Page 71 of Passion in Bloom

“Do I think you sabotaged the documents you were in charge of?” I scoffed. “No,” I said, as If it was obvious.

“Something happened.” She grimaced. “I wish I had my laptop here to look through it and try to figure out what it is.” Then she perked up a little bit. “Maybe Fergus can help.” She picked up her phone and scrolled down the screen.

“Why? Because he worked on this project last year?” I asked.

“Well, no. He’s the techy guy out of us at the bank. He knows his way around all the programs and stuff.”

I nodded, quiet while the phone rang. I hoped Fergus could help. I wasn’t too familiar with him, but the impression I had of him made me think he’d want to help his coworker.

“Hey, Fergus,” Heather greeted on the video call when he answered. “I’m hoping you can help me figure something out. Janelle says the docs about the toy drive were compromised.”

“She said that?” he asked.

“She said the county people claimed it’s compromised. She checked what I had in the shared cloud and she said it doesn’t look right.”

“Look right how? Is stuff deleted? Or you typed it in wrong with a wonky code on the formulas? Copy and paste something weird?”

She shook her head. “She didn’t explain completely. Just that the numbers were all off.”

“Damn. That doesn’t sound good,” he concluded.

I winced.

Heather groaned, rubbing her hand down her face. “I’m not stupid...”

“Of course not. But everyone makes mistakes. I’m sure it’s just a silly, simple mistake.”

“You think?” She cringed, not looking convinced.

“Well, if you didn’t make a mistake, then the other alternative is that you intended to mess up the docs. And we both know, all of us at work, know you wouldn’t do that.”

She shook her head. “Of course not. But with the docs being ‘compromised,’ it’s easy to assume that’s what the county people are going to say. That it’s my fault.”

“I see what you mean, girlie. Because you’re the only one who’s been inputting the numbers in the doc and spreadsheets. So—wait.”

“What?” Heather swallowed.

“Are you the only one working on the doc and spreadsheet for that project?”

I watched Heather open and close her mouth, seemingly at a loss for words.

“Who else would be getting into it? It’s just you, me, Nance, and Janelle at work. We all have access to most of the shared docs and files.”

“Right.”

She furrowed her brow. “You mean someone from the county?” She shook her head. “That can’t be it either, because she checked what she forwarded, what she took straight from the shared cloud.”

“Well, has anyone been around your laptop unsupervised?”

She huffed. “I hardly ever bring it out of the bank. I keep work at work.”

“Me too, girlie. Me too.”

“And if I do bring it home, it’s just here. At home. With me.”

“Does anyone ever come over?” he asked.

Heather glanced up at me. “Roarke. But it wouldn’t be him.”