Christmas Data Breach

by K. D. Richards

  Just a few days before Christmas, it was fairly busy with people getting an early start on their holiday travel. The sight of them, dirt laden and out of breath, drew a few curious stares.

  Gideon wrapped his arm around her, leading her into the line of travelers going in and out of the building, his gun once again tucked away in the waistband of his jeans.

  Mya glanced over her shoulder as she stepped into the warmth and relative safety of the rest stop. She didn’t see anyone coming from the direction of the trees, but that didn’t mean much.

  Had their pursuer simply blended into the crowd as they had?

  Chapter Twenty

  Mya washed up in the rest stop ladies’ room, fighting to control her racing thoughts. How had she ended up more or less bathing in a rest stop sink, her research gone, running for her life? Most importantly, who was this man trying to kill her? And why did she feel like she knew him somehow?

  The plethora of emotions she’d cycled through over the last several days all crashed down on her at once. She wasn’t a crier by nature, but the impulse to sink to the floor and sob almost overpowered her.

  She splashed water on her face with trembling hands. Stress. From the situation and from the emotions churning between herself and Gideon. Their confrontation in the woods had felt like a breakthrough of sorts, even if he had been right about it not being the right time or place. They definitely had more pressing matters to deal with.

  Mya exited the restroom to the sound of holiday music and found Gideon waiting for her just outside the door.

  “What are we going to do now?” Mya asked.

  “We’re going to get a new car. A major rest stop like this is bound to have a rental car place somewhere nearby. West has corporate accounts with most of them, and if they don’t, I’ll just use my corporate card.”

  “We can use mine. You shouldn’t have to pay for a rental.”

  He shook his head. “No. It would take significantly more pull to have a trace on your credit card than to put a tracker on the Tahoe, but I don’t want to take the chance. We don’t know who we’re dealing with, but if it is Shannon or someone else involved in Big Pharma, it’s clear they have the resources.” He glanced over at her. “There’s no way they’d get by West’s security.”

  “This is all so crazy. Switching cars and Molotov cocktails. Brian and Rebecca murdered. All for what?”

  “People will do all kinds of things for the kind of money TriGen stands to make off your treatment.”

  A cashier at the rest stop directed them to a rental car company a quarter mile away. The morning’s events followed by a trek through the woods left Mya exhausted but she kept pace with Gideon.

  They arrived just as the office opened. It didn’t take long to fill out the paperwork and get the keys for a nondescript green four-door Chevrolet sedan.

  He was signing his name to the contract when Mya gasped. He dropped the pen and reached for the gun tucked into his waistband.

  But he, Mya, and the clerk were still the only ones in the office, and a quick scan of the parking lot showed it was also clear.

  Mya’s gaze was locked onto the television hanging on the wall behind the clerk. The bottom of the screen was cluttered with the usual breaking news announcements, but Detective Kamal stood behind a cluster of microphones on the screen.

  “You mind turning that up?” Gideon asked the clerk.

  “At this time, we believe the murders of Brian Leeds and Rebecca Conway are related to each other and to the fire at TriGen. We continue to investigate,” the detective was saying.

  Off-screen, reporters began yelling questions at Kamal before she’d looked up from the paper she’d been reading. “Detective, our sources say that you are about to arrest TriGen director, Dr. Mya Rochon. Is that true?”

  Kamal’s expression was withering. “When we arrest a person for these crimes, we will announce it.”

  “But is Dr. Rochon a suspect?” the reporter called out.

  Detective Kamal glared. “The doctor is a suspect. Excuse me.” She turned away from the microphones and headed up the steps to the doors of the police station. The television shot moved back to the in-studio anchor.

  “How could she say that? I can’t—” Mya couldn’t catch her breath. It felt like she’d been punched in the chest.

  Gideon shot her a look and shook his head.

  The clerk, who’d had his back to them watching along, turned back to face Gideon and Mya. “Everything okay?”

