Page 103 of The Black Trilogy

“Can you give me an update?”

“We’ve been through the employee files, but there’s little in there in the way of disputes,” a woman told me.

What was she called? She’d joined just before I left. Helena? Melanie? Usually, I remembered names, but I couldn’t think straight.

“That doesn’t surprise me. Luke isn’t the type to go around upsetting his employees. So there’s nothing?”

“We found one complaint that looked kind of juicy. Luke sacked a programmer for lying that a project had passed beta testing when it hadn’t, and the guy wasn’t happy about it.”

“I take it you followed up?”

“Oh, yes, straight away. He was surprisingly cooperative. Said he’d been going through a nasty divorce and things just got on top of him.”

“Did he seem the type to bear a grudge?”

“He admitted he hadn’t been happy at the time, but he didn’t blame Luke anymore. Even said he’d have done the same. He reckons he’s got a new perspective on life now he’s moved to Sydney with his boyfriend.”

“As in Sydney, Australia?”

Helena/Melanie nodded.

“Did you corroborate?”

“We sent an operative from the Sydney office to check on the happy couple. They offered him a beer and invited him back for a barbecue.”

A complete bust, then.

Mack called back at five past eight, just as I was rooting through my desk drawers for a stray chocolate bar. No luck.

“I’ve got good news and bad news.”

“Hit me with it.”

“I’ve got into Luke’s bank accounts, and his mother’s. And through the firewall on his home computer and his work servers.”

“And what’s the bad news?”

“I haven’t found anything concrete. But from the log files on the server, I’d say someone else has been trying to do the same as me; they just haven’t been so successful.”

“Any idea who?”

“No, but I’ll keep trying to find out.”

“Thanks. We could use a break. Was that the only thing of interest?”

“Oh, there’s plenty that’s interesting. Do you know how much money Luke gives to his mother each month? It’s thousands, Ems. And she spends it all on hairdressers and clothes and golf and manicures.”

“I’ve met the woman, and that comes as no surprise. But I meant anything of interest to the case?”

“No. I don’t think so.”

Mack hesitated a little too long before answering for my liking. What was she holding back? I was tempted to push, but my name already graced her blacklist. No, I trusted she’d tell me if it was important.

“All right, we’ll speak later.”

At least she hadn’t frozen me out today. This was progress.

At nine in the evening, I headed home. I needed to recharge, and although I had a fold-out bed in my office, after last night, I didn’t want to risk sleeping in it. Bad enough to have Nick catch me sleepwalking without my entire staff finding out about my nocturnal adventures.

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