Pulling Strings, page 13
“I’m going to trace that back and find out how all that came to light. That could be a clue in itself. It happened very fast from the time of the incident to you being called into her office. I don’t like that. Organizations never move that quickly unless someone is greasing the wheels.” Powers made some notes. “Lucy, can you check to see if any of Devon’s coworkers intersect with him? Maybe one of their parents hated his parents. Look into their backgrounds and see if they have crossed paths. There has to be something.”
“You got it,” Lucy agreed, and slid off the stool. “I’m going to get started right away. I’ll message both of you if I find anything.” She bugged out like the apartment was on fire, which left Devon alone with Powers and the soup of tension that hung in the air.
Devon got off the stool, closed his laptop, and started wiping down the already clean counter for something to do. “Is there anything else?”
“Devon… I…,” Powers began. “You have to understand how things looked.”
Devon sighed and didn’t turn around. “I do know how things appeared, but you didn’t ask or bother to look into it. You just assumed that I had double-crossed you, which I hadn’t.” He slammed the cloth into the sink. “I thought you might have cared for me, but I know now that I was wrong. People who care for each other don’t act like that.” He turned around. “Please just go. You don’t need to carry on with this little charade any longer.”
Part of him wanted to look at Powers, hoping to see remorse and even regret, but he didn’t dare. If he turned around, he’d surely cave, just like he always had in the past. He’d accepted apology after apology when his boyfriends treated him like a side piece of ass, and he wasn’t going to do that any longer. Devon had been a doormat in the past, and that needed to stop.
“I never played with you,” Powers said gently, and Devon stiffened against whatever gesture Powers intended to use.
“No. You just didn’t trust me.” Devon closed his eyes, trying to hold firm.
“I do trust you. I was hurt, okay? I trusted you and told you everything I’d found, and then I saw that, and….” Powers sighed. “I thought I’d been played for a fool. I shouldn’t have. I should have asked you about it instead of accusing you of doing anything to hurt the company or me.” Powers came nearer—Devon could feel him, and he didn’t want to. Hold strong and don’t get pulled in. “How do we move forward?” Powers asked.
Devon stilled completely. No one had asked him something like that before. They always assumed that what they wanted was what he wanted. Powers asked. That threw him just a little. “I don’t know.” A lump formed in his throat, getting bigger by the second. “I want you to trust me, and I want to be able to trust you. It has to go both ways.”
Powers placed his hand on Devon’s shoulder. He didn’t move it—there was no intimate caress, no action to try to break down his resolve, just a light touch to let Devon know he was there. “You’re right. It does.”
Neither of them moved, and Devon wanted to try to find something to make everything better. “Maybe what we need is some time.” It was all he could think of. Maybe the answers would work themselves out. That was the best he could hope for right now.
“Whatever you think,” Powers whispered, his hand growing hotter and not slipping away.
Devon slowly turned around, giving in to temptation. He really wanted to think that Powers had been different, was different. It was so easy to fall into the same traps as before. “I don’t know what to think, not really. Someone is trying to pin this whole thing on me, and they’re doing a damned good job of it so far.” He tried not to let panic well up inside him. Yeah, Powers had said that his job wasn’t in danger, but Devon wasn’t so innocent as to think that people wouldn’t believe what they wanted to believe. “I doubt and wonder about everyone I work with all the damned time now, and I hate it. Judy called me into her office, and I wanted to tell her everything, but I couldn’t. My own boss… and I wondered if she was behind it. She does need money and all, and Lucy found the large deposit, and….” He was rambling a little, and he rolled his shoulders, pulling into himself.
“I see,” Powers said as he tugged back his hand. “Maybe what I should do is just let you go back to doing your job, and I can do mine. Whoever is behind this pulled you into this mess, and I got you in deeper.”
Devon didn’t want Powers to go, not like that. Things were so unsettled. Shit, he had no idea what he really wanted. Devon had the chance at his neat, quiet life back—all he had to do was let Powers walk out that door. It was that simple, and maybe it was what he wanted him to do. Except the thought of going back to working and existing in this tiny apartment was about as exciting as watching paint dry. Powers had barreled into his life, bringing excitement and puzzles to solve. And he listened to Devon and….
Why were decisions always so damned hard?
“You didn’t do anything.” Devon’s vision of himself finally shifted. “I let myself get pulled in deeper. I liked it.” He stopped slumping forward like some aching old man.
“I….” Powers seemed so tentative.
“We were in this together, at least I thought we were. Maybe that’s what hurt so much. Sure, I thought you trusted me, but I also thought you listened to me, that I brought something to the table… that I helped.”
“You did, and you do.” Powers smiled. “Damn, you came through with all that system expertise, and I think we proved some things. They don’t have all the information they need and are getting desperate to get it. Today wasn’t a trial run.”
“No. It was pretty blatant, and they tried to get rid of me at the same time.” Devon’s hand shook. “I know it could be a coincidence… but I don’t think so.” He paled as an idea niggled at the back of his mind. “We need to find out everyone who was logged in to that system at the time that program was run. Yeah, they might have tried to fake out the system logs, but it’s harder to mess with the logins.”