  “Fine.” Gideon hoisted their bags onto his shoulder once more. He grabbed the keys to the rental with one hand and her elbow with the other, and he shepherded her out the door. Mya made no effort to resist. All she could think about was Kamal’s words. She was a suspect in a murder.

  “I can’t believe this,” Mya said once they were in the car. “She all but called me a murderer on television!”

  “Calm down.” Gideon adjusted the mirrors in the car and turned over the engine. “Let’s find a place to get breakfast, and I’ll call James, see what’s going on.”

  They drove about a quarter mile before Gideon pulled into the parking lot of a diner with a retro design too appealing to be genuinely old.

  Mya’s stomach grumbled, but she ignored it, impatiently waiting for Gideon’s call to West’s offices to connect. It took only seconds, but it felt like hours.

  “Have you seen the news?” James asked as soon as Gideon identified himself.

  “Just a little while ago. What the hell’s going on back there?” Gideon demanded.

  “Detective Kamal is determined to pin this on Mya. I’ve talked to our police sources, and they say Kamal is convinced the fire and murders are all Mya’s attempt to cover up the fact that her research is a failure.”

  Mya struggled to comprehend what she was hearing. “Without any evidence.”

  “Kamal confirmed the weapon used to kill Rebecca was the award found next to her. It had Mya’s fingerprints on it.”

  Gideon swore. “Of course it did. It’s her award.”

  “And that’s what the prosecutor said when Kamal took it to her to get a warrant for Mya’s arrest.” Mya felt like all the air had been sucked out of the car. Kamal wanted to arrest her. Panic roiled her stomach.

  Gideon reached for her hand and squeezed. “Brendan’s keeping an eye on things, and I’ll let you know if anything changes.” He kept hold of her hand as he filled James in on the attack at the hotel and being pursued through the woods. “We’ve switched cars. I need you to get someone to pick up the Tahoe.” Gideon glanced up at the sky. “We should get to Ross’s house by early afternoon.” Assuming the weather held.

  Gideon ended the call and turned to face Mya. “I don’t want you to worry.”

  Mya stared out the front windshield of the sedan. “Sure, I won’t worry about being arrested for murder.” A choked, desperate laugh escaped her lips.

  “Mya, look at me.” She turned to face him. “You aren’t going to be arrested. We will get your research notes from Ross and prove your treatment works. Kamal’s theory falls apart if the treatment works. Mya, baby, are you listening to me?” Gideon’s tone took on a note of desperation.

  Mya swallowed hard and forced herself to focus on his face. Some of the hysteria swirling inside of her subsided. He was an anchor, keeping her from tipping over into a full-blown panic attack.

  She nodded.

  “Come on,” Gideon said, bringing her hand to his lips for a kiss. “Let’s get something to eat and make a plan.”

  * * *

  OVER BREAKFAST, GIDEON and Mya agreed the best course of action was to continue with the plan to speak with Rebecca’s mother before heading to Irwin’s cabin. Proving the treatment worked had taken on greater urgency, but Kamal’s insistence on pinning the murders on Mya at the expense of finding the real killers lit a fire in Mya. If Kamal
wouldn’t get justice for Rebecca and Brian, then it was left to her to make sure they got it.

  As Gideon drove the gravel drive cutting through the trailer park, a long-forgotten memory floated to the surface of Mya’s mind. The one and only time she and her mother had gone to Louisiana to visit Nana Mimi, her maternal grandmother. Nana Mimi had lived in a mobile home park much like the one they currently drove through. Her mother had promised there would be a lot of kids to play with and there were. Mya had made several friends in the first days.

  The friendships hadn’t lasted long.

  She and her mother were supposed to stay for the entire summer, but a week after they arrived, her mother and Nana Mimi had gotten into a huge argument over what Nana Mimi called their wicked city lifestyle. The next morning her mother had packed their suitcases, and they’d boarded a Greyhound back to New York.

  Mya shook herself back into the present and noticed residents eying the car from front porches and from behind dusty windows as it passed.

