“Of course, but my computer system is state-of-the-art. I’ve invested a lot of money in cybersecurity, and my system is as impenetrable as I can make it.”
“Who set up your system?” Zane asked.
“A colleague.” Ivy didn’t miss the wary looks they shared. They weren’t impressed, but she could fix that. “My guess is you’ve heard of her. She works with a lot of law enforcement agencies in this area. Her name is Sabrina.” Three sets of eyes reflected relief.
“Sabrina Campbell?” Gil didn’t try to hide his delight. Andhis use of her married name told her he knew her in more than a casual way.
“The same.”
“How do you know Dr. Campbell?”
“We have mutual professional contacts. I lectured at the university in Carrington. We struck up an acquaintance. If you know her at all, you can imagine how blunt she was with me about the importance of my computer systems having top-of-the-line security.”
That earned her a few chuckles. Yeah. They knew her.
“She revamped my system two years ago, and she runs random checks. She gets a kick out of trying to hack into her own systems.”
“Sounds right.” Zane looked at Emily. “Dr. Campbell is a genius. Scary smart like Dr. Collins here, but in a different way. Sabrina is a cybersecurity and computer forensics professor at the University of North Carolina in Carrington, but she consults all over the country. We’ve used her skills more than once. She’s married to a Carrington investigator who is also on their dive team, and we dive with them sometimes. Great people. Sabrina has a bit of a reputation for not always catching appropriate social cues. She can come across as abrasive, but she has a heart of gold.”
Emily nodded. “That’s great, but can y’all explain ransomware and why it matters?”
Ivy had a bad feeling that even though she already knew the answer, she wasn’t going to like the explanation.
Gil cleared his throat. “I’ll tell you in a minute, but first, we need a list of everyone who knows about the money.”
“I don’t mind telling you, but I don’t understand why that’s significant.”
“Because the people on that list are now our number one suspects.”
12
IVY CLEARLY DID NOT LIKE the direction this was going. “I don’t want to believe it could be any of them.”
“It’s possible that they aren’t responsible, but we have to start there. Twenty million can make people do things no one would have ever dreamed they would do.” Gil’s tone was gentle but firm as he asked, “Who knows about the money?”
She didn’t look at him. Instead, she focused on Luke when she answered. “To my knowledge, the only people who know are the attorney who handled the will, his secretary, Preston, my mom, and my ex.”
Gil had so many questions, he had to fight to keep his expression neutral. “Maybe you should explain how you came to have the money in the first place? When your dad died, wouldn’t the money have gone to your mom?”
Ivy blew out a long breath and finally looked at him. There was so much pain in her expression. Grief and resignation and shame. He wished he could take it all away. Or that she would let him help her carry it. “I’ve had to piece some of this together. Some of this he explained in a letter to me that he left with the attorney. After Mom went to jail, Dad wouldn’t file for divorce, but he also knewthat unless she repented and changed, truly changed, there was no way he could ever trust her again. That applied to all areas of their lives, but especially when it came to money.”
“Would you like to explain that further, in particular the part about your mom going to jail?” Luke asked the question, and Gil made a mental note to thank him later for being gentle when he did.
“After Dad’s accident, Mom and Dad fought all the time. Always about money. Then one summer, she took me on a trip across the US and stopped at places she’d lived before. She billed the trip as a way to see old friends. I know now that it was part of her preparing to leave him. I was headed to college that fall on a full scholarship, so even though I was only sixteen, she had decided she was done with parenting. And also done being a wife. She was going to stash money and”—she stumbled over the next words—“other items of value. Once she had her nest egg, she was going to bolt.”
Zane paced around the room. “Where was she going to get these items of value?”
Ivy stared at the floor again. “My mom stole from everyone we saw that summer. She waited to start fencing the jewelry and collectibles until we got back to Oregon. But...”
Gil heard her swallow, and he knew what was coming.
“She had stolen jewelry and the, um, the people she stole it from called the police and Dad. Dad allowed them to search the house. They found everything that she hadn’t fenced, but many of the items were already gone and never recovered. Some of them were heirlooms. Irreplaceable. Cherished.”
“I’m sorry, Ivy.” This came from Zane, who now knelt in front of her. “But did you help her steal anything?”
Ivy’s back straightened, and her pale cheeks flamed. “Of course not.”
Zane’s smile was gentle. “Then why are you so embarrassed? Yourmommade horrible decisions. You didn’t. We won’t judge you for your mother’s behavior. Please don’t judge yourself either.”
