Chapter Fifty
Aster and Nick hit the keyboards whilst Ari, Seb and the boys took Mary to a nearby wildlife park. The rest of the summer holidays lay out ahead of them and Ari was pleased that they had this opportunity to meet their great-grandmother before the family went abroad. As they wandered around the meerkat enclosures Ari was delighted to discover Mary had a keen interest in local government and planning law. The village of Tregiskey, down in Cornwall, was having a problem with its road. It was too narrow and too long and was the source of constant bottlenecks on sunny days and holidays. Only recently a tourist had nearly died when the ambulance couldn’t make it down the hill due to the traffic jam. Eventually the coastguard had to be called and he had to be airlifted out and resuscitated twice on the way to the hospital. Over the years there had been regular calls for improvements to the road and plans submitted but nothing was ever approved.
Mary’s eyes twinkled: this sounded like an issue she would love to tackle. Something about Mary’s smile reminded Ari of Aster and she wondered what on earth she was about to unleash on the Cornish planning department?
Back at Hiverton, however, Aster was not smiling.
‘I need more time to go through your employees and properly research them. So far I have nothing. Whoever hacked the database did it from various different log-ons. Which is a smart way to muddy the water. Do I assume they are all innocent, or is the hacker hiding amongst them? Did they at some stage log in from their own terminal? All I can say for certain is that it wasn’t accessed remotely.’
Nick sighed. ‘Well, it was unlikely you would find the answer right away, but we still have time. Hopefully, you will have a name before we present our case to the judge. Plus I won’t be able to rehire any of the team until I know for certain who the mole is.’
‘I wouldn’t re-employ any of them, just to be safe.’
‘You do you Aster. I couldn’t function without Gyeong or Daisy or any of them.’
‘That’s rubbish and you know it.’
‘Okay. I could function without them, but I don’t want to. They are excellent at their jobs.’
‘But you’ll never truly trust them if I can’t find your mole. For what it’s worth those two are my prime suspects. Daisy gave you the dog, Gyeong knew you were heading to Ireland. Daisy set up the property contracts, Gyeong has a Master’s in Computer Science.’
Nick looked at her in astonishment. ‘Seriously, Aster, it’s neither of them.’
Aster looked at her and shrugged. ‘Best I crack on then. Cup of tea?’
Nick pushed away from the desk and headed off to make two teas. Aster was right, trust was going to be a huge problem if this wasn’t fully resolved. But suggesting it was either of her best employees was ridiculous.
Just as the kettle boiled her phone rang. Putting down the teapot she looked at the screen and saw it was her legal team. Her stomach clenched .
‘Nicoletta? It’s Giles here. The judge has asked for us and the FCA to meet him tomorrow morning.’
‘So soon?’ Nick panicked, what had gone wrong?
‘Yes. I can’t say what he has in mind, but I feel optimistic. It’s unusual for a judge to call in both parties before a trial and suggests that things are about to move dramatically.’
Nick explained to Giles how she was currently trying to uncover the mole which he encouraged her to pursue.
‘Every bit of evidence in our arsenal will count in our favour.’
Arranging a time to meet in the morning, she hung up and headed back to Aster to let her know the development. Instead of looking happy, Aster just frowned and started to type faster.
‘If the case is thrown out and we haven’t uncovered the mole, then you will always look guilty. Like you got off on a technicality. We need a confession or people will say there’s no smoke without fire. You have to be exonerated beyond all doubt and the guilty party hung out to dry.’
Nick had just poured them both a cup of tea, suggesting that Aster should take a rest but now the tea lost all its flavour. She had been so excited that the end was in sight that she had failed to see that angle. Aster was right, of course. Someone had planted that evidence, but gossip mongers would still look at her and point fingers. Was it planted by herself to cover up a greater misdemeanour? Had she done it to avoid future inspections? She needed to find that mole and press charges against them. To save her reputation, she would need to destroy theirs, and after what they had put her through, it was a task she was looking forward to.