Blood red love by Dripping Creativity
Chapter 15

15

Vidar handed the report Charlie had given him to Lucas to go through. While he waited on Lucas‘ judgement, Vidar sat in his office trying to make sense of what Charlie had done. He may not understand the complex parts of their system, but he was fairly sure she could have removed the installed software without leaving a trace of it. Then she could have continued working for weeks on trying to replace something, earning good money, doing something she clearly loved. It would have kept the detective safe and been beneficial to her. Instead, she had shown loyalty towards Vidar, or at least to her employment. She had given up her friend, or was he her lover? Vidar didn’t want to think about the possibility. She also risked her relationship with her brother. Just because it was the right and honourable thing to do. All that after he had been honest with her, letting her know not all of his business dealings were strictly legal. Why did it move him so much? He had done his best to keep away from her and he had thought he did a good job. That was until he had seen her on a date with that man. Vidar was telling himself his issue wasn’t that she was dating, but that she had chosen that man and thought of him as a good man. He could almost convince himself he had acted to protect her, as was his duty. Vidar had to admit their text conversation might have crossed a line or two, broken the rules he had placed upon himself. Just as he had crossed most of them as she was leaving his office earlier today. He could still feel the scent of her hair, see the goosebumps on her neck when she realised how close he was, hear the slight hitch in her breath. Vidar swore and stood up. He needed to get the memory out of his mind as it affected his body, and even a quick reminder of it sent him into a spiral of desire and lust. He was saved by a knock on his office door. Vidar took a seat behind his desk to hide the state he was in and called for them to come in. Lucas walked in and didn’t wait to be offered to take a seat, he just plopped down in the visitor’s chair opposite Vidar. One of the things Vidar liked about his head of IT was his natural blindness to all social rules. It also meant he never got offended when Vidar was short with him or felt like not adding on the civil social pleasantries to their interactions.

“So?” Vidar asked.

“Wow. The report is amazing. If my staff wrote reports like this, I would be a happy man,” Lucas said, sounding like a fan

boy.

“And the replaceings?”

“They are solid. I have checked, and she is right. Once she pointed it out, it was easy to replace. I ran the traces she suggested, and some of my own traces as well. They gave me a log of the times the software has sent information from our system to detective Herald’s work computer,” Lucas told him.

“Tell me what that means. I think I got it, but let’s make sure,” Vidar said.

“First of all, it’s sloppy work. It’s clear the detective isn’t the creator of the software. It’s advanced and beautiful, a real piece of art. But his installation is sloppy and leave a trail straight to him. If it weren’t for the sophistication of the software, we should have caught him thirty seconds after he had installed it. By using the logs and comparing it with what information the system was handling at the time and if we can see a delay on any of it, we can with reasonable certainty identify what information he was sent,” Lucas explained. Vidar nodded.

“And?”

“The full list of information will take time. It’s a lot of data to process. But the parts we have found so far is nothing that

would land us in trouble with the police,” Lucas said.

“But it’s information we wouldn’t want spread?” Vidar asked.

“Most definitively,” Lucas agreed. Vidar smiled a wicked smile as he now had what he needed.

“Do you have a list of the information we know he has received?” Vidar asked.

“I have sent it to your email,” Lucas said.

“Splendid, give me twenty minutes to read it. I want you to be ready to go to the police station with me by eleven thirty,” Vidar told him. Lucas nodded and headed out of Vidar’s office. Vidar eyed through the information. It wasn’t something he found alarming, but some of it was to be classified as business secrets and negotiations with customers. Things ordinary businesses would see as highly problematic if it leaked. His day was just getting better.

An hour later, Vidar walked into the police station, followed by Lucas. He walked up to the officer manning the desk.

“How can I assist you?” the officer asked. He looked uninterested.

“I need to talk to someone in your internal affairs department,” Vidar said. It got the attention of the man in front of him.

“Internal affairs?”

