“Good morning. Henley-Rice & Associates, this is Justine. How may I help you? …No, sir, Mrs. Henley-Rice is in a meeting until noon today. May I take a message? …All right, I’ll let her know she can reach you after three o’clock. Have a good day.”
Justine Mabry rose from her seat and maneuvered around balls of bubble wrap that littered the office floor. New laptops had arrived that morning, and the tech associates had torn into the boxes like kids on Christmas Day. They left trails of packaging Styrofoam from the front door to the dozen cubicles lining the walls of the spacious rectangular office.
“Hey, Lisa, cover for me. I need to run to the little girls’ room.”
“Again?!” Lisa frowned at the extra large cappuccino sitting on Justine’s desk. “You drink enough coffee for the both of us.” She quickly put on a headset.
“Yeah, I know. I’ll be right back.”
The phone rang. “Henley-Rice & Associates, this is Lisa. How may I help you?”
“Good morning, Lisa. How are you?”
“Hello, Olivia. I’m good. And you?”
“Fine, for a Monday morning. Do anything over the weekend?”
“You know me, Olivia. My weekends are made for outlet shopping. Williamsburg should give me a key to the city. I know you were a good granddaughter and did that garden duty.”
“I’m trapped for life, Lisa, with no way out. Is the cranky computer geek in? I’ve got some detective work for her.”
“Officially, she’s in a meeting. But she’s probably asleep after waiting in line all night to buy another iPhone.”
“Okay, can you let her know--”
“Oh, hold on Olivia, the ‘Data Queen’ just poked her head out of her office. It’s Olivia,” the veteran receptionist said as she pointed to her headset.
Pat Henley-Rice put the phone to her ear. “Well, well, if it isn’t the detective who couldn’t find her way downtown last night.”
“I love you too, you geek. But you didn’t seriously think I would spend the night on a cold sidewalk waiting to buy a phone, not after eating a hot meal at Grandma’s?”
“Yeah, yeah, I know where Eric and I rank on your list of priorities.”
“You rank just below Sunday dinner and my warm bed.”
“All right, all right.” Pat wiped the sleep from her eyes. “So what’s going on?” She untangled the phone cord, walked over to her office window, and opened the blinds.
“I need your expertise again,” Olivia said. “I’m working on some recent burglary cases.”
“Anybody we know?”
“No, thankfully. It’s those quick tax refund services. Someone broke in and stole the laptops and just about all the paper files containing the clients’ identity info. We don’t have any leads, not even the usual suspects.”
Never trust your social security number to a business located next to a liquor store,” Pat sniped and opened up her new laptop.
“I know, but some people don’t have a choice, Pat.”
“You’re right. How can I help?”
“I know identity info is usually sold over the Internet. So I need to know if any of your tech friends have heard about these recent break-ins.”
“I’ve got some sources I can check. There’s always somebody bragging on the Net about something they shouldn’t have done. But remind me again why you’re not using the fine resources of Goslyn PD for this?” Pat knew the answer but loved hearing it from Olivia.
“For the hundredth time, I quote, ‘The Goslyn Police Department still does not have a division capable of addressing certain cyber-based crimes.’ There, you happy?”
“Very. I never get tired of hearing that.” About a year ago, Henley-Rice & Associates had entered a bid to act as consultant for the Department’s proposed Internet-based crimes division. A competitor had won the bid, but the Department still didn’t have its new division, and the local newspaper had made it a front-page story.
“Enough shop talk. Did you guys really spend all night outside?”
“Of course we did. I freely confess my addiction to iPhones, iPads, iPods and--”
“All right, I get it. What about the twins?”
“They were at the in-laws’ being spoiled rotten.”
Though Olivia loved to give her best friend a hard time, she was very proud of Pat. Henley-Rice & Associates was a top-rated IT service provider for several local companies and had recently updated the County’s Public Works database. Mrs. Patrice Henley-Rice had grown from a scrawny teen into an attractive and nerdy woman who relished all things computer. Her caramel colored skin went perfectly with her shoulder length braids, and her five-foot-six stature belied her skills as a black belt.
“We still on for Thursday after work?” Olivia asked.
“Absolutely. I need time away from Eric and the twins at least once a week. Between his freaking out about taking the Bar Exam and all of the boys’ after-school activities, it’s a wonder I have sanity to run this place.” Pat made a wild hand gesture at the walls of her office.
“Okay. I’ll swing by around six thirty, and we’ll do Chinese at the mall.”
“Sounds good. I’ll tell you about your godsons’ latest bad behavior, and you can tell me about somebody named Maureen.”
“What?! Not you too!”
“Just be ready for an interrogation, Detective. Bye.”
Pat got up and rubbed her neck with a loud moan. “Justine, an aspirin, please! I’m getting too old to be sleeping on concrete with folks half my age.”
Justine sprinted in with a pill bottle while trying to hold her headset in place. She sprinted back out to catch the next call.
“What some people will do for a simple phone,” Lisa said as she brought in a coffee pot and mug. She filled the mug and handed it to Pat.
“Look who’s talking, the woman who drove through a hail storm for a jewelry sale.”
“You got that right. So what’s up with Detective Winston?”
“She wants us to be Internet snoops again, ‘Dr. Watson.’ ” Pat took a big gulp from the mug. “Ahh, Nature’s best drink ever.”
Lisa knew her boss loved it when Olivia asked her to help with an investigation. It was like a big sister relationship that Lisa enjoyed watching.
Over ten years ago, Lisa Kelley answered Henley-Rice & Associates’ ad in the paper for a part-time receptionist. She was working as a 9-1-1 dispatcher at the time but was becoming burned out. On the day of the interview, the new office was in chaos--phone lines ringing, associates complaining about office space, and computer equipment stacked to the ceiling. Lisa went straight to the phone, put on a headset, and got to work handling every kind of caller--from those looking for the previous tenant to those wanting to order a pizza. By the end of that first day, she had the job.
In those quick ten years, Pat had repaid Lisa’s support not just in wages but also by teaching her almost everything she now knew about computers and the Internet. Together, through hacker sites, blogs, and chat rooms, they could find out anything about anybody.
“What are we hunting for this time, ‘Sherlock’?” Lisa asked.
“Identity thieves, my friend.”
“Ooo, I’ll call home and let Dan know I’ll be working late.”
“Just don’t blame it on me this time,” Pat said. “You’ve got Dan thinking I’m a computer junkie with a hard drive for a heart.” She tossed an aspirin into her mouth, took another big gulp, and turned to her laptop. “All right, let’s fire up this new toy and do some sleuthing.”