Page 95 of Unbossly Manners

We called our IT security company that monitored all our computer devices and accounts. They could find out which employees signed in to different email accounts, laptops, iPads, and other devices. Every employee had a unique ID and the information was stored with the security company.

Brody had been smart at first. He’d used iPads or laptops that were left behind in the office where the employee hadn’t logged out. That’s what we suspected, at least.

When Mikki, the IT tech, cross-checked the devices used and their owners, she found that the devices and accounts were used when the employees had left the office for the day or were at a conference or some other event without their device.

The wheels came off when Mikki relayed that in the past month all activity had come from only one employee’s device. Isaac’s.

All eyes turned to him.

“Fuck.” He slammed his fists on the table.

“Were you in on this too?” Derrick asked, his tone suggesting he didn’t believe what he was saying.

“No, man.” His nostrils flared. “My only crime is being fucking gullible.”

Isaac started to pace, his hands stuffed in his trouser pockets. “I should’ve realized. Brody was so eager to know about the company, how it was run, all the employees, and what they did. I got lazy with my devices when I was home, leaving them unlocked and letting him use them.”

“At home?” Analise asked.

Isaac pressed his fists and forehead against the glass wall, then turned and leaned his back against it, seething.

“We’ve been sleeping together.”

Analise gasped, sweeping her eyes between us. I tried to look shocked too, not wanting her to realize I’d known this beforehand.

“I had no idea what he was up to, I swear,” he said.

Derrick came up beside him but kept a foot distance.

“It’s not your fault. He played you. He played us all.”

The large speakerphone buzzed to life with Mikki’s voice. “Hey, guys? I pulled up Brody’s profile and did a preemptive background search.”

We all turned to the box where the disembodied voice was speaking to us.

“His real name is Cameron Brody Smythe. He’s a junior executive at FireVision Media.”

“Holy shit,” Analise said.

“Fuck.” That was Isaac.

“They must have planted him here.” Jackson glanced my way and held my eyes. I blinked rapidly and looked away, his gaze too much for me.

“Can you email us all the information you found on him?” Derrick said. Mikki agreed and the call ended.

“Peyton, thanks for all the work,” Derrick said. “You may have saved our ass just in time.”

“It was Jackson, too,” I said as I gathered my things.

It was clear they had a lot to figure out and I wasn’t part of the executive team. I didn’t need to be there while they sorted through what they could do legally, so I dismissed myself from the room.

“If you need me, I’ll be at the desk,” I said.

“You’re still part of this,” Derrick said. “You were drugged by this asshole. You deserve to know what’s happening.”

I smiled, happy that I was part of the inner circle.

For the next few hours, I went in and out of the Thinktank, bringing coffees, sodas, food, and eventually beer and wine. But it wasn’t enough for me. I’d mapped out the clues that led to Brody. Why was I not being involved in the solution?

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