Chapter Fifteen
The conference room was quiet when they walked in, other than the tapping of keys as the team searched through the footage to prove Derek and Cal were innocent of Hugo’s murder.
He was struggling to bring his mind back around to clearing himself after kissing Alayah.
It wasn’t just the kisses that had blown him away, though.
It was the kisses followed by the twenty minutes she’d let him hold her in silence and just breathe.
She’d given him twenty minutes with no phones ringing and no one demanding something of him.
It was the time he needed to remember the man he’d lost as someone he loved, even if he was demanding.
There was nothing truer of geniuses in general, and Hugo certainly was one.
That was the reason others, including Josh Hunt, wanted to copy his every move.
The kiss had unlocked a new worry. That she would be ripped away from him now that he’d found her.
When she was in his arms, he could put aside everything else and remember there was still hope in the middle of this mess.
He wanted to ask her to share his bed tonight, for comfort only, but he figured that would be a tough sell.
He believed that intimacy had nothing to do with sex, and while it could occur during lovemaking, it also existed without it.
To him, true intimacy was opening yourself on a deeper level than required for casual sex.
It was showing the other person your demons and letting them decide if they were ones they could accept.
Sex, when consensual, only requires you to open your body.
Intimacy, on the other hand, requires opening your soul.
He’d gotten a taste of that in the hotel room a bit ago, and now he craved it.
He craved the comfort it offered him as he rode this Tilt-A-Whirl of uncertainty.
Would he feel this way if someone else were helping him?
No, because no one else was Alayah. She was vivacious, intelligent, open and sometimes brutally honest. After the kiss they’d shared, he somehow knew nothing would ever be the same again.
Cal walked in with Roman, and everyone turned in their seats to give them their undivided attention.
Derek knew the team respected their leader, but of all the interactions he’d witnessed thus far, it was more than respect.
It was love. They all loved each other and wanted to pull their own weight in keeping Secure Inc. above reproach in every job they did.
“Sorry for the late hour, but our digging revealed questions only Derek can answer for us. I want everyone to have the same information as we branch out in our search, so I’ve asked him to walk us through it.
Before we do that, how did the conference go for you today? Any hang-ups? Do we need more help?”
The man introduced to him as Efren was the one to answer.
“We’re good on the security end of things, boss.
The organizers brought in extra personnel to scan bags for weapons before attendees entered the lectures, which frees us up as security guards for the speakers. There’s only tomorrow left, correct?”
“Tomorrow and the final speaker on Sunday morning, who will close the event,” Cal said.
“The man of the hour, Josh Hunt,” Derek muttered sarcastically, to which Alayah snickered from where she sat beside him.
“From the tech side of things, it’s easygoing,” Zac said.
“Bringing Delilah in to replace Alayah was helpful and gave us plenty of coverage so one of us can be working on the cloud while the other two are running the conferences. We noticed that tomorrow there are three panels rather than individual speakers, so that will be a more intimate setting.”
The word conjured an image that heated the back of Derek’s neck, but he forced himself to stay in the game and not let his mind drift to holding Alayah all night long.
“We’ll sit down and make a plan for those panels tonight,” Cal agreed.
“The final speaker for Sunday morning has a heavy footprint, so we’ll need a tight leash on that one.
The speaker is Josh Hunt, owner of Virtual Scorpion Productions.
As he’s Black Marlin’s direct competitor, Derek is here to tell us about Josh’s dealings with Hugo Victor. ”
Cal walked over and handed him a marker to use on the whiteboard at the front of the room.
“Thanks, Cal. As he said, Josh owns Virtual Scorpion Productions out of Chicago. He’s young at barely thirty-five, but highly ambitious, and he set his sights on Hugo Victor immediately after graduation from college.
He worked as an intern for Black Marlin Technologies for a few years after graduating from Caltech. ”
“Seriously?” Cal asked, and Derek nodded.
“And he was good. Probably one of the best interns Black Marlin has ever had, myself included.” That got a chuckle from around the room.
“But he was a little too ambitious. Josh tried to insert himself into projects he didn’t belong in and ended up costing Hugo a pretty big sale when he promised a client something he couldn’t deliver.