Powers pulled out his phone and made a call. He didn’t talk to Lucy for very long, “The information was just sent to us. Lucy is forwarding it to you.”
Devon pulled over his computer, logged in, and checked the email, bringing up the report. Then he brought up the company user ID file and cross-referenced all of it to a spreadsheet. Just that quickly, he had the list of names, and one stood out like it was emblazoned in neon: Mark Calvinson. He blinked more than once as he showed the file to Powers.
“I think he and I need to have a talk. Do you have an address?”
Devon shook his head. “No, I don’t. But do you think this could be too easy?”
“Maybe. I don’t know, but we have to see this through. Either way, we get some answers and move forward.” He made another call as he headed for the door. “Lucy, I need an address for Mark Calvinson.”
Devon stood rooted on the spot, and once Powers was gone, he stared at the back of the door. This felt like the moment of truth to him. Without thinking twice, he grabbed a jacket from the tiny closet and raced out the door, locking it behind him. He ran to the stairs and down to the lobby, catching Powers as he hung up the phone and was just getting into a dark car. Devon pulled open the passenger door, got in, and yanked it closed as Powers turned to him. “I’m going,” Devon said, cutting off any protest Powers might make.
“I didn’t say a thing. Fasten that seat belt and hang on. We’re going to get there as quickly as we can.” Powers pulled into a small break in traffic and turned quickly, speeding through the city.
“Where does he live?” Devon held the arm of the door with one hand and the console with the other.
“Mount Airy,” Powers explained as he made a quick turn around some congestion and continued forward. The man was either one of the best drivers Devon had ever seen or a complete menace behind the wheel. He wasn’t quite sure, but as he bumped from side to side, he was beginning to think the latter was probably a better placement category.
“It isn’t going to help if we get there in pieces.”
Powers slowed down some and eventually pulled to a stop in front of a row of nicely kept older homes. “Number 387.”
“That one.” Devon pointed, about to open the door.
“Stay here.” Powers unfastened his seat belt. “If he is behind this, then he could be dangerous.”
“Mark?” Devon undid the belt and got out of the car. He wasn’t going to be told to stay away. He was doing this, and Powers wasn’t going in alone. If there was danger, they’d face it together.
“You need to stay in the car.”
Devon glared at him, closing the car door. “Together,” he said forcefully, and Powers sighed.
“Fine. But please stay behind me.”
Devon figured Powers was overreacting, but he agreed and followed Powers up the walk to the house. He rang the bell and waited anxiously, tension filling him by the second. Finally, the door opened, with Mark standing in the square of light from inside, holding a sandwich.
“Can I…. Devon?” He paled as his gaze narrowed on Powers. “Shit.” He tried to close the door, but Powers was too fast for him.
“I think we all need to talk,” Powers said forcefully, pushing the door open. “You can talk to us, or you can speak with Mr. Mauer and the police in the morning.” He folded his arms over his chest. “It’s your choice.”
Mark’s gaze softened, and his shoulders slumped. “You might as well come inside.” He stepped back, and Devon followed Powers into the house, which looked like something out of Architectural Digest. The walls were newly painted, the furniture calm, stylish, and damned pricy. It seemed Mark had expensive tastes, and Devon instantly wondered how he could afford all of this.
Mark sat on the side of the sofa, leaning back. “Can we get this over with? I have some friends coming over in a few hours.” He looked at the back of his hand with disinterest.
“Give it a rest, Mark. I know what you did and that you were logged in to the development system. We also know that you shouldn’t have the access you used to run that program,” Devon pressed. “And I know you tried to pin it on me.” He leaned over Mark, who did his best to try to disappear in the cushions. “So give it up and tell Powers here what he wants to know.”
Mark swallowed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Please….” Devon wanted to smack him. “Your guilt is written all over your face. Just tell us what we want to know. It’s clear enough that whoever is behind this is just using you to do his dirty work.” There was no way Mark was behind all of this. “Out with it!” Devon snapped, and Mark jumped, paling as he realized Devon had him.
“I was supposed to install the program and run it when I was told. That’s all I know. I was paid to do that. I needed the money, and they were willing to pay cash.”
Devon glanced over his shoulder to Powers and then stepped back. He’d gotten him to talk, but he wasn’t sure what to ask next.
Thankfully Powers gently guided him back. “Go on and sit down, Perry Mason. I’ll take it from here.” He flashed Devon a smile and turned back to Mark. “What in the hell were you thinking?” Powers demanded. “You’re going to take the fall for whoever is behind this. You know that? Are you even aware of what you could have done?”
Mark swallowed hard and shook his head. “I was paid and then told what to do.”
“How? Who gave you instructions?” Powers asked. “You have to know who’s behind this, and we want the name. I don’t care what you’ve done, but you need to give me the name.”
“I don’t know. I have an email address and that’s all.” Mark looked on the verge of tears.
Powers drew even closer to him, invading his personal space. “You expect me to believe that you were willing to betray your employer and allow the most important system they’ve ever developed to be stolen based on an email?”
