Best Laid Plans(13)
“Patrick used to be the e-crimes expert at San Diego PD. He and I founded RCK East a couple years ago, and he’s now running the office. He was good before he became my partner, now he’s better. I taught him most of my tricks.”
Devlin laughed. “From you, high praise.”
“I’ll let Patrick know you’ll call.” He sent an email to Patrick with Dev’s information.
“Is there something wrong? All you have to do is ask.”
“I appreciate that, but it’s personal.” He cleared his throat and continued. “Patrick will call me if he needs to. I just forwarded you his contact information. You’re in good hands.”
“I wish they were your hands, but I understand. Take care of yourself, Sean.”
“You too, Dev.”
Sean hung up. He wished his decision didn’t feel so wrong.
He needed to find something to do locally. Money wasn’t the issue—he had a flush savings. If he took a couple big jobs a year he’d be fine. But he needed to challenge himself. Lucy had told him that he’d be bored if he didn’t have a puzzle to work out, and he’d told her he had plenty of things to keep him occupied. But she was right. He was bored. When he’d been a kid, boredom had gotten him into all sorts of trouble. He liked to think that now that he was thirty, he wouldn’t fall into the same bad habits. But he didn’t lie to himself: boredom had gotten him suspended from many schools, expelled from Stanford after he hacked into a professor’s email, and nearly cost him his freedom when he hacked into a bank while at M.I.T. The challenge of solving complex puzzles coupled with the thrill of straddling—and occasionally going over—the legal edge still excited him.
When he first moved to Texas, he’d put some feelers out to local companies, not only in San Antonio and Austin but all the way in Dallas and Houston. He’d had a couple of temp jobs, but most of the businesses wanted to hire him to run their day-to-day security. He didn’t want to work nine-to-five, be responsible for staff, have an in-house office, or wear a suit. It would be fun for a week or two, but once he got the operation up and running, he’d be bored again.
Maybe he needed a new approach. It was an election year, and he was well trained in event security. With his high-security clearance and contacts at the Secret Service as well as the FBI, maybe he could get on with a candidate or venue to run security for debates or speeches or rallies. He really didn’t like politics and had never met a politician he trusted with a dime of his money, let alone the national treasury, but such an assignment wouldn’t bore him because it would be different each time.
And more important, he would be at home with Lucy every night.
CHAPTER FIVE
The head of HWI’s security was a tall, broad-shouldered man by the name of Gregor Smith. Barry had called ahead, and Smith was waiting for them when they arrived. Gregor was fifty, looked and talked like a cop, and was the first private security chief Lucy had ever met who carried a gun on his hip.
Why did an accountancy firm need an armed security chief?
“Let’s go to my office,” he said. He bypassed the security checkpoint, which included a metal detector.
Smith’s office was on the second floor of the six-story building just inside the outer freeway loop. Though spacious, the offices were functional and efficient, neither cheap nor opulent. The atmosphere subtly said, You can trust us with your money.
“Thank you for seeing us on short notice,” Barry said.
“Harper Worthington was one of the best men I’ve ever known. I’ve been here for ten years, been the head of security for the last six. Anything you need, it’s yours. I already spoke to Harper’s administrative assistant. She’s on her way in to help pull any information or files that you need. But first—I need to ask—is this a homicide investigation?”
“Mr. Worthington died under suspicious circumstances, but there’s nothing to suggest homicide,” Barry said. “We’re awaiting the autopsy report, but even though we’ve expedited this case, lab work could take a few days.”
“What happened? Harper was supposed to be in Dallas last night.”
Barry didn’t answer the question. “The FBI is particularly concerned about any potential security breaches. Mr. Worthington didn’t have his cell phone on him when he died, and though his office key card was still in his wallet, we don’t know if and when he last used it. Since HWI has several sensitive federal contracts, we need to ensure that no information has been leaked.”
“I’ve already started an internal audit, cancelled Harper’s key card, and frozen his access. The last time Harper used his key card in this building was when leaving the parking garage Wednesday afternoon. We require the key card to both enter and exit the garage. We have scanners at all entrances that read the key cards whenever employees walk in and out of the building or into restricted areas.”
“Is your work that sensitive?” Barry asked.
Smith nodded. “We have banking information for all of our clients, confidential tax returns, court documents, audit material. While most of the business runs on computers these days—and we have state-of-the-art computer security—we also have hard copies of all our reports archived in a temperature-controlled, fireproof vault. In addition to potential financial fraud, corporate espionage and insider trading are always a threat. Consider if a business had information about a pending court decision or an audit—they could use that information for illegal personal or professional gain.”