“Yes, we will wait over there until they arrive. Please make it quick, I have a place to be this evening,” Vidar calmly said and then walked to the side, where he and Lucas would not be in the way. The officer was still looking at them, not trying to get hold of someone. Vidar looked at him and raised an eyebrow. That got the man moving. Five minutes later, two men in cheap suits came to the desk. They spoke to the officer, who pointed at Vidar.

“You wanted to talk to internal affairs, Mr…?” One of them said as he walked up to Vidar.

“Grim. And yes, I am here to report a serious offence made by one of your detectives,” Vidar said.

“Is that so, Mr Grim? Which one?” the other man asked.

“I don’t think this is the place to talk about these things,” Vidar told them. They looked around, as if just remembering they were in the entrance room at the station.

“Right, follow us please, Mr Grim. Who do you have with you?” the first man asked, leading the way deeper into the

station.

“It’s Mr Peniro, my head of IT. He discovered the issue.” They ended up on the fifth floor, in an interview room with a two–way mirror. Vidar looked at it and the second man flipped a switch, which made the mirror turn into a window. He

left it like that, probably to make Vidar comfortable. It wasn’t necessary. Vidar would have known if someone was on the other side, mirror or not. But he nodded at the man.

“I’m investigator Daniel Cole. This is my partner Jim Davis,” the first man said. The four men shook hands, and Daniel indicated for Vidar and Lucas to take a seat. “You said you wanted to report one of our detectives?”

“Yes. First of all, let me be frank and say I know you are investigating me and my business. I also know you haven’t found anything after trying for six months. Simply because there is nothing to replace. None the less, one of the investigators, James Heralds, seems to have grown tired of waiting. Mr Peniro came to me a couple of weeks ago, worried he had found traces of someone trying to access our computer system. I told him to investigate it with the highest priority. This morning Mr Peniro came to me and handed me what he had found. There is a software in my system which is copying information and sending it to detective Heralds. Information, I might add, that is highly sensitive and if someone else than the detective had retrieved it, I would have filed charges of industrial espionage. Now, I am willing to disregard that aspect and see it as an act of impatience,” Vidar told them. Daniel and Jim looked at each other and then back at Vidar..

“Do you have proof of this?” Jim asked. Vidar nodded to Lucas, and he took out a manilla envelope.

“Here is an initial report on how we found the software, how the software is built, the methods we used to detect which information was captured, that is an ongoing work, and to who it was sent. The software has been isolated, but not removed,” Lucas told the inspectors.

“I am willing to let a team of your forensic investigators look at the software under the supervision of Mr. Peniro. You understand I’m not in a trusting mood at the moment. I am also willing to give you this,” Vidar said, handing over a stack of papers. “That is the information we so far have been able to confirm has been sent to the detective. I am trusting you with its safekeeping.” Daniel took the stack of papers and nodded.

“This is quite extensive. You have done most of our work for us,” Jim said.

“I will protect my assets, if they are physical or digital makes no difference. I am going to assume you will look into this. If you need our assistance, please contact Mr Peniro. I entrust him fully to handle this.” Both men opposite him nodded.

“What are you hoping to win by doing this? Do you think we will drop the investigation? Will you go to the press if we don’t?” Daniel asked. He seemed to be the more aggressive of the two. Vidar laughed.

“No. I don’t have any such expectations. Feel free to continue. There is nothing to be found, so if you feel the need to waste taxpayers‘ money, then who am I to stand in your way? I am expecting detective Heralds will be pulled from the investigation and that he is told not to come near me or any of my employees,” Vidar told them.

“That is not an unreasonable thing to ask,” Jim agreed.

“If you don’t have any further questions, we will leave you the evidence and take our leave.” Both inspectors nodded and stood to escort Vidar and Lucas out. They took the elevator down. It stopped on the second floor to let people in. As the door opened, Vidar stood face to face with James. The shock on the detective’s face was almost comical. It clearly showed Vidar James hadn’t thought Charlie would go against him. The feeling of victory surged through Vidar like it hadn’t done

in many years. He chose not to analyse it, just accept it.

“Take the next one, detective,” Daniel said, pressing the button to close the door. Before the door closed, Vidar sent the man a smirk, letting him know Vidar knew what he had lost.