Chapter 6
Zen
I can’t believe I found a lead on who stole my sister’s money so easily. It was as easy as dangling some crypto in front of the group she most frequently visited. Some old lady swiped it right out of the wallet and didn’t put up much of a fight when I confronted her. It turned out to be the last person I expected. ChaosCrone has been running in the same circles as me for years. I never once took her or her gambling buddies for thieves.
But now I’m rethinking everything I thought I knew about her and her friends. I’m almost certain they’re operating as a crew, because LawlessHate popped into the room, clearly saw the bait I was dangling, and contacted the Crone. It didn’t take her more than a few seconds to empty the wallet.
My head begins to fill with a hundred questions. Were they actively seeking out opportunities to steal or did they just have a habit of taking advantage of opportunities that presented themselves? Were the other members of her inner circle involved in thieving or was it just the two of them? Did they live together? Were they siblings, lovers, or simply partners in crime? Could I get one to turn on the other? Would it be possible to find other victims who had been fleeced by this pair?
Crone is skilled at both coding and hacking. I’d even done a hacking challenge with her a year or so ago. I busted my ass to win that challenge. She certainly didn’t make it easy. Out of everyone I’ve met online, she’s the closest to my skill level and there aren’t many who could beat either of us in an open challenge.
Of course I have no idea who she is in the real world. Her identity is a total mystery to me because I’ve never tried to find it out. Doxing people is a seriously shitty thing to do. Unfortunately, it looks like that might now be necessary because of her criminal activity.
I start with her IP address. It shows her as being in Iceland. I remember looking at her IP address once before, and she was based in the UK. She’s obviously using a VPN to obscure her whereabouts.
However, I remember a chat we had a year ago when I was offline due to a power outage. She mentioned that the storms in California were nothing compared to when she used to live in Florida. Unless she’s moved, that means we’re in the same state. Based on her username I’m assuming she’s older, but online, people can be whoever they want.
I wander through to the kitchen, make myself a cup of strong coffee, and head back to my office.
Determined to find out who ChaosCrone is, I search for that handle on social media. I get several hits, and one even has an image of a beautiful woman with dark bronze skin and the most beautiful afro I’ve ever seen. It literally looks like a halo ringing her head. I can’t help but smile as I gaze at the image.
I quickly do a reverse image search, which leads me to a stock image site. Figures she’s not using her own photograph. This older woman is clearly security-conscious and careful about sharing her identity online.
I go back to her social media account and begin scrolling through to see if there’s anything in her feed that might give a hint about her identity or current location. It looks like something happened ten months ago and she stopped posting for three months. There were no likes or comments on her friends’ posts. Nothing. It’s like she dropped off the face of the earth for weeks and then slowly started coming back to her preferred social media platforms.
No matter how far back I go, there’s nothing linking her to the real world. There are no pet pictures, links to a workplace, hobbies, or anything to suggest that the person behind the profile does much in her local community. It’s just all nondescript girly bullshit and memes.
Frustrated, I gulp down my now-cold coffee and redouble my efforts. By daybreak, I’m not any closer to figuring out who this person is than when I first started. I glance at my watch to find that it’s seven in the morning. I stretch my arms over my head and take a deep breath.
A gentle knock at the door draws my attention. “Come in,” I say loudly.
Evan sticks his head into my office and holds up a coffee cup. “Need more coffee?”
I give him a tired smile. “Yeah, that would be nice. I’ve been up all night.”
“Work or play?” Evan asks lightheartedly.
“Work, I’m afraid.”
“Sorry to hear whatever job you’re on is stealing your sleep.”
“It’s okay. I’m doing this job for family. How’s that girlfriend of yours?”
Evan is practically glowing with happiness. “She’s doing really well. I’m thinking of inviting her to the clubhouse again. Was thinking of inviting her friend as well, if you’d be interested in seeing her again?”
Evan is wise for his years. He saw that we got along like a house on fire and has decided to play matchmaker. Normally, I hate that shit. However, with all this Crone business dragging me down, I could really use a sweet little distraction like Lexi. After thinking it over and taking a sip of my coffee, I jerk my chin at him and say, “Sure. Why not? She beautiful, sweet, and definitely holds up her end of the conversation. I’d love the opportunity to see her again.”
Evan grins. “Kayla said coming to the clubhouse really lifted Lexi’s spirits. She doesn’t leave home much anymore. I think inviting her back is the right thing to do.”
I give him a pat on the shoulder. “I agree. When were you thinking of inviting her?”
He scratches his head, thinking it over. “Maybe this weekend—Friday, and if things go well, Saturday too.”
“You know that’s tomorrow, right?”
His grin turns bashful. “Yeah, I want another amazing night with Kayla.”
“I’ll bet you do. Do we need have the sex talk again?”
“Nope. We’ve decided to wait until we get to know each other better. I’m happy, just having her spend the night. We watch movies, talk, eat a bunch of snacks, make out a little, and then go to sleep. It’s a pretty amazing way to spend the night if you ask me.”
“Aw, you’re sweetest eighteen-year-old guy in the world. I can tell your old man is a preacher,” I tease.
Evan rolls his eyes. “I ain’t that sweet. Anyway, how about I invite them both around seven tomorrow night?”
“That sounds great. I’ll be here, waiting on Lexi’s smiling face to show up.”
Evan shoots back, “That sounds great. I know she’s only twenty-one, but she seems a lot older. Hanging out with her feels like shooting the shit with old people.”
