Wired Strong: Vigilante Justice Thriller Series (Paradise Crime Thriller Book 12)

by Toby Neal

  Ka`ula’s desk was a monolith of native koa hardwood taking up one side of the room. A chair was parked in front of it where he doubtless met with errant employees and misbehaving students. Raveaux could see only the shiny black hair and narrow shoulders of a teenage boy as he entered—but his brows drew together. The embezzler wasn’t supposed to be a student!

  Ka`ula went around his desk and seated himself. “Help yourself to chairs and join us, please. Conrad, this is investigator Pierre Raveaux and investigator Hermione Leede. They have been conducting a private audit for our school.”

  Raveaux went to a stack of plastic chairs against the wall, and removed two of them, one for himself and one for Leede. Raveaux sat on one side of the boy, Leede on the other.

  Ka`ula dismissed the security guard, and the man exited and closed the door.

  Ka`ula removed a tech pad, and thumbed to an audio and video app. “The school needs a record of this interview for legal reasons,” he said, and set the device in an adjustable display holder, pointed in such a direction that it captured Conrad’s crossed arms and sullen face, along with Leede and Raveaux. Ka`ula rolled his office chair forward into the range of the video camera as well.

  He stated the date, time, and location, looking into the little red dot of the camera. “This is the interview of Conrad Kanekoa, aged sixteen, a junior student at Kama`aina Schools. Members present include Ms. Hermione Leede, investigator, Monsieur Pierre Raveaux, investigator, and myself, Dr. Stuart Ka`ula, Headmaster for the school. This interview is being conducted to determine if Conrad may have been tampering with our school computer system.” Now that the formalities had been stated, Ka`ula sat back, weaving his fingers together and setting them over his stomach. “Conrad was using the computer accessed by our tamperer. Let’s begin with that.”

  As he took in the teen seated beside them, Raveaux mentally composed his future case notes. Conrad Kanekoa wore the standard black polo shirt with the school’s emblem, Bermuda shorts, black socks and tennis shoes. The boy had his hair cut short in a style that must be school regulation, because it didn’t seem to match the leather bracelet he wore on one wrist and a shark’s tooth pendant on a cord around his neck. He kept his eyes down and his arms crossed on his chest. “I don’t know what I did wrong.”

  Ka`ula spoke from across the desk. “We don’t know what you did wrong, either. Why don’t you tell us what you were doing on that computer lab unit?”

  “I was just doing some searches for charities.”

  Raveaux felt that sensation that he sometimes got on an investigation: a sense of something coming into focus. He made a note on his phone: charities as motive?

  Ka`ula continued with his interrogation. “We had that computer under surveillance. You were doing something that involved keystrokes that were more than just a search.”

  The boy looked up, and his brown eyes were wide with anger. “Don’t I have any rights?”

  Ka`ula smiled dourly. “No, you don’t. Not on our school campus, or on our school computers. You were perfectly aware of what you were doing because you used a VPN and were using incognito mode.”

  Conrad lowered his gaze, and tightened his arms across his stomach. “I haven’t done anything wrong,” he said again.

  Leede held up a hand. “You must be wondering what we’re doing here.”

  Conrad slanted her a side-eye, but didn’t reply.

  Leede went on. “We’re with a company called Security Solutions, and we have been investigating a problem in the Kama`aina Schools’ bookkeeping. I am a forensic accountant and spent my career with Scotland Yard as an investigator.” Spoken in her precise British accent, she sounded quite intriguing. “I wonder if you can help us.”

  Ka`ula drew his brows down, opening his mouth to object to Leede’s openness approach, but Raveaux caught his eye and gave a slight negative shake of his head, indicating to let Leede continue.

  Leede leaned forward. “Conrad. May I call you Conrad?” The boy nodded. “Conrad, I have been a forensic investigator for many years, and seldom have I encountered such a clever and effective way of siphoning money as what was developed to skim from the Kama`aina Schools’ general account. Whoever designed this system was very skilled. Our entire team has been stumped for weeks trying to figure it out.”

