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“She asked about algorithms. She was analyzing a glitch in software and saw something that appeared to be a randomizing algorithm that shouldn’t be in the code, but she wasn’t certain because it had unfamiliar properties. We worked through a couple of problems, then she said she had a handle on it.”
I scrawled a note with a couple questions I wanted him to ask and slid it over to Logan.
Instead, Logan said, “Davis, I’m here with two private investigators. They have some questions for you.”
“Anything I can do, Logan, anything. I hope she’s okay.”
“Mr. Balicki, I’m Margo Angelhart,” I said. “Does Jennifer have any friends that she would reach out to if she wanted to get away? Maybe in Austin, where she used to work?”
“Me,” he said. “She used to come over for dinner when she lived here, we keep in touch, but I don’t know any of her friends. Jennifer is very reserved. Private.”
“What about a former roommate?”
“As far as I know, she’s always lived alone.”
“Do you know anything about her parents?”
“She doesn’t talk about them. She’d come over to my house for barbecues if it was just my family and not a party. My wife is good at getting people to share, and that’s when I learned her mother died when she was young and she left home when she was eighteen, hasn’t spoken to her father since. Didn’t say anything more about it. I had a feeling she might have been in an abusive home, so I didn’t push.”
That might explain why she didn’t have social media. If her father was still trying to influence or abuse her—verbal and emotional abuse could be as bad as physical abuse. But there had to be more. She’d left home eight years ago. Shouldn’t she have found a niche, a group, a few friends? I couldn’t imagine not having friends and family. I could be grumpy and standoffish at times, but I thrived in the Army because my team was like family. And after growing up in a large family, silence was not always comfortable.
“If she calls you or shows up at your house,” I said, “please let me or Logan know. Tell her that we can help, whatever is going on.”
“I will. And when you talk to her, please let me know so I don’t worry.”
Logan ended the call and said, “I feel helpless. I’m not someone who usually feels helpless.”
“She may have dumped her electronics to avoid being tracked,” Jack said, “or she’s ignoring your calls and messages. Send her another—email, text, every way you have of reaching her. She trusts you, so I think she’ll listen to you more than anyone. Tell her that you’ve hired Margo Angelhart to protect her. Anything she needs to feel safe.”
I glanced at my brother. “Me?”
“Do you handle personal security?” Logan asked.
“Yes, but—”
“Margo is a former Army MP and has been trained in personal security, she’s capable,” Jack said. “I would do it, but I have to ask Jennifer questions about the data she downloaded. Margo doesn’t. If Jennifer is truly in fear of an external threat, she’ll need someone to protect her. But until we know what that threat is, we’re floundering.
“In the meantime, Tess and Luisa—my other sisters—are doing a deep dive into the Desert West computer systems. You’ve seen the data that Jennifer had, right?”
“Part of it, but only for a few minutes.”
“Still, you might be able to help narrow their search to avoid them wasting time. Based on what Jennifer showed you, do you think someone is embezzling from the company?”
“I didn’t make that leap. It was odd, but it could have been a coding error. Without a full audit and computer security check, we can’t know. Gavin should be made aware of this.”
“Right now, the only person in house who knows that I’ve been hired and why is Ron Tucker, the CFO. The fewer people who know, the better. The important thing is to find Jennifer and analyze the information she has. Because if someone is embezzling money, they may be trying to cover their tracks, and that’s why Jennifer thinks she’s being followed.”
“Anything you need from me, let me know.”
Jack could be right. Jennifer’s paranoia could be directly related to her discovery at work. But I still thought it was more than a little odd that she had no social media, that her background was murky, and she had no close friends.
And who hired Miriam Endicott?
There was something else going on in Jennifer’s life, I was certain. Whether it was potentially dangerous was anyone’s guess.
Thirty
The Thief