Mark put up his hands. “Whoa, I didn’t have anything to do with that. The program I installed and ran was supposed to highlight security holes so we could fix them. I was supposed to be paid as a consultant of sorts.” He slid to the side, probably to get away from Powers, and then he hurried over to his laptop. He came back, setting it on the table. “See, here are the emails. I told you it was just a security verification program.”
Powers leaned over, and Devon looked over his shoulder. “That program was no security program. It was designed to steal the new banking system. That’s what it does.”
Mark paled.
Powers read through the emails. “They paid you five hundred dollars? That’s all?” Powers shook his head.
“What were you thinking?” Devon asked. “No one reputable does business this way.” He went back through the early emails and tried not to roll his eyes. This was so blatantly stupid and was definitely crafted to suck Mark in and make him think he was helping and doing the company a favor. “Hold it,” Devon said as Powers scrolled through a message. Whoever was behind this certainly knew Mark. At one point they said that the firm would thank Mark and probably show its appreciation. “God, Mark….” It was so blatant.
“I really thought I was going to be doing some good.”
Powers paused, pointing to a clause where Mark was instructed to run the program with a parameter to indicate that someone else had run it. The note said that was to test the logs and to see if security was truly capable of detecting and following up on a potential security breach. “It’s all right there. And you didn’t question it. You took the program and….”
Devon couldn’t take it anymore as anger welled quickly. “How were you supposed to get the program?” This was sounding more and more like a gigantic sack of shit to him. “Let me guess, someone was supposed to deliver it to you.”
“Yeah. I kept waiting for it, but it didn’t come, and then I got what I needed, along with the instructions of exactly what I was supposed to do as part of the test.”
Devon shook his head. “And none of this made you suspicious? That’s a lot of sneaking around for a test.”
Powers fixed him with a hard stare and then turned back to Mark.
Devon grew quiet, but seethed under the surface. He wanted to shake Mark so hard that it made his teeth rattle.
“Mark… I have to agree with Devon. This whole story seems hugely suspicious to me. How could you not think this was highly unusual?”
“The first email I got was from a security company. I looked them up, and they said that I would be working for the firm.” Mark grew paler by the second, and his eyes watered. “I thought I was going to be helping and they’d be happy that I was working with Branson Security to help shore up the firm against hackers and stuff.” He wiped his face. “I’ve been there longer than anyone else on the team, and no one seems to ever notice me. Golden Boy here gets all the really important assignments, and I thought that for once they had chosen me to do something important. I responded to all the emails and did what they asked.” Mark reached for the computer, his hand shaking a little as he opened a file. “These are the instructions, and this is what they said to do.”
Devon once again read over Powers’s shoulder. “Look at the sender email address. Whoever did this set up a fake account that looks incredibly real.” Even he had to admit that this seemed rather official-looking. He got fake emails and spam all the time, like everyone else did, but this didn’t feel like that at all. It felt real to him, even though he knew it couldn’t be.
“Okay,” Powers said as he stepped back slightly. “I know you’ve seen me around the office, and I am working with the firm to prevent the theft of some sensitive information. The program you ran was part of that theft.”
Mark paled further. “Was anything actually stolen?” he asked, leaning forward, holding his head. “What am I going to do? I never meant to steal anything or help anyone do anything like that.” He rocked slightly back and forth.
“No. You just used my user ID to make the program you ran look like I had done it.” Devon glared at him. “Then you played dumb when I got called into Judy’s office because of what you did. They….” Devon turned to Powers. “Whoever is behind this has been playing us all for fools.” He wrung his hands nervously. “I’m so tired of it.”
Powers pulled out his phone.
Devon turned away and began pacing the exquisitely furnished room. “How can you afford all of this?” he asked as Powers stood and walked to the far side of the room. “This must have all cost a fortune.”
“My family has money, and my mom hired a decorator as a gift when I bought the house. She went overboard a little, but I like it.” Mark puffed out his chest.
“So you did all this for five hundred dollars?” Devon asked. “Did you ever actually get paid?” he pressed, but Mark didn’t answer. Devon nodded slowly in understanding. “You got stiffed.”
Mark sighed. “I was made a fool of.” He turned away. “I thought I was doing something to help the firm, and now this is going to get me fired. My parents just told me that I have to live on my own and that they aren’t going to help me anymore.” He shook harder.
“There was no real harm done,” Devon said to comfort him, even though he knew he should be mad as hell at Mark for what he did. “The program failed. So the end result is that no harm was done to the firm.” At least that was good. “I can’t say the same thing about our friendship. You decided to make me the scapegoat for your little antics.” He joined Powers as he hung up.
“Lucy is on her way over. She’s going to check out the computer and see what she can find from it.”
“Who’s Lucy?” Mark asked.
“Powers’s twin sister, and believe me, you don’t want to mess with her. She’ll kick your ass for fun.” Devon glared at him and then looked back at Powers. “Let him sweat for a while,” he added in a whisper. “This whole thing is ridiculous.” He was getting tired of running in circles.
Chapter 8