  An exaggeration, but Raveaux could appreciate where she was going. He felt that twitch at his mouth again: Heri Leede definitely made him want to smile.

  “I nevah know no’ting about dat,” the boy tried to maintain his surly attitude, but Raveaux heard the slight inflection of pride underneath his pidgin English bluster.

  “Well, now that I’ve shared what we’re here about, I wonder if we could enlist your help?”

  Conrad gave a slight nod, and Leede went on. “What we were able to determine was that this person used the very same unit that you did in the school computer lab. We were looking for an adult, someone who was on the board perhaps, maybe a teacher who got fired, someone who might have had a bone to pick with Kama`aina Schools. That’s why we had the computer monitored for anyone who might be using it. Might you have any ideas on how we could capture this computer mastermind?” Leede slid her cat eye glasses down her nose and batted her pretty blue eyes at the boy. “Do you know anything about hacking?”

  Conrad darted a look at Ka`ula behind his desk. “Maybe.”

  Raveaux thought quickly. “Dr. Ka`ula, I find myself in need of the men’s room. Would you mind showing me the facilities?”

  Ka`ula opened his mouth to object, but once again, Raveaux signaled him, and the headmaster got the message. “All right. We might as well grab a cup of coffee, too. Can we get you anything, Ms. Leede?” He bustled around the side of the desk.

  “I’m fine, thank you,” she said.

  Raveaux stood as well. “Call me on my cell if the kid gives you any trouble,” he told Leede gruffly. The two men exited the room and shut the door behind them.

  Raveaux patted Ka`ula’s shoulder once they were in the hall. “Ms. Leede could get a clam to open and give up its pearl. Don’t you worry, she’ll get the boy talking,”

  Ka`ula’s habitual frown remained. He turned to the security guard. “No one enters or leaves that room,” he said.

  “Yes, sir.”

  Ka`ula turned back to Raveaux. “Well?”

  “I really would like that cup of coffee,” he said.

  Ka`ula led him to the staff lounge where a Keurig machine stood ready to brew a variety of pods.

  The headmaster’s stiff attitude seemed to wilt as he entered the breakroom and no other staff were there. He shut the door and leaned his forehead against it. “I can’t believe it’s a student,” he said. “This is going to look very bad to the board. To the community.”

  Raveaux chose a French roast pod and inserted it into the machine, positioning his mug beneath the spout and pushing down the handle. “I believe we will find that something is going on with this kid that made him siphon the money. We already had a tip that his mother was acting odd; maybe he has some motive that we don’t yet understand. Quite frankly, should word get out, a student hacking your system and embezzling from the general fund is better for the school than someone on the board or a staff member.”

  Ka`ula stared out the window, and Raveaux joined him. The view was lovely: rolling lawns, a tidy tennis court, and an Olympic-size swimming pool filled with students playing water polo, surrounded by mature coconut palms. “You might be right. In a way, this could be a compliment to the school.” His gloomy expression began to brighten as he considered how to spin the news. “We cater to the ‘best and brightest’ of Hawaiian children. This young man must be both.”

  “The situation will need to be kept as quiet as possible—from what I understand, that is what the board wants,” Raveaux said. “Once we determine if the boy is the hacker, we plug the holes he’s made, and you get your money back. The school leadership can discuss what, if anything, needs to be prosecuted—and thus, potentially become
public knowledge.”

  “The student’s folder is at my receptionist’s desk,” Ka`ula said. “As soon as we identified him in the lab, I had my secretary make a copy of it for you. You and your team can take the file back to study. If Leede hasn’t been able to get him to talk, we can pull in some more pressure on his mother, and try that angle.”

  “Excellent plan.” Both men doctored their fresh cups of coffee, and returned to the headmaster’s office.

  Leede and Conrad were leaning close, talking, when Ka`ula opened the heavy door. They straightened up, but appeared to have become friends. Leede straightened her bright orange jacket and pushed her glasses up her nose. “Conrad, here, has a grave injustice that he would like to see rectified.”

