dates?
“Oh, by the way – “
The chief. Standing right in front of the reception desk – I'd been so absorbed in scanning the printout that I hadn't heard him come back in. I nearly fell out of my chair, and if I were the chief, I'd have been highly suspicious of the way I was acting, and would have demanded to see the paper I was so quick to hide with such a guilty look. Fortunately the chief's mind wasn't on the case. He was holding an Affirmation Bear.
“Damned thing turned up down at the station,“ he said, slapping it down in the desk.
“I gladly accept new challenges and new situations,“ the bear chirped.
The chief scowled and walked out again.
“What's that?“ I looked up to see Frankie standing near the entrance.
“Here,“ I said, tossing him the bear. “Whack it in the belly.“
“I am not afraid to show my feelings,“ the bear announced when Frankie whacked him.
“Cool – I've got to show this to Rico.“
“Be my guest,“ I said to his departing back. I turned back to the spreadsheet.
Damn, die chief was right. There was a column that probably contained dates. I hadn't realized it because I usually separate the month, year, and day with slashes or hyphens, rather than periods, but once he suggested the idea of dates, I realized that's what they had to be. And they were all this year – within the last three months, in fact.
Of course, I wasn't sure what good this new insight did, since I still had no idea what he was tracking – the first time he approached his victims? The last time the victims had paid? Their most recent turn to bring doughnuts for staff meeting? No way of telling.
Let's tackle something else, I thought. Ted's house, for example. I made a few phone calls to the Caerphilly Courthouse and found out where I could go to find out who owned the house.
“Meg?“
I looked up to see Frankie.
“Okay if we keep this for now?“ he asked, brandishing the bear.
“As long as you like,“ I said. “It belongs to Dr. Brown, but I don't think she'd mind. There's a whole box of them in the closet.“
“Really?“ Frankie said. “What are they doing there?“
“Getting in my way,“ I said. “Why don't you stash them someplace else until Dr. Brown needs them?“
Frankie left, dragging the giant box of bears.
For the next hour or so, I heard a great deal of squeaking from the rest of the office. Squeaking and laughter. Then Cubeville grew suspiciously silent.
I thought of going back to see what was going on, but I was lying in wait for Luis. I didn't see him until lunchtime. He nodded as he passed through the reception area, but I was stuck on a call until after he'd disappeared.
Damn. I mentally cursed the temp agency. Then with a sudden inspiration, I punched in the code that would let me change the answering message and recorded a new version – instead of “Our offices are closed now“ it said “Our switchboard is closed now“ and reminded people that they could reach whoever they were calling if they knew their party's extension. Then I put the phone in night mode, grabbed my purse, and raced for the stairs.
Luis was strolling at the languid pace most people adopted if they had to go out in the near hundred-degree heat. By walking briskly, I caught up with him when he was only half a block away.
“Fetching lunch?“ I asked.
“Want something?“
“I'll stroll along with you, if you don't mind,“ I said.
Luis nodded, and I fell into step beside him. I'd been planning to bring up the subject of the Robin Hood Hacker in casual conversation, but I was having a hard time figuring out how to start a conversation that I could drag in the right direction. And Luis wasn't one for casual conversation, anyway. We had already ambled on half a block, and I got the feeling he was perfectly capable of walking all the way to whatever carryout he planned to visit and then back again without saying another word.
Forget subtlety, I told myself. “Luis,“ I said.
Luis frowned and glanced at me, but said nothing.
“What he was trying to do to you, I mean,“ I added.
“I don't think he deliberately mangled the code so I'd have to clean it up, if that's what you mean.“
For Luis, that was a long speech.
“Dammit, Luis. I know you were the Robin Hood Hacker,“ I said, Luis seemed to shrink a bit, and he hunched his shoulders as if expecting a blow.
“And Ted knew,“ I continued. “And he was trying to blackmail you with it. I don't know why – all the charges were dropped and almost everyone thinks you were a hero. I mean that's where the Robin Hood nickname came from, right? But I knew you were paying him blackmail, and I want to know why.“
“I don't want to lose my job,“ he said.
“No reason why you should,“ I said. “I mean, it's not as if you were convicted of a crime.“
“Yeah, but the bank – the one I hacked? They'll never let it go.“
“What could they possibly do to hurt you?“
“They've gotten me fired from two jobs already.“
“Rob wouldn't fire you for that.“
“He might not want to, but what if the bank figures out a way to put pressure on him? What if suddenly his line of credit gets canceled? Or one of our competitors' systems gets hacked and word leaks out that I work here. Stuff like that happened, my last two jobs.“
“So that's why you changed your name?“
“Yeah,“ he said. “Changed it back, actually. That's the funny part. Mike Crews was me trying to be somebody I wasn't, when I went away to college. Luis is my middle name. Miguel Luis Cruz.“
“Does anyone else know?“
“Jack,“ Luis said. “He hired me for my first job when I got out of college. One of the two I lost. He was the one who recommended me to Rob. And suggested going back to my real name.“
“What did he say about Ted trying to blackmail you?“
“I didn't tell him about that,“ Luis said. “I was afraid of what would happen.“
“Afraid of something like what did happen?“
“No,“ Luis said. “If you mean you think Jack killed Ted, no, that's not what happened. I just figured he'd come down hard on Ted, and Ted would find some way to get even.“
“Like what? What could he possibly do to get even with Jack?“
“I don't know,“ Luis said. “If there was anything you wanted to hide, Ted would find out about it. He had this thing about knowing everything, all the dirt, even if he didn't do anything with it.“
“And you think Jack has something to hide?“
“Everyone has something to hide,“ Luis said with a shrug.
We walked along for a little while in silence. On the one hand, I was feeling a little triumphant. My suspicions had been correct – Ted was blackmailing people. One person, anyway, and it stood to reason that if it worked on one person, he'd try it again. I was making progress in unraveling the secrets behind Ted's strange little cache.
But I wasn't altogether sure I liked what I'd found. I couldn't imagine quiet, self-effacing Luis as a murderer, but I had a hard time imagining him as a daring hacker, either, and he certainly had been that. And he had a motive for the murder. For that matter, I couldn't see calm, sardonic Jack as a murderer, but he had motive, too. He was Luis's friend and mentor – if someone threatened Luis, I could see Jack intervening.
“What are you going to do?“ Luis asked.
“I don't know yet,“ I said. “Depends on what else I find out.“
He nodded. I thought some more and decided, what the hell. I needed someone computer savvy to help me. Why not Luis? Now that I knew his secret, I had some influence over him.
“You could help,“ I said.
“How?“
