AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We end up finishing our meeting a little early, so I send William and Eliza home to finish their workdays there. I stick around for the next few hours since it would be pointless to drive the fifty minutes home when I could get more done if I stayed.
My curiosity gets the better of me, and I find my way to the osteoporosis offices. I find one of the research assistants working on one of the computers, but the rest of the office is silent.
“Hey, I’m Carter from the IT department. Do you know anything about the scoring issues your department was having?” I ask the mousy girl who can’t be any older than twenty-two. While I know the program they were using isn’t the same at RetLab, I want to see if maybe these computers have a different version of the program than we have. If so, I’ll know if this lab is the one messing with the program or if it’s a company-wide issue.
“Oh, yeah. It was mainly user error, I think. We had a couple of volunteers who were entering the data wrong. I don’t think there’s been any issues since, though.”
I nod. “Okay, is there an open computer I could use to look at the program just to make sure it’s running properly?”
She points me to a desk in the corner that’s used for the volunteers who come in to help. I log in using my guest credentials first to see what the volunteers have access to on the computer. From what I can tell, it’s all pretty straightforward, and if they try to dig into anything they shouldn’t, they get blocked by our security program. It’s good to know that part is working well. It could also explain why they were getting a firewall before.
I log out and then use my credentials to give me full access. From there, I’m able to navigate into RetLab and see what Inez was talking about. The most recent update was in February. I search for the program on the manufacturer’s website to find that Inez was right about that, as well. The most recent program update from them came in October.
Why would someone update the program on their own? If they needed to fix something, they would’ve contacted our team for help. Even then, we wouldn’t have ever changed the code. It could potentially change the outcomes of their data. I don’t get it in the slightest, nor do I have enough knowledge about the scoring program to test it out to see what would be accurate or not. At least not right now. William has the scoring criteria for some of this stuff.
Logging off, I head back to the IT office. I want to check our computers to see if the program has the same date. The minute I’m at my desk, I see that the program holds the same date as the one in the osteoporosis lab. How strange.
I need to talk to Tom about this. He needs to know something is still funky with this program, regardless of what it means.
When I get to his office, he’s on the phone. He holds up a finger, telling me to give him a second to end the call. I lean against the doorjamb until he ends the call.
“Sorry, that was my wife asking me to pick the kids up from basketball practice. What can I do for you?”
“No worries. You got a few minutes to chat? If not, we can talk next week.”
“The rest of my afternoon is clear now that I gotta leave in an hour.” He chuckles. I step into his office, close the door behind me, and sit in the chair across from his desk.
“Inez found something strange, and while it could be nothing, my gut is telling me this is big,” I say. Tom frowns but stays silent, so I go into detail about what Inez found as well as what I found.
“That doesn’t make sense. No one should be able to update the program. Maybe the website just isn’t updated.”
“Four months after the newest version has been out?”
Tom runs his pointer finger across his mouth in thought. “No, this doesn’t make much sense. But the database has been fixed, correct?”
I nod.
“Well, then, there’s no reason to worry about it. I’ll make sure the research teams who use the program are double-checking their data and scores in the meantime. Once the database has been fully integrated, it won’t matter after that.”
“This seems like something we should report to the RetLab techs or something, right?”
“If you want to, fine. They can investigate if they want. I need you to focus on getting the new lab onboarded next week. They’re wanting to jump in right away, which is going to be a challenge.”
Something about this doesn’t sit right with me, but there’s not much I can do. If my boss doesn’t think it’s a big deal, then I have to move on.
I leave Tom’s office to gather my stuff and head home. I hate leaving a mystery unanswered like this. I find myself driving straight to Sam’s house without much thought. Today has been a weird day, and I just need his steadiness to make me feel balanced again.
What feels like minutes later, I’m parking in his driveway and knocking on the door. Seeing him standing in his entryway without a shirt on and his sweatpants hanging low just about sends me to my knees.
“Goddamn. Do you open the door like this for everyone?”
He grins. “Nope. Just sexy nerds who show up unannounced.”
“You complaining?”
“Not in the slightest. Get in here.”
CHAPTER 24
