Page 14 of The Money Man
For a moment she couldn’t reconcile the honeyed southern drawl with the computer-wizard reputation, but why shouldn’t a tech geek be from the South? “Please call me Alice,” she said. “Thank you for working on my problem on a weekend.”
“Right, Derek did mention something about it being Saturday night.” Leland’s tone had a little edge of irony that she didn’t understand. “I should not have bothered you. I can call back on Monday.”
“No, no, it’s fine. What questions do you have?”
“Does Myron Barsky have an accent of any kind?”
That wasn’t what she expected Leland to ask, so she had to think a minute. “Um, he had kind of a twang, not quite southern and not much of one.”
“Could he be from Texas?”
“I suppose so. I’m not great at pinpointing accents.” Why would Leland care?
“Did he have anyone else with him?” He might have a drawl but Leland’s interrogation was still sharp.
She frowned and thought back to the hotel presentation. “The hotel manager introduced him, but no one else was on the dais with him that I remember.”
This was getting weirder and weirder.
“Did the hotel manager mention whether he used the software himself or whether the hotel did?”
“No, he just told us Myron was from BalanceTrakR and handed over the microphone. Then he circulated afterward, asking if the food and beverages were to our liking.” She hadn’t much liked the manager because his concern seemed all about whether his guests would say anything negative online rather than a genuine wish that they be happy.
“Does the hotel run many events like that one?”
“I don’t really know. It’s outside of town, near the highway, and caters mostly to business travelers. It’s part of a reputable chain, though.”
“One more question and then I’ll leave you to your weekend plans. Did the manager mention Barsky’s title or position with the company?”
Alice tried to rerun the manager’s opening speech in her mind. “I don’t think so. If you give me a minute, I’ll see if I can find my notes to double-check that.” She put Leland on mute and opened the drawer where she had filed the software information. Pulling out the file, she found the sheets of lined yellow paper. No title. Flipping through the glossy brochure she’d picked up, she found the same thing. She unmuted the call. “Nothing about his position. Only his name and the toll-free number.” Leland was not going to be impressed with her as a resource. “I wish I could help you more with this,” she said in frustration. “Can you tell me why you’re interested in Barsky and his presentation?”
There was a pause before he said, “I took a look at the software and it has many signs that it was programmed in Russia or Eastern Europe. Some of those guys are really good, but there’s a whole underground network where the programmers work cheap and deliver an inferior product. I think it’s possible that there may be a bug in the system. I admit that I haven’t found it yet, but give me a couple of more hours.” His combined frustration and determination came through clearly.
Alice frowned. She hadn’t really believed Derek when he proposed that as a possibility. “But there’s not a single discussion about this bug on any BalanceTrakR user forum. I even posted about it. I’d expect to see something if there was a systemic bug.”
“That is puzzling.”
She wanted to ask if Derek knew about Leland’s theory but remembered it was Saturday night. Since Derek wasn’t a computer geek, she was sure he had a date ... or two.
“I have an idea,” she said, prompted by a powerful need to contribute to the project. “I’ll go talk to the hotel manager and see if he has more information on Barsky.”
“That could be useful.” Leland sounded as though he wasn’t convinced. “It’s worth a try, at least.”
“I’ll see if he’s on duty tomorrow.” The thought of doing a little corporate espionage sent a zing of excitement through her. Accounting was her passion, but it didn’t often provide an adrenaline rush.
“Once you talk with him, call me back at this number.” There was a brief pause. “I’ll be keeping Derek in the loop. He was very impressed with your analysis and expertise and will continue to be involved with the project.”
Pleasure spread through her like a warm, tropical tide. “That’s good to hear.” And Derek wasn’t just dumping her in Leland’s lap. He’d still be in touch. The pleasure burrowed into her chest.
Of course, it would all be by phone and email, but still ...
“I look forward to hearing what the manager tells you.” Leland disconnected.
Alice stared at the screen and the columns of numbers that she hadn’t needed for her conversation with the tech wizard. She didn’t understand why he cared where and by whom the software was created. Either it had a bug or it didn’t.
Certainly, she had heard about Russian hackers but this wasn’t a security breach at some major corporation. This problem was about tiny amounts of money from a bunch of small businesses, some of which barely met payroll every month. Alice snorted. No Russian hacker would get rich offherclients.
She was still puzzling over this when her phone rang. This time the caller was Derek. A delicious shiver danced through her and she almost laughed. Her quiet Saturday night reading Georgette Heyer had become surreal with this barrage of phone calls from high-powered consultants.
