Friends Who Lie

by Paul J. Teague

  ‘Sorry,’ she said, her face reddening.

  The man with the soft hands looked up and smiled.

  ‘Don’t you just love Windows computers?’ he said. She could tell he was educated. Terry was a graduate of the university of life as he’d proudly announce.

  ‘Those idiots in their black gowns and letters after their names can’t teach me anything that would have ever been useful in my life. University is a waste of time!’

  Caitlen smiled at the man, once again daring to consider a one night stand with him. He was obviously putting out feelers. No wedding ring either. Would it matter for one night?

  ‘Yes, sorry about that. I haven’t used this one for some time, I’ll switch the speaker off.’

  They looked at each other – it hung in the air, but she chickened out and went back to her computer. She wasn’t that kind of girl, although the way things had been recently she was seriously tempted.

  She set to work on her hard drive, immediately becoming unaware of what was going on around her. It was always like this for Caitlen. She loved working with computers and did what Terry casually dismissed as ‘geeky stuff’ for a living. She was a software programmer and had a great aptitude for the work. She would become immersed in the lines of code and had loved it until the bitch arrived. When Dick retired and sold the business, the atmosphere had changed. It’s the only job she’d ever had. Thirteen years in the same workplace in this day and age, that had to be worth a gold watch.

  Caitlen checked the files on the hard drive. Most of what she did these days was in the cloud, safe and sound. But when she’d bought this laptop, cloud storage had been expensive, so sometimes she kept private stuff in folders which she made hidden in the settings. It was those she wanted to check out.

  As it was, there were a couple of useful things that she spotted straight away. There was an old savings account from university days that she’d completely forgotten about. It might have a couple of hundred pounds left in it. She transferred the account information to her password manager, she’d check the balance later.

  Another folder had some photos of her and an old boyfriend. They’d shot an amateur porno on a mobile phone, a Nokia probably, and she laughed as the phone’s orientation was wrong. But it looked hot nevertheless and it took her back to a place and a time. She’d liked being with Euan, but he hadn’t liked her enough to stick around.

  No wonder she’d hidden the folder. It was a good job she’d turned that volume down, too. Euan was doing things that Terry would never have even thought of. Euan had been creative like that. Terry was what you’d call ‘workmanlike’.

  She angled the laptop towards her, to be certain that the man wouldn’t see it. As the waiter approached with her pizza, she shut down the file and deleted it, suddenly guilty for enjoying this reminder of more athletic and exciting times. She made certain that the file was also deleted from the recycle bin and, in any case, Terry’s mallet would make sure that it was never seen again.

  Eager to tuck into her pizza, Caitlen scanned the hard drive files for the final time. She was about to slam down the lid when she spotted a folder with an unusual name: BTC2011. What was that? She double-clicked and took a look. Inside was a text file containing two strings of very long passwords.

  Then it came back to her. Christmas 2011. Stuck in the office with one of her mates – though Luke was a bit more than a mate back then – killing time before they could go home and start the seasonal celebrations. An afternoon of doing no work and surfing the internet for interesting things to do. And an expenditure of a hundred dollars which she’d completely forgotten about.

  What was in that folder would test her friendships, change her life and result in a vicious murder.

  Caitlen didn’t get to try her first vegan pizza that night. And the hopeful young man seated to her side didn’t get laid.

  Chapter Two

  Caitlen: April

  Keeping her secret for that week had been exhilarating. And now here were her best friends sitting around the table, chatting away, completely oblivious to what she was about to tell them.

  The night she made her discovery, she’d rushed home from the bistro, almost neglecting to pay her bill, and completely forgetting the young guy who’d been looking at her expectantly as she got up to leave. The waiter sporting the extraordinary beard had been concerned that they’d somehow frightened off a new customer and she’d had to tell a lie to shake him off.

  ‘My youngest child is ill, that’s the babysitter. I’m so sorry, I have to go.’