Understandably so, Hugo was upset and let him go. ”
“Giving Josh a reason to harbor a grudge,” Roman deduced.
Derek gave a nod. “Essentially. He moved to Chicago and started his own company with the help of Daddy’s money.
Whenever he saw Hugo at events or conventions, he kept their interactions friendly, but a low level of hatred always simmered beneath the surface.
At least on Josh’s part. Hugo was never bothered by Josh’s snark until he started trying to one-up his apps. ”
“Were there copyright violations involved?” Roman asked, but Derek shook his head.
“No, because you can’t copyright public domain ideas, right?” he asked as everyone nodded. “It was more like he’d find out what Black Marlin was working on, and he’d immediately start working on his own version of it.”
“Josh was the great impersonator,” Roman said, and Derek pointed at him in agreement.
“That, but he struggled to get the notoriety he thought would come with following in Hugo’s footsteps.”
“Except he wasn’t,” Alayah pointed out. “He was copying his footprints, and Hugo had bigger feet.”
Derek touched his nose. “Ding, ding. Unfortunately, that concept was not one Josh could grasp. Instead, he doubled down and doubled down until, suddenly, Hugo was almost an obsession for him. We had to start heavily vetting new employees to ensure they weren’t tied to Josh or sent as spies to report back.
The app Hugo planned to promote at this conference was one that the two of us created together Even the board didn’t know about it until that ill-fated board meeting earlier this month.
It was our little side quest, so to speak.
We had a lot of fun creating the app together, and all that was left was for Hugo to put the final touches on his coding and then test it.
But we never intended to sell it, despite the hundreds of times Josh asked to buy it.
We intended to allow vulnerable institutions to use the app to protect themselves.
Institutions that couldn’t afford companies like Secure Watch to protect their assets or people.
Places like nonprofit hospitals, clinics and low-income school districts. ”
“Admirable,” Cal said with a tip of his head. “The need is there, and honestly, there aren’t enough of us in this business to go around, so many people depend on these apps to remain part of the business landscape.”
“Agreed,” Derek said. “It just hit me that I’ll never see that happen now.
The board didn’t like our plan, but Hugo still owned the company and could do what he wanted with something he created on his own time and his own dime.
” He cleared his throat rather than continue to speak, and Alayah jumped in.
“Derek heard from the head of the board this afternoon. Curtis informed him that since he was employed and paid by Hugo rather than the company, his work with Black Marlin Technologies was over.”
Cal raised an eyebrow. “That’s brutal, but maybe not unexpected?”
“No, not unexpected, but what was unexpected was his belief that I was responsible for Hugo’s death.
I get it. His friend is dead, and he wants someone held responsible for that.
I’m not that person, but I’m the easiest person to take his anger out on.
I’ll shoulder that for Hugo’s memory, but I’ll never work in the industry again because of it. ”
Cal walked over and squeezed his shoulder, giving him a moment to compose himself.
“Secure Watch will always have a place for you, Derek. We don’t allow great talent to walk away if we can help it.
Don’t make any decisions until this mess is cleared up and you’ve had time to think without the threat of arrest hanging over your head. Okay?”
“Thanks, Cal,” he said with the utmost sincerity. It was easy to see why Cal’s team was so dedicated to him. He cared.
“I also think that whoever is behind Hugo’s murder may plan to use me as their scapegoat.”
“Can’t say the same thing didn’t run through my mind,” Cal said.
“I just can’t get behind it being someone I worked closely with, or even Josh. I’m sure that’s delusional, but I’m a newbie at being accused of murder.”
“It’s only delusional in the sense that you’re a good person who believes the same of others,” Efren said. “Misguided may be a better word, but that’s why you have us on your team. You need that when you’re too close to a situation.”
“Agreed,” Roman said. “So, we have Josh Hunt as a Hugo hater. Anyone else?”
Derek walked to the whiteboard and wrote two names.
“Granite Intelligence,” he said, tapping the name.
“Hugo had a run-in with their CEO, Marcus Bonner, at a conference about three years ago now. They were trying to sell an app that had too many glitches and was susceptible to hacking. Hugo called them out on it, and the app flopped.”
“Not because Hugo called him out on it then,” Alayah muttered, and Derek glanced at her.
