Synergy: New Adult Romantic Suspense (U-District, #1) (35 page)

Jade tapped her foot. Whoever cancelled the purchase order had to be the culprit. It was too much of a coincidence that her laptop had been stolen and that someone inside the company had cancelled the order for another one. Someone didn’t want her to get a laptop to a consultant to analyze the financials. She already knew why.

A sudden chill brought goose bumps to her arms and legs, and it had nothing to do with the freezing temperatures here in Antarctica. Could Professor Murti’s accident be related to all of this?

Zach stopped typing and looked up at her. “Apparently, the SYSTEM account cancelled the order. That means it tracked the user who cancelled the order on the purchase order side, which the culprit removed, and then the SYSTEM account created the corresponding receiving and accounts payable transactions that the culprit didn’t remove, which show a missing purchase order associated with them. I’ll keep digging.”

“Okay, but in the meantime, who has the ability to delete a transaction on the backend?”

“That’s easy.” Zach looked at the security properties on the database and the file system. “It looks like you, me, Stan—but his account was disabled when he was fired—Donald, Bryce, and Timothy.”

“Is it normal for this many people to have administrative access to the system?”

“No, normally it’s two administrators. You know, one for backup.”

“Didn’t our financial auditing firm catch this?”

“Oh yeah, it’s been a finding on their report for the last three years. Trust me, I hear the auditor complain every time she’s here.”

“Why didn’t you remove the access?”

“I did the first time, until Stan sent me an email telling me to set the privileges back the way they were. Since we’re not a publicly held company and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act doesn’t apply, I really didn’t have a valid argument other than what he already knew from the auditor.”

Jade wished Zach had brought the problem to Gran’s attention instead of stopping at Stan. Now wasn’t the time to bring that up. “Okay, so why do six people have access?”

“Stan asked me to set it up like the old system, so I did.”

“Who set it up that way on the old system?”

“I have no idea. That was before my time.”

Jade paced the room. “Keep digging, and notify me immediately if you find anything. This is just between you and me.”

Zach turned his focus away from the screen. “What about Patricia?”

“I’ll talk to Patricia and ask her not to mention this to anyone. She doesn’t need to be involved any further. No one but me, okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll let you know as soon as I find something out.”

Jade walked back to her office and was stopped by Roz. “Detective Hawkins called, and he wants you to call him back.”

“Thanks, Roz. Why does it seem so hot in here?” She fanned her face with the papers in her hand.

“They’ve got maintenance workin’ on the roof. Think something’s wrong with one of the air conditioners. Plus you just came from IT. It’s freezin’ in there.”

“The server room has its own air conditioning for this very reason. The servers would cook in this heat. I’ll be in my office.”

“You okay? You don’t look so good.”

Jade was about to say,
I’m just tired from the trip
. But this was an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. “I got robbed last night.”

Roz’s mouth dropped open. “You’re kidding.”

“I walked right in on it too. The burglar was still in the house when I got home, but I never saw him. I called the police, and whoever it was ran away. All of my jewelry was taken.”

“You musta been terrified.” Roz propped her chin on her two hands with her elbows on her desk as she leaned forward and took in every word Jade said. Lines creased her forehead in apparent concern.

“That’s an understatement. The police think it was someone who needed the jewelry for drug money.”

“It’s so scary nowadays.”

Jade was looking for any indication that Roz might have known about the break-in. She seemed genuinely surprised and concerned, but Jade wasn’t taking any chances. Someone she trusted was behind all this.

“Anyway, I’m going to leave early today. I didn’t get to bed till past one. I’m exhausted, and my parents have air conditioning.”

“You should go home now.”

“I’ve got a few things to take care of first. Can you do me a favor and let people know what’s going on? I really don’t feel like talking about it over and over again.”

“Shuah thing.”

“Thanks, and if it gets too hot, talk to Bryce and have him tell people to go home.” Jade turned to where Roz was looking. Her muscles tensed.

Bryce stood behind her.

WHAT SHOULD SHE SAY TO BRYCE
after she’d been avoiding him?

“You got a sec?” Bryce walked into Jade’s office and gave her no choice but to follow.

She took deep breaths to stay calm and stepped into her office.

Bryce shut the door behind him. “What’s going on, Jade? You leave for New York without telling me and then you don’t return any of my calls?”

“Someone broke into my house last night.”

In three strides, Bryce was by her side and pulling her into his arms. “Are you okay? You should have called me. I would have come over.”

If you weren’t already there.
Jade hated herself for thinking it. She casually pulled away from him. “It was late, and the burglar was still in my condo when I got home. I called Detective Hawkins, and he followed me to my parents’ house because he didn’t want me to stay at the condo overnight.” Jade leaned a hip against her desk.

“For once I agree with the detective.”

She desperately wanted to ask about his silver dollar. “I’m leaving early today. I’m exhausted. Dad wants me to stay at the house for a while.”

“Go ahead and leave. I’ll hold down the fort. Do you want me to come over after I finish work?”

“No.” She said it too quickly. “I’m really tired. I think I could sleep for a week.”

He stepped toward her. “Coming to the game on Saturday?”

“I don’t think so. I’m not really up for socializing right now.”

“I’ll come over after then?”

She flinched when he tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “I think we should lay low right now. Linda talked to you, right? Someone filed a complaint of sexual harassment between you and me.” She was using it as an excuse. “We should talk about that later when we have some privacy.”

He stepped back and shoved his hands in his pockets. “How did the meeting go with Johansson? You took off in a hurry. Anything wrong?”

“Why would you think that?”
Is he trying to find out what I know?
She needed room away from him. She walked to her desk chair and sat down to put a barrier between them.