I snort a laugh. “I’m almost ten years older than she is. Do I seem ancient as well?”
Evan shakes his head playfully, “Nope. It’s because you’re young at heart.”
“You mean I never grew up?”
“Something like that,” Evan mutters.
Glancing back down at my watch, I say, “I’m gonna go home and crash for a while, I need to get a couple of hours of proper sleep.”
“Yeah, get some sleep. Everything will look better once you wake up. That’s what my dad always says.”
I walk out with Evan, but when he heads off to play pool with one of the prospects, I head out the front door. As I ride off on my bike, I marvel at how fate threw Lexi into my path again. I wasn’t one to believe in people being fated to one another, but I didn’t rule it out either. Shoving Lexi to the back of my mind, I went back to brainstorming how I could figure out the identity of ChaosCrone.
The thought occurred to me that maybe I could flirt with her and get her to meet with me in person—that’s assuming she’s local. But even if she isn’t, if it gets me my sister’s money back, I’d travel to meet her. I’d never flirted with her before because of the age difference and because when I was online, I was there for gaming or work not to pick up women. Then again, I wasn’t trying to get into her pants so much as I was trying to romance information out of her.
I still hadn’t been successful in figuring out how she got my sister’s crypto. It’s almost like she guessed her code. Lori said she never gave her seed phrase to anyone, but maybe she wasn’t as careful as she thought.
***
I crash out at home and don’t wake up until the evening. I decide that I’m gonna do my best to romance the Crone.
I find her in a chat room dedicated to the ethics of hacking and the irony doesn’t escape me. Sitting in my living room surrounded by the soft glow of computer screens, I message her.
Me: Good evening, beautiful.
ChaosCrone: WTF Architect. Are you here to debate or act like a jackass?
Me: Ouch, you don’t take compliments very well.
ChaosCrone: Calling someone you’ve never met IRL beautiful is weird, since you can’t possibly know if they’re beautiful or not.
Me: Maybe I think you have a beautiful personality or a beautiful soul?
ChaosCrone: That’s beside the point. The topic of discussion tonight is the ethics of hacking. Do you have an opinion on that?
Leaning back in my chair, I decide to regroup and give it my best shot.
Me: You’re asking me about ethics when I know we’ve both strayed into morally gray areas before.
ChaosCrone: That’s a fair point. But do you believe that hacking has to be for personal gain in order to be unethical?
I think it over for a minute before answering.
Me: I think that hacking is more than just breaching another person’s security for personal gain. It can break through firewalls to wreak havoc and damage another person’s system. That behavior is definitely unethical.
ChaosCrone: So, in your mind, breaching firewalls just to play around and appease our curiosity is harmless and therefore ethical because we’re not doing damage.
I tell her:
Me: I think the way you slip in through back doors and breach systems is kind of sexy. It’s like you rule your world and no one can keep you out.
ChaosCrone: What about you? You like to flirt and charm your way into places you shouldn’t be. Like just now, you were trying to flirt with me. What did you want from me? Are you even honest enough to ask?
Me: Maybe, I don’t want anything. Why is it so hard to believe that I just like you and I’m in the mood for some light flirting?
ChaosCrone: Since it’s never happened before in the time I’ve known you, I think something has changed. I want to know what.
Me: I thought we were talking about the ethics of hacking.
ChaosCrone: The bottom line for me is I have an intact moral compass. It lets me know when I’m about to cross the line. Maybe it’s nothing more than women’s intuition.
Me: Or there is no such thing as women’s intuition and instead, it’s all human intuition.
ChaosCrone: That’s possible.
A brief silence stretches out in our text chat and she starts typing, then stops. I’ve rattled her. I decide to shoot my shot.
Me: Have you ever made a strong connection with someone online and just wanted to have coffee with them to see how a real-life conversation measured up to the online chatting?
ChaosCrone: Meeting up with strangers can be dangerous.
Me: Yeah, but we’ve known each other for years online. Aren’t you the least bit curious about me—what I look like, how my voice sounds?
ChaosCrone: I’m just really curious as to where all this is coming from. Like you said, we’ve known each other for years and you never approached me this way before. Why now? What changed?
Damn it. She’s onto me. My sister’s future is riding on my ability to find out more information about this person and I’m clearly not up to the challenge of fake flirting. It feels wrong to manipulate someone like this. But she’s just a thief who steals other people’s hard-earned money. I shouldn’t feel guilty about this, but I do. I recalibrate and try again.
Me: I get that you’re hesitant to meet a total stranger. I just get lonely sometimes and decided to try meeting up with some of the people I know online. You’re in Cali, right? Maybe we’re neighbors?
ChaosCrone: How do you know where I live?
Shit. I don’t want to blow it already. If a message could sound defensive, then hers did, one hundred percent.
Me: You mentioned it once, after the storm. Remember?
ChaosCrone: Right. I see where you’re going with this. I’m not sure I’m ready to meet up in person with anyone. It’s not you. It’s me. I just need to think about the safety aspect.
Me: I get that. It’s just something to think about. There’s a whole big wide world out there beyond what exists online. I don’t see any reason to keep our lives so compartmentalized that we can’t have casual friendships with the people we socialize with online.
In the end, she still didn’t budge. My invitation went nowhere. Maybe I came on too strong? She mentioned several times that I’d never flirted with her before and the first time I flirt with her, I ask her to meet up with me. This probably feels like some kind of booty call on her end.
The bottom line is I blew it and probably won’t be given another chance. Angry with myself, I get lost in World of Wonders for the rest of the evening.