  She handed him a twenty-pound note, which would more than cover the bill, and rushed home. She couldn’t wait to fire up her MacBook. If she was right and she could figure out how to use those passwords correctly, this could change her life.

  She was right. Caitlen wanted to scream at the heavens with joy. She’d thought nothing of it when they were playing around at their desks in 2011. She’d even had to think hard about the hundred dollar cost at the time, it being Christmas. But Luke had convinced her to do it. And now her life was about to change.

  There was a small round of applause, shaking her from her reverie.

  ‘Sorry, I was miles away, what did you say?’

  ‘We’re engaged, it’s official, look!’

  Becky held up her ring. She was glowing with happiness, delighted to be sharing the news with her friends.

  But there was somebody at the table who wasn’t quite so delighted to hear the announcement. Caitlen looked at Harriet who was spinning her wine glass round by its stem, looking intently at its contents as they swirled up and down with the circular movement. Matt looked uncomfortable, too. Porter just stared. Becky should have picked her moment more carefully, but she was like that. Insensitive and careless. She probably hadn’t even given a second’s thought as to how it would make Harriet feel.

  Caitlen seized the moment. She allowed the congratulations to be passed around, the hugs, the whoops and the kisses. Then she struck, before everybody’s attention went back to their small huddles of conversation.

  ‘I’ve got some news of my own to share.’

  ‘Oh yes? You didn’t tell me. Don’t tell me I’m going to be a father!’ teased Terry.

  She hadn’t told him because she still wasn’t sure how he fitted into her plans. He was a technical idiot, hopeless with computers. He knew enough to find porn sites and tool suppliers, other than that he was clueless. That suited Caitlen. They weren’t married, this didn’t necessarily have to involve Terry. She’d figure that bit out afterwards.

  Everybody was watching her. No one had expected an announcement from Caitlen, yet it was true that on the conveyor belt of meeting, dating and living together she and Terry were now at the fork. Next came marriage or children. Nobody thought a break-up would be coming. Terry was far too much fun.

  So, as she surveyed her friends’ faces, Caitlen let them guess. She could see their minds whirring. Baby or marriage, take your pick. Well, surprise! It was neither.

  ‘Before you all start trying to guess, it’s not a baby and it’s not a wedding. It’s something completely different.’

  She saw a look of relief cross Terry’s face, but he was quickly in there with a quip.

  ‘Thank heavens!’ he said. ‘I just put our life savings on the 3.30 at Cheltenham ... and the bad news it’s now 8 o’clock and I lost the lot!’

  There was polite laughter, then all gazes turned back to Caitlen.

  ‘Oh no, it’s not bad news is it?’ Emmy asked. ‘You haven’t got cancer or anything, have you?’

  ‘No, no, it’s nothing like that. It’s good news. And it involves all of you, my best friends.’

  There was a collective sigh of relief. Nobody had even considered that it might be bad news, so Emmy’s question had caught them off their guard.

  ‘In 2011, well before I’d even met Terry, I was at work just before Christmas with an ... an old colleague of mine, Luke Chester. He’s left the country now, gone abroad, but
we always used to get on well. Very well, in fact.’

  Porter took a slow sip of wine, settling in for the story.

  ‘You know what it’s like when you’re killing time in the office in the run-up to Christmas. You have to be there, but everybody else has packed up early and gone home. We didn’t have anything to do, so we were just messing about online—’

  ‘Don’t tell me you found my porn videos?’ Terry piped up.

  Everybody laughed, but Caitlen felt her cheeks redden. That one had been a little too close to home bearing in mind what else she’d found on her own hard drive.

  ‘No, this has nothing to do with video nasties, Terry!’ she sparred back, keeping things light.

  ‘You’ve all heard about bitcoin, yes?’

  There were mutters around the table. They’d all heard about it, with the exception of Terry who made some terrible joke about half-eaten chocolate coins in his Christmas stocking. It fell flat. The consensus was that they’d heard of bitcoin, but hadn’t got a clue what it was.