  Gideon stopped the rental in front of a white single wide. A wreath proclaiming “Merry Christmas” hung on the front door. The curtains at the window facing the front fluttered.

  “Someone’s home,” Gideon said, turning off the engine. “I think you should do the talking if she lets us inside.”

  “Really?” She didn’t even try to hide her surprise. He’d barely wanted to let her out of the house over the last several days. Now he wanted her to question Rebecca’s mother. “What’s the catch?”

  Gideon chuckled. “No catch. I think questions about her daughter will go down easier if they’re asked by another woman, especially one who worked with and cared about her daughter.”

  “That makes sense. Any questions in particular you want me to ask?”

  “Just try to elicit as much information as you can. We aren’t totally sure what might be helpful. I do want to show her Shannon’s picture, see if she recognizes her.”

  Mya exhaled a deep breath. “Okay.” She reached for the door handle.

  “Hey.” Gideon reached out and swept a finger gently along her cheek. “Don’t worry. I’ll be right there. I’ll jump in if you need me, but I know you can do this.”

  His touch was reassuring. The curtains at the mobile home’s front window fluttered again.

  They hopped out of the car and climbed the stairs of the small porch.

  Gideon rapped on the screen door.

  The main door opened a crack, and a dishwater blonde peeked around its side. “Yes?” Marie’s blue eyes reflected suspicion.

  “Miss Calcott? My name is Mya Rochon. This is Gideon Wright. I worked with your daughter, Rebecca.”

  “I know who you are. Rebecca spoke about you often.”

  From the woman’s expression, Mya couldn’t tell whether that was a positive or negative, so she plowed on. “I want to express my condolences for your loss.”

  “Thank you, but I doubt you came all this way to convey condolences. What do you want?”

  “Could we come in, please? We just want to talk.”

  “I have to get to work.”

  “Please? We just want a few minutes of your time,” Mya implored. She couldn’t help but be glad they hadn’t called before coming. There was no way Marie would have agreed to talk to them over the phone. As it was, it was going to take all the charm and finesse she possessed to convince the woman to invite them in. Mya changed tacks. “I care about Rebecca and I want to find out who did this to her. That’s why we’re here. Mr. Wright is a private investigator. I’ve hired him to help find Rebecca’s killer.”

  Marie’s expression didn’t change, but she opened the door a little wider. “Isn’t that a job for the police?”

  “The police have multiple cases to investigate,” Gideon answered. “This is the only case I’m working.”

  Marie eyed them for another moment before reaching out and flicking the lock on the screen door. “Come in.” She held the screen door open and allowed them to pass into the house.

  Marie waved them to the well-worn sofa and flopped into one of two chairs at the round table set against the opposite wall.

  “What do you want to know?” Marie drummed her finger against the tabletop.

  Mya shifted on her couch. “I only met Rebecca seven months ago when she applied for the receptionist job at TriGen. Anything you can tell us about Rebecca before she moved to New York might be helpful.”

  “Rebecca is, was, smart, ambitious, but she was so impatient and more than a little entitled though who can say where she got that from. I mean, look around, I don’t got much, but I worked for every bit of it.”

  “I’m sure you did.”

  “I tried to instill the right values in her. Study hard, work hard, earn your way in this life. Some of it got through, I think. Boy, was that girl smart. Got all As all the way through high school. I’m not ashamed to say I was more than a little proud.”

  “Of course you were. It’s an accomplishment for both of you.”

  “You’re right about that. I can tell neither of you have kids, but it’s no easy feat raising one by yourself,” Marie said.

  “You’re right that we’re not parents, but Gideon and I were raised by single parents, so we know it’s not easy,” Mya responded, hoping to build rapport with Marie. “Do you know why Rebecca left college?”

