Page 48 of The Hacker
Dawn sighed. Just when she’d thought the worst was over.
Instead of grilling her friend, Alice stared at her fizzing glass for a long moment before she said, “You mentioned that you didn’t know much about him, so I’ve been thinking about what I know that I can share with you.” She swallowed a sip of champagne. “Leland was raised by his mother—who died recently. He took it pretty hard because they were close. No father in the picture. I’m pretty sure they were never married to begin with.”
Dawn felt a pang of sorrow for Leland’s loss. She couldn’t imagine losing her own mama, who was the sun around which their family orbited, even though Dawn’s siblings were grown and scattered geographically. It would leave a black hole in her heart.
“His mother was from Puerto Rico and she worked more than one job to support them. She’s where he learned his work ethic.”
“I knew he had something to prove.” Natalie looked very pleased with herself.
“So I guess the father is where he got the preppy looks? He always seems like he’s slumming in his jeans and T-shirts,” Dawn said, trying to reconcile the seemingly aristocratic southern gentleman with his surprising history.
“Evidently. He never talks about his father, so no one knows who he was.” Alice shook her head. “Leland is so smart that he got full scholarships at every school he went to but there are always extra things a kid needs. His mom gave him whatever she could but I gather he always felt out of place. You know, he didn’t have the latest cell phone or the high-end gaming computer or the right clothes.”
“So that’s why he never wears a suit.” Dawn understood the statement Leland was making. “He’s thumbing his nose at the people who made him feel inferior when he was young, showing them that he doesn’t have to dress like them to be successful.”
“You know him better than you think,” Natalie observed.
She wasn’t so sure about that. The truth was that his origins didn’t change anything about their relationship. If anything, his past life made his present status all the more impressive. He was still a genius who’d risen to the top of his field through his own hard work. She was still a trainer at a local gym in Jersey.
She longed to know more about Leland, but asking Alice about him felt too much like stalking him on the internet. She also had the forlorn hope that Leland would come to care enough to share his story himself. So she redirected the conversation.
“Anyway, I kind of seduced him because the dark web problem at the gym is about to go away and I needed to satisfy my lust before he went back to his life in Manhattan.”
Alice looked stunned. “So he’s been to Cofferwood? And what is this about the dark web?”
“He came to Cofferwood because he had to in order to figure out what’s going on at the gym,” Dawn said. “Our cover story is that I’m training him. He signed up for the gym as Lee Wellmont, just so you don’t blow his secret identity. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that you recommended me to him as a personal trainer because you were friends with him in high school.”
“It’s amazing how many people I knew in high school that I didn’t actually know in high school,” Alice said, referring to a subterfuge from her work with Derek on the accounting fraud. “You are a miracle worker, though, Dawn. Derek and Tully worry about Leland because he virtually never leaves the office except to go up to the top floor of the office building to use the swimming pool. It’s gotten worse since his mom died. They’ve even been discussing some kind of forced vacation except they figure he’ll just work remotely.”
“Hormones have a way of shutting down the brain,” Natalie said. “Sounds like Dawn is exactly what the doctor ordered for your workaholic computer genius.”
“Hey, I’m not some kind of cure,” Dawn objected. But inside she preened because she had been able to tempt Leland away from work when no one else could. Well, she and a puzzle he wanted to solve.
“Whatever you are, Leland needs you.” Alice held up her hand for a high five. “You go, girl! I’ll bet he’s a good client. All those muscles and stamina from swimming.” She waggled her eyebrows.
“He knows how to go the distance,” Dawn said without cracking a smile.
Alice giggled before her grin faded. “Now what about this dark web thing? It sounds sinister.”
“We don’t know anything for sure yet but we should soon. Leland took data off the gym’s router last night to analyze at the office today.”
“Dawn snuck him into Ramón’s office to do it,” Natalie said, disapproval clear in her tone.
“You need to be careful.” Alice looked worried. “Bad things can happen even in little old Cofferwood. I learned that the hard way.”
“Bad things can happen anywhere and at any time,” Dawn said in a flat tone. She’d learned that walking across a picturesque college campus on a sunny fall afternoon.
Natalie gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze. “True, but you don’t need to go looking for them.”
“What exactly is a dark web?” Alice asked.
Dawn explained to the best of her ability. “So Leland is trying to figure out why someone would use the gym’s router and the customers’ cell phones as a node. It’s really weird.”
“If anyone can find the answer, it’s Leland,” Alice said.
“To ease both of your minds, he’s planning to turn the information over to the FBI as soon as he knows what’s going on,” Dawn said. Then he would have no reason to come to Cofferwood any longer. Except to see her, and how long would that last?
Now that she knew about Leland’s past, she tried to decide if it changed anything between them, but she didn’t see how. He still lived in the rarefied world that his wealth and power created around him. Alice sometimes talked about how different her life was now that she had moved in with Derek. Dawn couldn’t wrap her mind around the level of money required just to maintain the two-floor Manhattan penthouse her friend lived in with its private security and staff. Fashion designers would even make house calls on a Sunday because Derek paid them to as a convenience for Alice’s working friends. Leland’s life would be similar ... except for the dress designer.