  ‘Well, in 2011 even fewer people knew about it and it was really complicated to buy. So that afternoon Luke and I set ourselves a challenge. The first one to find out how to buy bitcoin didn’t have to make the next cup of tea. That was it. But it kept us both occupied all afternoon.’

  ‘Did you find out how to do it?’ Rhett said, wishing his wife Naomi had been able to make it to the meal to hear the news.

  ‘Luke did,’ Caitlen smiled, ‘and I had to make the next cup of tea. I’d completely forgotten about it until I checked my old computer last week. But I’ve still got the bitcoin I bought on that day.’

  Terry was clueless as to what she was suggesting, but their other guests had cottoned on straight away. They’d seen the sneering news reports about millennials who’d paid off their university fees with cryptocurrency and lucky couples who’d invested tiny amounts years ago and were now millionaires.

  ‘My goodness, how much is it worth now?’ said Kasey.

  He was a fellow geek, he and Caitlen often bonded over code. He understood exactly what she was saying. Even Terry had shut up now. He hadn’t got a clue what they were talking about but he could see Caitlen now had the undivided attention of the room. Anything capable of usurping Becky’s engagement announcement had to be worth listening to.

  ‘It’s worth over half a million dollars now ... give or take a few thousand.’

  There were gasps around the table. Terry’s face went white.

  ‘What’s that in pounds?’ Emmy asked, ever the journalist.

  ‘Four hundred thousand or thereabouts, depending on the exchange rate.’

  ‘Damn it, Caitlen! What are you going to do with it?’ said Becky, who’d now completely forgotten about her own engagement.

  ‘Well, that’s why I need to speak to all of you. I can’t take it all out at once. I’ve only managed to get fifteen thousand out so far.’

  ‘You didn’t tell me about this,’ Terry said, no longer in his usual upbeat voice. ‘When were you going to tell me?’

  Caitlen ignored him and carried on.

  ‘The truth is, I’m terrified it will get stolen. I can’t keep it on an old laptop, it’s like keeping your life savings under the mattress. People can just hack this stuff and help themselves.’

  ‘Can’t you stick it in a safe?’ Rhett asked.

  ‘It doesn’t work like that. I’ll need to convert it into money I can spend, and I can’t do that all at once. It’s not like traditional banks.’

  ‘I can’t believe it,’ Harriet said, the first words she’d uttered since Becky’s announcement.

  ‘What will you do?’ Kasey asked.

  ‘That’s why I need your help. I’m petrified someone is going to steal my bitcoin. I need to keep it safe until I can figure out what to do with it. I’ve managed to move it onto a small device – it’s like a USB drive, but very secure. It’s as safe as it can be there, but only if I don’t lose it or it doesn’t get stolen.

  The device is protected by a recovery password, a list of twenty-four random words. They keep my half-million dollars safe and secure: that’s all that stands between my newfound wealth and a Russian hacker.’

  ‘And what do you want from us?’ Emmy asked, sensing the big reveal was on its way.

  ‘I want to share two secret words with each of you. You’re the only people I trust. You’ll each get two of my passwords and I want you to remember them, that’s the securest way to store this information. It’s the only way to make sure nobody steals my bitcoin. Is everybody okay with that?’

  ‘So you want us to remember two words each, is that right? Can we write them down?’

  ‘No, you mustn’t write them down. Nobody can do anything to get the bitcoin unless they have all twenty-four words and I’ll keep hold of the last eight. I’d trust you all with my life, so I know that I can trust you with this. It won’t be for more than a month, two months at the most.’

  ‘What about me?’ Terry asked.

  Caitlen stumbled in her reply.

  ‘Well, er, don’t worry. I’ll keep our eight words in my head. Even I can remember that many words. Everybody alright to do that?’

  There were nods around the table. Terry looked as if he’d just been excluded from a private members’ club.

  ‘Thank you! I knew you’d help. I know it sounds paranoid, but hackers steal this stuff all the time. By the way, to say thank you I’m taking us all out for a treat. How does a week in Benidorm sound? I’ll foot the entire bill.’