  Marie grabbed a cigarette from the pack of Marlboros on the table and went to the rear window. “Some irony, huh? I work in healthcare, yet I’m hooked on these little killers.” She pushed the window sash up. “Rebecca didn’t leave school. She was kicked out. Never went to class. Failed all the tests.” She took a long pull on the cigarette and held it for several seconds. “Entitled,” she finally said, expelling cigarette smoke with the word.

  “What did she do after she left school?”

  “For a while, nothing. Not until I made it clear she had to get a job or get out. She worked at the public library for a while. Shelving books, reading to the kids, that kind of thing. Then one day, she said she was leaving.”

  “Did she say why?”

  “There was nothing here for her, she said, which, to be honest, I couldn’t argue against.” Marie blew out another plume of smoke. “She said she was going to try a city like Philly or DC. Someplace where she could work and go to school part-time. Although, I suspect the school part was entirely for my benefit. I’d been on her case to go back to school.”

  “It does look like she took a few classes at a university in New York.”

  “That’s good, I guess. That girl was too smart for her own good.” Tears pooled in Marie’s eyes.

  “We know this must be hard for you. Just a few more questions.”

  Marie glanced at the watch on her wrist. “Only a few. I got to leave for work soon.”

  “Do you know how Rebecca ended up in New York?” At the other woman’s confused expression, Mya added, “You said Rebecca left Hagerstown with plans to go to DC or Philadelphia. What made her change her mind and move to New York?”

  “Oh, well, I don’t think it was so much of a change in mind as it was she’d set her mind to moving to a city. Probably any city would have done. I don’t know for sure why she chose New York. Maybe just that that was where the bus was going.”

  “Do you remember the exact day she left?”

  “Oh, yeah. February 14. I tried to talk her into waiting a month or two until it was warmer. I mean, who wants to move in the winter? But she wanted to go on Valentine’s Day. Said it was a day when people got engaged and started new lives. She wasn’t getting engaged, but it was the start of a new life.” Marie sucked on the cigarette. “I don’t go in for all that romantic claptrap, but I didn’t want her to leave here on an argument so...” Marie shrugged, flicked the nub of her cigarette out the window, and closed the sash.

  “I’m sorry, I’ve got to go to
work.”

  Mya rose from the couch with Gideon by her side. She gave him a nod. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his phone. “Just one more question. Do you recognize this woman?”

  Gideon called Shannon’s photo up and held the phone out. Marie took it, turning it so she could see the picture right side up.

  Marie’s eyes lit with recognition. “’Course I know who she is. Shannon. She looks just like she did when she was growing up.” From the frown on Marie’s face, it didn’t appear she had fond memories of little Shannon.

  Mya had a hard time keeping herself from cheering. She could feel it. This was the connection they’d been looking for. Proof that Shannon was behind everything that had happened.

  “She and my Rebecca are cousins on Rebecca’s father’s side. Rebecca idolized Shannon. Rebecca cried for a week when Shannon moved away.” Marie handed the phone back to Gideon. “I tried to keep the girls in touch, but—” Marie shrugged again “—you know how it goes.” Marie’s gaze darted between Mya and Gideon. “Why? What does Shannon have to do with this?”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Gideon followed Marie’s white Altima out of the trailer park and onto the highway. Marie sped off the moment the Altima’s tires met the pavement. But she’d been happy enough to be late to work in order to dish about Shannon.

  “Interesting family,” Gideon said, eyeing the distant taillights on Marie’s car.

  “What’s the saying? Every family is dysfunctional in its own way.”

  Gideon shot a glance across the car. “According to Marie, Shannon was a devil intent on leading the little angel Rebecca astray.”

  “Pretty much tracks with grown-up Shannon, in my experience. You know what this means, right? This is the connection we needed to prove that Rebecca was working for Shannon, and Shannon is the one behind Rebecca and Brian’s murders.”

  “It’s a connection. We’ll pass it on to Detective Kamal and get started digging up the evidence we need to prove Travers is involved.” Kamal wouldn’t be able to ignore the relationship between Rebecca and Travers, but it didn’t prove Travers was behind the theft and murders.