“Correct. It was destined to fail, but Marcus didn’t want to hear that. He’s no longer with Granite Intelligence, though.”
“He could still carry a grudge,” Efren said, leaning back in his seat.
“That’s the reason I included him,” Derek confirmed.
“The other business is Forest Networks, which Spencer Williams owns. I’m behind the eight ball for this one because I don’t know why he and Hugo hated each other.
They run in the same circles and are close to the same age, but other than that, I don’t know a lot about Spencer.
When I asked Hugo, he refused to answer. ”
“It’s a woman,” Selina said without hesitation. “It’s always a woman in these situations.”
“That had never crossed my mind,” Derek admitted, Selina’s lips splitting into a grin.
“That’s because you’re a guy. Trust me on this one. It’s a woman. We will find her.”
“It’s hard to believe that a guy like Hugo Victor had only two enemies,” Cal said, leaning on a table. “Considering the business he was in, a person picks them up simply because they exist.”
“That’s accurate, but these three are the ones I remember being a real thorn in Hugo’s side.
I don’t have access to the records that might give us more names, but something tells me maybe someone on your staff can bypass those pesky log-ins and passcodes to find them.
” Roman bit back a grin at his implication.
“If I had to put my bets on one of these guys, it would be Josh. He’s the one with the most to gain from Hugo’s death,” Derek said, tapping the name again.
“Explain,” Cal said.
“With Hugo dead, the business will likely go into public trading. If that happens, it’s a door for Josh to enter and slowly infiltrate the company again.
” A thought struck Derek, and he snapped his fingers, turning to write another name on the board.
“This one almost escaped my memory. It may not be a big deal, but I’ll mention it in the interest of transparency.
John Lavelle owns Clover Industries. His company makes things like paper products and such, so not remotely the same as Black Marlin, but Curtis Clemons was his chief operating officer before Hugo wooed him away. ”
“People leave jobs all the time for better positions and greener pastures,” Cal said.
“You’re not wrong, but less than two months later, Salma Barker left Clover Industries and came to Black Marlin Technologies.”
“That feels suspicious. Were they setting Hugo up?”
“We never saw it that way. Salma’s husband accepted a job as a bigwig at an insurance company in Minneapolis. Salma reached out to Curtis since she knew he was working in town and asked about companies that might be hiring.”
“Okay, then all you can say there is ‘that’s business,’” Zac said, swiveling in his seat. “You can’t get upset because an employee finds a job with a competitor when they’re forced to move.”
“Exactly what Hugo told him, but John was hot about it and accused Hugo of purposely targeting him.”
“How long ago was that?” Cal asked, and Derek counted back to when the board was set up.
“About ten years ago? It was long before my time with the company or as Hugo’s assistant.
Of course, if you want a list of all the people who have ever had an issue with Black Marlin, it will be long.
Hugo had a short fuse for mistakes, so plenty of people came and went in the company over the years. ”
“Sounds like the kind of guy who was hard to like,” Mack said, and Derek shrugged.
“Not so much hard to like as hard to work for. When I first started working for him, he worked sunup to sundown. It took me a few years, but I taught him about work-life balance. He told me in the car on the way here that he was moving toward semi-retirement, which was another reason I decided to turn in my resignation. If he was moving that direction, my job would become obsolete.”
“It looks like someone wanted him in permanent retirement. I’ll see if we can get a list of people with an ax to grind before the cops do,” Cal said.
“While that’s being populated, we’ll look closely at Josh and Marcus.
Chances are that John was annoyed with him ten years ago, but is no longer in a murderous rage about losing a few employees.
He doesn’t have a compelling motive for murder, in my opinion. ”
“Agreed,” Declan and Alayah said together, making everyone chuckle.
Cal glanced at his watch. “We’re going to wrap this for tonight. I want everyone to get a hot meal and some sleep. We’ll have our friends back at Secure Watch running some of this stuff down overnight. Let’s meet for breakfast at 0700 hours.”
Derek noticed the fatigue on everyone’s faces as they packed up their laptops and headed out of the room. Guilt lanced through him for putting them through this until he remembered that Cal had a vested interest in finding Hugo’s killer, too.