  Chapter Three

  Naomi and Rhett: May

  ‘You stink of burgers!’ Rhett said, the minute she placed the kiss on his cheek.

  ‘Well, you smell of red wine, so you obviously had a better evening than I did.’

  ‘How was it?’

  Rhett didn’t really want to hear the answer. He knew how it was. Smelly, noisy and unpleasant. Still, it would be his turn at six o’clock the next day.

  ‘We had a group of teenagers in causing trouble. They were having a food fight across the dining area. It caused a right mess. Little buggers were out of there by the time the police arrived – in fact, we’d almost got the place cleared up by the time the police arrived. I’m sure they time their arrival so they have to do the least work possible.’

  ‘As good as that? Well, the minimum wage pay packet will make it all worthwhile. By the way, I got an extra shift first thing tomorrow morning. Three hours, six until nine o’clock. I’ll be back at my desk by nine-thirty ready for our meeting with Ted Maxwell. It’s another twenty-five pounds in the kitty. It all helps.’

  ‘How much longer do we need to keep this up, Rhett? I mean, seriously?’

  She stepped out of her uniform. She was wearing the Victoria’s Secret underwear that he’d bought her in better times. What a waste of great undies, in a fast-food restaurant of all places. She looked gorgeous, but Rhett knew better than to make a move after a long shift dealing with spotty teenagers. All she’d want to do is sleep.

  ‘We just need to land another contract. Just one bite and we’ll be in the clear. If Maxwell signs with us, we can both quit. It’ll buy us the time we need.’

  Naomi was fully naked now, her uniform neatly folded on a chair and her underwear discarded at the top of the pile in the clothes basket. When he saw her like that, moving unselfconsciously, completely oblivious to her sexiness, he wanted to take her, there and then. It would help him to forget, for a while at least, lost in the ecstasy of a sexual encounter. But Naomi was never up for it these days, the long shifts on her feet for hours on end were taking it out of her.

  Both of them were better suited to lighter work. Graphic design to be precise. Their idea of the perfect working day was spending eight hours at a Mac Pro, sipping filter coffee, Coldplay on in the background and messing about with some colour palette in Photoshop. It was money for old rope. But Rhett had got careless, and he would forever be in Naomi’s debt for taking it on the chin.

  ‘A
nything from the lawyers?’ she asked, as if reading his mind. ‘Or the insurance people, come to that?’

  There had been a letter from the lawyers and it hadn’t been good news. He wasn’t sure whether to tell her or not. She’d put on her dressing gown and was getting ready for a night-time shower. There would be no sex that night, so he opted to spill the beans.

  ‘It could be as much as five thousand pounds.’

  He watched the sharp intake of breath.

  ‘Bloody hell, Rhett. Why did you have to cut corners like that? You know the rules as well as I do. It’s ended up costing us more than it would have if you’d just paid for the image properly.’

  She’d taken it on the chin but that didn’t mean she wasn’t furious with him. How could he have been so stupid? They’d learned all about copyright law at university. They’d been in the same classes together, although it had taken some months until they became a couple.

  We bonded over a Pantone colour chart, they’d laugh, when recounting the story of how they’d got together.

  ‘They’re still pushing for full recompense. Five thousand pounds for swiping a single image. And what about the insurance? Have they said if they’ll pay up?’

  That was her fault. It was probably why she’d taken the moonlighting shifts so well. Naomi was in charge of the paperwork, that was the deal. When they’d gone it alone as Crossley Graphical Solutions, just the two of them, they’d divided up the work. She was in charge of the professional indemnity cover. Only she’d let it slip for a month, waiting for a new contract to come in before paying the bill. And now they were in a dispute about whether the insurance company would pay up or not. It was in the grey area that insurance companies seem to love so much.

  ‘We’re never going to get out of this loop, Rhett. How long is it going to take us to pay off that five thousand pounds? It’s going to take a lot of burger flipping to even make a dent in it. And if the insurance doesn’t pay, we’ll have the legal expenses too.’