Darn It, Roland

Shaking the useless thoughts out of her head, Anna asked Carter, "You won't get into trouble for requesting Veronica's finances, will you?"

He shook his head in response. "Although it would be stupid for me to only request her records, if I request the whole board's, there shouldn't be any problems."

"That's a sensible move." Anna nodded in agreement, then asked, "What reason will you give them for requesting the board's finances? These are important people; we've already offended Veronica, and Roland by extension, so it would be for the best if we can try not to offend any more."

Carter chuckled. "As the new head of security, part of my responsibility is to understand the management of the company, as well as to find any potential risks to or from them. If I say I need to check everyone's records, they'll agree to it.

"Besides, I plan to play it off casually. I'll say that I just need to skim over the records to tick some boxed, that way, no one will think I'm doubting their character."

"Carter, I'm impressed. You seem to have thought of everything. All that's left if is for us to get started."

Smiling at her enthusiasm, Carter immediately left to request copies of the board members' finances. Since it was evening, the other workers in the security office had gone home, thus Anna was left all alone, twiddling her thumbs as she waited for Carter's return.

'Darn it, Roland. It shouldn't be up to Carter and me to show you the truth. As a boss, you should have listened to the people you trusted enough to hire.

'Granted, you've known her for a very long time, but come on! You should have at least asked someone to look into it for you.

'Carter has been here for a matter of days, and luckily for you, he's already noticed that something's not quite right about her.

'Just how obtuse can a man be?'

…

In his office, Roland was leaning back in his chair with his hands behind his head, taking a short break from an intense day's hacking.

Talking no one but himself, Roland muttered, "I know I say this a lot, but Nightingale is incredible.

"There aren't many in the world who could hide from me for this long, but Nightingale is apparently one of them."

Thinking of something, he laughed. "Surely, this is proof enough that Veronica is not Nightingale. Veronica can't even connect her computer to her printer, whereas Nightingale has managed to hide themself from me, despite my extensive search efforts.

"I've checked everything. Every known instance of a hack by Nightingale has been traced back as far as it will go. I have programs scanning the internet for their digital footprint, but nothing's working."

He leaned forward and rubbed his eyes. "Maybe I should call it a day. A good night's sleep will give me a fresh outlook tomorrow. Currently, the only way I can think of tracking Nightingale down is if I catch them in the act…"