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Raveaux

  Raveaux fixed his gaze on the boy as Conrad leaned forward with a sudden burst of anger, setting his elbows on the desk in front of the headmaster. “I do have a grave injustice I would like to see rectified—the racist admissions policy of this school!”

  Ka`ula’s lowered brows shot up in surprise. “We are following the dictates of the Kama`aina Trust: that the Kama`aina Schools support the children of Hawaii.”

  “There have been many challenges to that wording.” Conrad said. “And I, for one, think it’s racist.” He sat back, crossing his arms over his chest. Once again, his spine curved into the shape of a sullen teen.

  Leede cleared her throat delicately. “I think that what Conrad is trying to say, is that he has . . .”

  “I can hear with my own two ears what he has to say,” Ka`ula retorted. “I fail to see how a kid’s opinion on our school’s policies has anything to do with the matter at hand.”

  Leede cocked her head in that birdlike way. “Conrad, perhaps you need to explain a little further to Dr. Ka`ula.”

  “Explain what?” Ka`ula growled, when the boy remained stubbornly mute.

  This was going nowhere fast.

  Raveaux addressed the young man before him. “Did you have anything to do with the bookkeeping problems that Kama`aina Schools has experienced?”

  A sly smile curved the boy’s mouth. “I plead the fifth on that.”

  “This office is not a court of law in which you get to plead the fifth on anything,” Ka`ula said. He seemed to rein himself in with an effort. “Kama`aina Schools serves the best and brightest of Hawaii’s children. You seem to be one of those, young man. Perhaps you would like to tell me more about why you feel that the school’s policy is racist.”

  “Because the trust specifies the ‘children of Hawaii’ but it doesn’t say children of Polynesian blood!”

  “I fail to see why you are upset about that, when you’re benefitting from that policy,” Ka`ula replied.

  The boy clammed up again.

  Ka`ula threw his hands up in the air. “Maybe we should just let the FBI get involved after all.”

  Conrad’s eyes flew wide, and Leede made a gesture with her hand. “Perhaps it’s time to call the boy’s parent. She might be able to shed some light on the matter.”

  “You are absolutely right.” Ka`ula reached for his phone, pressed a button, and briskly directed his receptionist to contact Jana Kanekoa at her workplace.

  Leede patted the boy’s shoulder. “I’m sure your mother will be very concerned.”

  Conrad hunched forward, covering his face with his hands, clearly mortified at the prospect of his mother’s arrival. Ka`ula looked to both Leede and Raveaux. “I think we can take it from here. Once the parent gets here, she can help us get to the bottom of this. If not, we’ll call the police.”

  “Respectfully, I disagree with calling the authorities just yet,” Raveaux said. “We would like to get to the bottom of it ourselves, without law enforcement involvement at the moment.”

  “But you are right, Doctor Ka`ula, that we need his mother present. He is a minor, and thus, unable to make his own decisions.” Leede said it gently, but the effect on Conrad was electric.

  “Bullshit!” The boy sat up suddenly, throwing open his arms in an expansive gesture. “Don’t you dare say I can’t make my own decisions. I could steal you blind, and you wouldn’t even know it. You idiots have no idea what’s been going on. You’re never going to have any idea what happened to that money, or why I did it.”

  “Tell us more about that,” Leede led him like a lamb to slaughter with her admiring smile. “I’d like to understand how a student as brilliant as you, did what you did, and why.”

  Conrad flexed his skinny arms. “I can’t explain that part to you, I’m sure it’s too technical for you to follow,” he said patronizingly. “But I did it because this school is racist. That money was going to places where it could make a difference for kids who weren’t going to have the kind of opportunity I did, coming here.”

  “Thank you for your confession, Mr. Kanekoa,” Ka`ula said. “This is all being recorded, which you were informed of at the beginning of our interview.”

  The color drained from Conrad’s face as he realized he had been baited. “I’d like a lawyer now.”

  “Again, this is not a court or a police matter at this point,” Ka`ula said. “You have no rights in this office. But we do need all the information so that we can make an informed decision about consequences for the crime that you’ve committed. You might as well tell us everything.”