“Since you left in such a hurry, I assumed there was a problem.”

Right, good reason.
Jade toyed with the ring on her finger.

His eyes zeroed in on her nervous gesture.

“Sorry. I just felt I owed it to the CEO to see him in person to let him know we’d be taking bids from his competitors in the future. Stan had him set up as a sole source provider. It makes sense for cutting costs.”

Bryce’s jaw clenched. “Why didn’t you return my calls while you were away?”

“I, uh…” Her chest grew tight. She was hurting him. He knew something was wrong. “I was on a plane half the day, and then my cell phone went dead. I kept meaning to call.” She wanted to confide in him, to let him wrap his arms around her and tell her everything would be all right, but she couldn’t. Every time she dug deeper, to prove he wasn’t involved, his name came up. Now he was one of the five people who had admin access, who could have cancelled the laptop order and tried to erase the record.

Bryce turned her chair toward him and placed his hands on each arm, boxing her in. “I’m here for you, Jade. You know that, right?”

Her eyes stung. She inhaled a deep breath. “I know. I’m just tired. I’ll call you when I’m up for company.”

He stared at her intently. Could he see the fear in her eyes? Did he know she was afraid of him? “Day or night, you can call me, Jade, and I’ll be there for you.”

She closed her eyes and listened to his footsteps as he left her office.
Please, don’t let it be you, Bryce.

NEAL DROPPED BY SYNERGY
Technologies to give Jade an update and to question Radisson. The last time he’d been in the building was during his investigation into Gloria’s death. He stopped at the desk he’d been directed to, noting a change to where Gloria’s former assistant now sat.

“Can I help ya?” A beautiful young woman with naturally
red
hair smacked her gum and waited for his response.

“I’m Detective Neal Hawkins.” He flashed his badge. “I’m here to see Jade.”

“Oh, yeah, for what?”

Nosy, but I’ll play along
. “It’s about the break-in.”

“You don’t have an appointment. I’ll see if she can meet with you.” She picked up the phone. “Hey boss, a detective is here to see you.”

Neal wrote down the name of Jade’s assistant from her nameplate. He’d check if anyone recognized her picture regarding the laptop theft.

Jade opened her door. Bloodshot eyes and a pale face spoke volumes about her lack of sleep. “Come in, we can sit over here.” She motioned to the seating area. “Do you have any new information?”

Gloria’s office was exactly the same.
Jade must feel temporary in her new position.
Neal sat on the couch opposite Jade. “The prints we found in your condo belong to you, your neighbor, your parents, and one set yet unidentified that we believe are Mr. Radisson’s. The blood was feline. The prints on the silver dollar are consistent with the unidentified prints throughout your apartment.”

“Then how did the silver dollar get in there? Do you believe the cat story you tried to sell me?”

“Not really.” Neal smiled. “It’s likely whoever broke into your house had gloves on.” He didn’t bother to tell her about the knife they found in the neighbor’s bushes with residue from her desk on its blade. The perp might have used it on Jade, had she not scared him off. The way Jade looked right now, he’d didn’t think she could handle that kind of news.

“So no clues as to whom it might have been, other than… Bryce?”

“Not at this time.”

Jade’s attention turned to an emerald ring on her finger. She kept twirling it around. Her eyes glistened with deep sadness. It was clear she was worried that Radisson was the perp.

“We’ve tracked down Johansson Tek, LLC, and Synergy Technologies, LLC.”

The ring stopped twirling, and her attention shifted immediately to him. This she wanted to talk about. “What did you find out?”

“Both companies are owned by Pacific Crest Holding Company, which is incorporated in Delaware. I’m waiting for the Delaware Department of Licensing to send me a copy of the business license so I can find out who the owner is.” The minute Neal saw the name Pacific Crest he recognized it immediately. One of the boats moored at the marina where Arnie Thompson’s car was found was owned by the very same company. Neal had no doubt now that Thompson was murdered. He just needed to connect the dots so he could prove it. “The address goes to a company that forwards mail, which in this case is to P.O. boxes in Seattle. We have the boxes under surveillance.”

“Do companies usually have post office boxes?”

“Not all do.” Neal rested his arms along the top of the couch. “Why, what are you thinking?”

Jade leaned forward. “I could do a search in our database on any company whose Accounts Receivable address has a P.O. box in it. That might help your investigation.”

“That’s a great idea. If you send me the report, I’ll check if they fall under the same holding company.”

“I’ll work on it this weekend.” Jade’s face brightened, smoothing away some of the shadows.

“You have my cell number. Call me when you finish it, day or night.”

“I will. Thank you. I found out some new information yesterday.” Jade explained how the laptops had been cancelled and someone had tried to erase the audit history. “The only people other than me who had admin access were Zachary, Stan, Bryce, Donald, and Timothy. We’ve removed everyone’s access but mine and Zachary’s.”

“That might be a mistake. It might tip them off.” He paused. “I noticed Mr. Radisson was on that list. Funny how his name keeps popping up.”

Jade’s face fell.

Damn, he didn’t mean to do that to her.

“Do you really think Bryce did this?”

Neal hesitated, but it was best to tell her the truth. If Radisson was the man doing this, she needed to stay far away from him. If he wasn’t, Radisson would just have to grow a pair and understand that this was necessary to protect Jade. “I think Mr. Radisson has good motive to do this; he’ll inherit the company if you leave after a year. He might be trying to scare you enough to make you think about leaving, but provide you with enough security that you delay it until he wants you to. He’s put himself in a position to be close to you, to know exactly what is going on with you. Keep an eye on him, Jade.”