”
Tessa immediately said, “Verify that.”
Renner called.
No one answered.
He called again.
Still nothing.
Natalie stared at the facilities office as if the little room had become a trapdoor in her own company.
“Claire booked his trip.”
Renner lowered his phone.
“Yes.”
“She told me his plane landed last night.”
Marcus looked at her.
“You saw that yourself?”
“No.”
“Did Graham tell you he was in Chicago?”
Natalie thought.
“He texted me after the investor dinner started.”
“That doesn’t prove location.”
Renner bristled.
“Neither does anything else we have prove sabotage by him.”
Marcus nodded.
“You’re right.”
Renner seemed almost startled by the agreement.
Marcus continued.
“But someone used an account tied to his office to restore privileges on Derek’s login.”
Tessa added, “And someone used those privileges to blind a camera corridor one minute before the disguised person appeared.”
Garrison rubbed his face.
“That’s not practice anymore.”
“No.”
Marcus stood.
“That’s preparation.”
Natalie looked at Tessa.
“Can you trace where the executive administrator login came from?”
“IT is checking.”
“How long?”
Tessa ignored the impatience in her voice.
“As long as it takes to do it without corrupting anything.”
Natalie looked away.
The morning had brightened outside the hangar doors.
Aircraft began moving on the distant taxiway.
A regional jet lifted beyond the glass and climbed toward the east.
Marcus watched it for a second longer than necessary.
He used to notice departures by tail number.
Now he noticed them mostly because Lily liked to guess where they were going.
Florida, usually.
She believed nearly every airplane secretly wanted to go to Florida.
His phone buzzed.
Another message from Patricia.
Field trip form apparently needs to be today.
Sorry.
Marcus stared at it.
He had signed forms on truck hoods, diner counters, and once against the side of a washing machine.
Today might beat all three.
He typed back.
Send me a picture.
I’ll print it here if they let me.
Natalie noticed again.
“This is a bad time?”
“No.”
“Family?”
He looked at her for a moment.
“My daughter.”
“How old?”
“Nine.”
Natalie nodded.
Something about that answer seemed to unsettle her.
She looked away first.
“My son is twenty-two.”
Marcus had not expected that.
“You don’t look surprised enough.”
“I was trying to be polite.”
A tiny sound escaped Garrison.
Natalie looked at him.
He studied the ceiling.
She almost smiled.
Almost.
Then Tessa’s phone rang again.
The moment vanished.
She answered and walked several steps away.
Her posture changed while she listened.
May you like
“What?”
Natalie asked as soon as the call ended.
