Chapter 6 - MATTHEW RYAN’S LAST WARNING
Old digital evidence is fragile.
Fortunately, paranoid engineers create backups.
Matthew had been one of them.
Cole Systems still possessed archived network logs from the year of the breach.
A retired security administrator had kept additional records.
Diane’s team reconstructed the timeline.
Matthew’s badge entered the building at 8:14 p.m.
His account accessed sensitive repositories at 8:23.
Files were copied at 8:31.
There was one problem.
At 8:14, Matthew Ryan was sitting in an emergency room seven miles away.
Emma remembered that night.
Her mother had fallen from a ladder.
Matthew stayed beside her for six hours.
Hospital records confirmed it.
Security footage from the parking garage confirmed it.
Someone had cloned Matthew’s badge.
Someone had his credentials.
Someone inside Cole Systems had framed him.
Adrian felt nauseated.
“We should have found this.”
Diane was careful.
“You should have looked harder.”
That was worse.
And true.
Who had access to the badge cloning system?
Three people.
One was dead.
One retired in Canada.
The third was Howard Lyle.
Howard now served as chief technology officer of VantaCore.
Grant Mercer’s closest executive.
Emma sat quietly while Diane explained.
“My stepfather knew?”
“We don’t know.”
Emma looked down at her hands.
“I have his old laptop.”
Adrian stared.
“What?”
“My mother kept it.”
“Where?”
“In storage.”
Three hours later, Emma returned with a battered laptop inside a faded canvas bag.
It had not been opened in years.
The battery was dead.
The drive was encrypted.
Adrian’s specialists made a forensic copy.
Inside they found photographs.
Tax returns.
Birthday videos.
Research.
Then a hidden partition.
Password protected.
Emma knew Matthew’s favorite phrase.
Truth survives copies.
The partition opened.
Folders appeared.
One named:
Lyle.
One:
Mercer.
One:
If I’m Right.
Emma covered her mouth.
The last folder contained screenshots of unusual network access.
Emails Matthew had sent himself.
Payment records between a consulting company and Howard Lyle.
And one unfinished email.
Addressed to Adrian.
Adrian, I believe someone inside security is manufacturing evidence against me. If you receive this, do not trust the logs alone. Grant Mercer has been approaching employees for months. I think Howard is working with him.
The email was never sent.
Creation date:
Three days before Matthew’s accident.
Emma cried quietly.
Adrian stared at the screen.
Matthew had tried to warn him.
Maybe fear stopped him.
Maybe pride.
Maybe he wanted stronger proof.
It did not matter now.
Adrian had been the CEO.
The responsibility had been his.
“I failed him.”
Emma wiped her eyes.
“Yes.”
He looked at her.
No comfort came.
That was appropriate.
Then Diane opened another file.
A spreadsheet.
Names.
Payments.
Dates.
One entry was recent enough to make everyone stop.
V.C. — preliminary contact.
The initials were followed by a phone number.
Diane traced it.
May you like
Vanessa Cole.
The contact began two months before Adrian ever met her.
