A Seed for Murder: A Joey Mancuso, Father O'Brian Crime Mystery Book 11 by Owen Parr

Author:Owen Parr [Parr, Owen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Owen Parr Novels
Published: 2023-04-20T16:00:00+00:00

23

That caught everyone around the table by surprise.

“Why? What happened?” I asked, baffled by this announcement.

Marcy replied, “George Richie came to the IT room and called JJ and me to a corner. He informed us that our services had been terminated.”

“But he gave no further explanation?” I asked.

“No, he said Ruth Goldstein would notify you from Bevans and Associates,” Marcy said, “so we packed up and left.”

“What brought that about?” Lucy queried.

I looked at Lucy and Agnes. “I guess your worries about my frontal attack are mute.”

“Mr. Joey,” JJ said, “I don’t know if a statement I made to Mrs. Marcy that the other people in the room overheard it could be the reason.”

“I’ve been telling JJ his statement was not the cause. He feels guilty,” Marcy said.

“What was it you said?” I asked of JJ.

JJ sat at the conference table, sighed, and dropped his shoulders. “I had determined that an external intrusion into their systems failed. Then I told Mrs. Marcy that I thought it was an inside job. I’m sorry. NuvoSeed has an Intrusion Detection System or IDS in place, and they have attempted penetration tests in the past, which have been successful in preventing intrusion.”

“JJ, there’s nothing to apologize for. They hired us to find out the truth, and that’s what you were doing. The fact they don’t like what we find is not our problem. So, don’t beat yourself up for that.”

Lucy came over to JJ and put her hands on his shoulder. “Baby, it happens all the time. We’ve had a couple of cases where the client fired us. Nothing to worry about.”

“JJ, do you think someone was providing information to a third party?” I asked.

“That’s what I think. But I didn’t have time to find out from which laptop. They most probably encrypted and erased it the moment they sent it. It’s hard to pinpoint.”

“Is that something you can do from here?” Lucy asked as she sat down.

“No,” JJ replied. “It was hard enough to break in from there, so I think doing from the outside is impossible. But I’ll keep trying.”

“Good,” I said. “The question is, who could provide that information? Could we be dealing with a staff member in the IT department, or others who had access?”

Everyone turned to JJ and Marcy, who were sitting together to my left.

Turning to look at JJ, Marcy asked, “What do you think?”

JJ replied, “That’s doubtful, because every system compartmentalizes, meaning not everyone has access to certain research. They protected Myrna Tucker’s system and made it inaccessible to anyone.

“If that is the case, then Tucker should be our number one suspect for providing the internal research, right?” Lucy asked.

“Yes, unless someone had access to her laptop and her password,” JJ replied.

Did you mean even before someone stole it?” I asked.

“Yes, even before,” JJ answered.

“Then the question is, was she collaborating with that person, or was it unknown to her that someone was stealing her research?” Marcy asked.

My phone rang.

“Hi, Ruth. May I put you on speakerphone?”

“I rather you wouldn’t, Joey.

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