  Just then, the door banged open. “Tell us what?” A tall, plump woman wearing a tropical print shirt and leggings with a pair of high heels strode into the room. Mrs. Kanekoa put her hands on her hips, and she was an intimidating sight as she glared at the headmaster. “How dare you interview my son without my presence. He’s a minor!”

  “You were called as soon as was appropriate, Mrs. Kanekoa.” Ka`ula bit down on his lower lip, clearly needing a moment to deal with his irritation.

  Leede stood up. She extended a hand toward Jana Kanekoa. “I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Hermione Leede, and I’m a private investigator. This is my associate, Pierre Raveaux, with Security Solutions.” Raveaux waved from where he was seated—one more adult outnumbering her child would only provoke the woman’s protective parental instincts.

  Leede went on. “We have been retained by Kama`aina Schools to investigate a situation of missing funds embezzled through an ingenious computer programming scheme. Your son has admitted that he is involved in this crime.”

  Kanekoa swiveled to stare at the boy. “Conrad! I taught you better than that!” Conrad lowered his gaze, but his mouth was set mulishly.

  The headmaster stood up. “Mrs. Kanekoa, let me get you a chair.”

  Raveaux stood up and gestured for the woman to take his. “Please. Have a seat, madame.”

  Kanekoa sat down beside her son. “Why wasn’t I called immediately?”

  “You were called as soon as we realized the seriousness of Conrad’s involvement,” Dr. Ka`ula said. “I must remind you that this is a private school and a private matter, not yet a police investigation. But it could become that, if we don’t know and understand everything that Conrad has been up to. Also, we are recording this interview for our records.”

  Raveaux went over to the stack of chairs and quietly removed another one. He seated himself in the corner, out of the view of the video camera and the drama taking place in front of the desk. Mrs. Kanekoa shouldn’t feel like she was so outnumbered that it prompted her to remove the boy. Should she attempt to do so, they would be unable to do anything but call the police, and he could tell that Leede was hoping that they could still resolve the whole thing right here, right now.

  Leede opened her mouth and said just that. “We have identified the money trail, and it ends at a private account in the Cayman Islands. We have had the FBI offer to provide us information about the owner of that account. But, for that to happen, we need to open a formal FBI case. So far, Dr. Ka`ula and the Board of Kama`aina Schools would like to handle this matter privately. Conrad, if you will give us a full confession, and return the money
that you stole, I’m sure that would go a long way to assuaging the concern that the school has about this security breach.”

  Conrad licked his lips. Slowly, deliberately, he turned to face Ka`ula behind his massive desk. “Screw you,” the boy said, and flipped the headmaster the bird.

  Mrs. Kanekoa reacted in rage; she grabbed Conrad’s arm and yanked him up from his chair. “We’ll be in touch with you when my son has come to his right mind,” she said through gritted teeth. “Please hold off on calling the police or the FBI until I can talk some sense into him. You have my word that I’ll get him to tell you what you need to know and give the money back.”

  The boy still refused to get up, so his mother grabbed him by the ear. Conrad yelped as she pulled him out of the chair, and marched him out of the room, all the way out through the door.

  Ka`ula turned to the video recording the entire thing. “This concludes our interview with Conrad Kanekoa and his mother, Jana,” he said, and pressed off.

  The three of them stared at each other for a moment. Ka`ula dropped his face into his hands and made a moaning noise. “This is a nightmare.”

  Leede stood up. “I disagree. As I’m sure Monsieur Raveaux told you, it’s much better from a PR standpoint, to have it be a brilliant student rip off the school than one of the adults on your staff. The boy is also doing something with the money that sends it to charities. There’s a story here—we just need to understand what it is.”

  “Ms. Leede is correct,” Raveaux said. “Let’s give them a day or so.”

  “Yes. And before you come down too hard on him, or get the police involved, let my partner and me go out to their house and see what we can get him to tell us voluntarily. In the meantime, you can notify the board of the progress we’ve made. I’m sure that will go a long way to establishing a positive outcome.” Leede smiled, and came around the desk to pat the man’s shoulder comfortingly. “We know our way out.”