Susan Sleeman - Thread of Suspicion

“Interesting,” she whispered as she wondered what her findings meant.

She heard footsteps heading her way, and she looked up to see Luke returning. She didn’t want to stare at him, but how could she not? He wore pressed tactical pants in a dark brown, a light tan T-shirt that molded to his toned physique and his damp hair was even darker and brought out the penetrating blue of his eyes. He was the complete physical package, and she was more attracted to him than she’d first thought. Something that hadn’t happened since Paul’s reign of terror.

Why now, God? Why him?

“Have you found anything?” he asked, oblivious to the battle raging inside her.

She forced her mind back to the job. “Yes, but I don’t know what to make of it yet.”

“Can you explain it in simple terms that I can follow?”

She swiveled the monitor so he could see it, then tapped the screen. “These entries are from your and Natalie’s computers. The entry shows you both used your wireless router to connect to the internet the day before SatCom was hacked. Notice the two IDs.”

He nodded. “Since the IDs are different, does that mean each computer has a different ID?”

“Exactly, and that lets me see who accessed the internet the night in question.” She opened another log. “This is the day SatCom was hacked. You can see one computer logged on to the internet, and the ID is different from the first two I showed you.”

He leaned closer to look at the screen, his fresh minty scent filling the air. “I don’t understand how that can be. We only have the two computers you see here.”

“What about a visitor? Did you or Natalie have a friend over that night?”

“Not at three in the morning.”

“Then the only thing that makes sense is that someone used your wireless network from outside your home. To do that your network would need to be unsecured.”

“Nat takes care of all of that stuff,” he said quickly—maybe too quickly in hopes of covering himself. “At least she did until her computer crashed a few days ago. She had to call in a friend to help her. He found a virus on her computer.” He shook his head. “Another reason I don’t like computers much. I prefer to be able to see my enemies.”

“Did the friend access your network with his computer?”

“I don’t know. Can’t you tell by looking at the logs you’ve been reviewing?”

“I can tell a computer other than your laptop or your sister’s desktop accessed your network, but without seeing the friend’s computer, I can’t tell if it was his.”

“I can call Nat and ask him to bring it over.”

“That would be great.”

As he made the call, Dani tuned him out and pondered the puzzle before her. What motive might the friend have for sabotaging SatCom? For that matter, what motive might Luke’s sister have?

Dani would need to run a background check on both of them and prove a connection to SatCom before considering them strong suspects. At this point, Luke still held top spot on her list.

Assuming his guilt, had he used another laptop to do his dirty work, then hidden or disposed of it? But then why log into SatCom from his home, where it could be traced?

Made no sense. The only other explanation was that the network wasn’t secure on the day SatCom was accessed. That she could check easily enough.

She pulled up the wireless router log and scanned the data. The settings had been altered a few days ago, well after SatCom’s hack. Maybe the friend who fixed Natalie’s computer had changed the settings to block other viruses. If Dani had been called in to fix Natalie’s computer issues, she would’ve secured the network, and she guessed the friend had done the same thing.

Luke’s conversation was coming to a close, but Dani signaled to him not to hang up yet.

“Hold on, sis,” he said, turning his attention to Dani.

“Will you ask Natalie if her friend altered the network security settings?”

Luke asked the question. A few moments later, he said, “She says he didn’t connect to the network with his computer that night, and he said something about making things more secure, but Nat doesn’t know exactly what he did.”

“Thanks,” Dani replied. “As long as he drops by with his computer tonight, that’s all I need for now.”

Luke said goodbye to his sister and stowed his phone.

She waited for him to look at her again. “When did this friend work on Natalie’s computer?”

“I don’t know. Do you need the exact date?”

“If you don’t want to go to jail, I do.”

He cringed and moved back.

“Look,” she said. “I’m sorry for being so blunt, but since I’ve cleared your computers, we can assume no one broke in here to use them. And with the current security settings, the likelihood of access coming from outside your house is minuscule. But I found a change made to the settings, so I suspect the friend helping your sister modified the settings to protect her from another virus. If this happened after the login to SatCom, we can prove the network was accessible before that day.”

He raised his head in thought. “I think it was last Tuesday. No wait...Monday. I remember because the Seahawks were playing, and her friend commented on the game.”

She checked the dates again. “That correlates with the date I found.”

“So this means someone could have accessed our network from outside the house before then, right?”

“Right.”

The tension in his expression loosened. “Is there any way to find the computer that was used?”

“Maybe. The hacker might have used a stolen computer to cover his trail and ditched it afterward. I’ve seen something like this happen when I worked cyber crimes for the FBI.”

“So if it was stolen, might the police have it in evidence?”

“Possibly, but the identifying information we need wouldn’t be in their reports. We’d have to physically look at each computer.” Her mind whirled over steps she could take to locate the computer. “My sister, Kat, is married to a Portland police detective. She should be able to get access to the computers they have in evidence.”

“What are the odds that they’ll have it?”

“Very low, and—” she paused to meet his gaze to ensure he was listening “—even if we do find it, I have no proof that you didn’t use this laptop, then discard it yourself.”

He fisted his hands. “Then what do you need to clear my name?”

Good question. “I’ll have to find the real hacker to fully clear you. But you should know, if it’s not your sister or her friend, finding the hacker will be as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack.”

His shoulders slumped in defeat. He peered at Dani, and the agony in his eyes made her draw in a breath at his vulnerability. She should probably heed the evidence or lack of evidence, but despite nothing pointing to his innocence, she didn’t think he was guilty.

Or was she just hoping that the man who sparked something inside her that she thought long dead was innocent of a terrible crime like treason?

THREE

Luke stared out his office window, the morning sun already high in the sky over SatCom’s parking lot. A silver SUV like Dani’s wound through the lot and pulled into a visitor’s space. He held a hand over his eyes to block the sun and confirm the vehicle belonged to her. She climbed out, but even with the early-morning chill, she didn’t wear a coat. She wrapped long, slender arms around her waist as she hurried toward the building.

Good. He’d hoped she’d arrive early so they could get to work on finding the real traitor. He eagerly made his way toward the small reception area to meet her. She’d taken a seat in a leather club chair and was looking at her phone. Her long legs were crossed and her foot swung in rapid arcs as if she were eager to get to work. She wore jeans again today, dark and pressed with a military precision that he could appreciate. Her shoes were more practical than yesterday’s and her top a vivid red that highlighted her fair coloring.