Chapter 10 - Linda’s Interview
Linda’s interview lasted four hours.
Marcus did not attend.
He waited in Rebecca’s office lobby with Richard.
For the first hour, neither spoke.
Then Richard asked, “Did your father ever teach you poker?”
Marcus looked up.
“No.”
“Good.”
“Why?”
“He cheated.”
Marcus smiled despite himself.
“How?”
“He was terrible at cheating. That was the entertaining part.”
Marcus studied his grandfather.
Richard rarely told stories about Daniel.
Perhaps guilt had turned memory into restricted territory.
“Did you like him?”
Richard looked surprised.
“At first.”
“What changed?”
“He married my daughter.”
“That’s stupid.”
“Yes.”
Marcus appreciated the lack of defense.
Richard continued.
“Daniel was talented. He also had no interest in pretending I was more impressive than I was.”
“Sounds dangerous.”
“It was unbearable.”
Marcus laughed.
The interview-room door opened later.
Linda emerged exhausted.
Rebecca followed.
“What happened?” Marcus asked.
Linda sat.
“I told them everything.”
“Everything?”
“Yes.”
She had described Julian’s warning call.
Daniel’s insistence on fighting.
Her fear.
The settlement.
Her decision.
She also disclosed something Marcus had not known.
After Daniel died, Linda contacted Caroline once.
Marcus stared.
“When?”
“Seven years ago.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to ask whether she knew anything.”
“And?”
“She told me if I started accusing people, Vale would enforce every provision of the settlement and pursue repayment.”
Richard’s face hardened.
“She threatened you?”
“She reminded me what I had signed.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Linda laughed without humor.
“You still think that was an obvious option?”
Richard looked down.
No.
It had not been.
Linda turned to Marcus.
“I should have tried anyway.”
Marcus said nothing.
Rebecca sat.
“The committee also interviewed Samuel this morning. Julian’s forensic records are strong. But there is still a missing piece.”
“What?” Marcus asked.
“Proof connecting Caroline directly to the local files found on Daniel’s workstation.”
“Julian said she put them there.”
“Julian is implicated himself. Corroboration matters.”
Richard asked, “What kind?”
“Device records. A witness. Contemporaneous communication.”
Marcus thought.
“What happened to Dad’s computer?”
Richard frowned.
“Corporate hardware was usually wiped and reassigned.”
Linda shook her head.
“Not that one.”
Everyone looked at her.
“Daniel’s laptop was returned to us after the settlement.”
Richard stared.
“Why?”
“They said it had been removed from service because it contained personal files.”
Rebecca leaned forward.
“Where is it?”
Linda went still.
Marcus knew that expression.
“Mom.”
“I may still have it.”
Richard stood.
“Where?”
“Storage.”
Linda rented a small unit in Queens.
It contained Daniel’s tools, old furniture, baby clothes, and boxes she had been unable to throw away.
At the back, beneath an artificial Christmas tree, sat a gray laptop bag.
Marcus recognized it.
Daniel had let him play simple games on that computer during treatment.
Linda unzipped the bag.
The old laptop was inside.
Marcus felt as if his father had walked into the storage unit.
Rebecca immediately stopped everyone from turning it on.
“We preserve it properly.”
A forensic examiner collected it the next morning.
Two days passed.
Then three.
On the fourth evening, Rebecca called.
The laptop still contained recoverable deleted data.
Someone had copied the stolen bid files into Daniel’s local project directory from an external USB device.
The copy occurred at 6:14 a.m.
Daniel’s building-access records showed he did not arrive until 7:52.
Marcus’s heart pounded.
“So someone else used his laptop.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“That’s the missing piece.”
There was more.
The USB device had connected to another Vale computer the previous evening.
A device identifier survived in the logs.
Investigators searched archived endpoint records.
One match.
Caroline’s assigned office computer.
Linda began crying.
Marcus did not.
He felt too still.
Richard sat down heavily.
Rebecca’s voice remained cautious.
“This is strong technical evidence. It does not show whose hand inserted the device.”
Marcus looked toward his grandfather.
“But now Julian’s story matches the computers.”
“Yes.”
Richard closed his eyes.
For eleven years, Daniel’s confession had been the strongest document in the story.
Now the machines contradicted it.
Marcus whispered, “Dad really was innocent.”
Linda reached for him.
This time Marcus let her hold his hand.
Then Rebecca added one thing.
“The forensic examiner also recovered a personal file Daniel deleted shortly before returning the laptop.”
Marcus looked up.
“What file?”
“A letter.”
“To who?”
Rebecca’s voice softened.
May you like
“To you.”
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