Chapter 6 - Mark’s Second Phone
Corporate security found the first external transmission at 6:42 PM.
A copy of David’s Stuttgart pricing file had been emailed from an anonymous account to a consultant connected to a competing machinery company.
The email had been sent forty minutes after Mark accessed David’s office.
David sat inside a hospital conference room with a company attorney on speakerphone.
“Can you prove Mark sent it?”
“Not yet,” the attorney said.
“But the timing is significant.”
“What happens now?”
“We preserve evidence.”
“And police?”
“We’re contacting them.”
David looked through the conference room glass.
Maya was asleep.
Liam rested beside her.
“Do it.”
The attorney paused.
“David, this could get uncomfortable.”
“It already is.”
“Your brother-in-law may claim he had permission.”
“He didn’t.”
“Your mother or sister may support his version.”
“They can say whatever they want.”
“Good.”
“Why good?”
“Because people who think they can talk their way out of evidence usually keep talking.”
David understood.
That evening, he returned to the apartment for the first time since taking Maya to the hospital.
He did not go alone.
A building manager accompanied him.
So did a company security investigator named Aaron Pierce.
The apartment looked exactly as David had left it.
Cold ramen.
Empty refrigerator.
Folding chair.
But now David saw the place differently.
Not as his home.
As evidence.
Aaron photographed the office.
The desktop.
The drawers.
The cabinet.
Then he stopped beside the desk.
“David.”
“What?”
“This drawer was forced.”
David crouched.
The lock was scratched.
Inside, several documents were missing.
“What was here?”
“Backup contracts.”
“Anything else?”
David thought.
Then remembered.
“A spare phone.”
“What kind?”
“Old iPhone.”
“Yours?”
“Technically.”
“Who used it?”
David hesitated.
“Mark borrowed it last summer.”
Aaron looked at him.
“Did he return it?”
“Yes.”
“Where was it?”
“In this drawer.”
“And now?”
David stared at the empty space.
Gone.
Aaron wrote something down.
“Why would he want your old phone?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was it still connected to any accounts?”
David felt a slow dread.
“Possibly.”
“Which?”
“Email.”
“Banking?”
“Maybe.”
Aaron looked up sharply.
“David.”
“I changed phones quickly.”
“Did you wipe the old one?”
David already knew the answer.
“No.”
Aaron stood.
“We need your bank to preserve access logs.”
David called immediately.
Twenty minutes later, they had an answer.
Someone had attempted to access David’s business banking portal from an old trusted device.
Three times.
December 30.
The device identification matched the old phone.
David leaned against the wall.
Mark hadn’t only taken food.
He hadn’t only stolen company information.
He had been testing access to David’s money.
Aaron asked,
“Any large transfers you don’t recognize?”
“Not yet.”
“Check everything.”
David did.
Personal accounts.
Business accounts.
Investment accounts.
Then he found something.
A pending payment authorization.
$48,000.
Recipient:
MJR Consulting LLC.
David frowned.
“I’ve never heard of this company.”
Aaron leaned over.
“When was it created?”
David searched the name.
The public registration appeared.
MJR Consulting.
Registered three months earlier.
Managing member:
Mark J. Reynolds.
David stared at the screen.
Aaron let out a slow breath.
“There it is.”
David canceled the authorization.
Then photographed everything.
His phone rang.
Mark.
David looked at Aaron.
“Answer it.”
David did.
“Hello?”
Mark sounded strangely calm.
“Can we meet?”
“Why?”
“Because this has gone too far.”
“Which part?”
“Stop playing games.”
“I’m not.”
“Meet me tonight.”
“Where?”
“Just you and me.”
David looked at Aaron.
Aaron shook his head.
David replied,
“No.”
Mark’s breathing changed.
“You’re going to regret making this bigger than it needs to be.”
David said nothing.
Then Mark made the mistake that would follow him for the rest of the case.
He said,
“You have no idea what was on that phone.”
May you like
David looked directly at Aaron.
Because until that second, David had never told Mark the phone was missing.
