Scapegoat

"Anna's address…" muttered Roland in disbelief.

He sagged in his chair and let out a long sigh, the weight of this revelation pressing down on him.

'I always knew she was a little…

'Hmm… I can't quite phrase it right.

'She came from a suspicious background. An intern from Rivalsoft? It's natural people were somewhat suspicious of her, but this? It doesn't seem right.

'In addition, she only joined the company relatively recently; the software was planted several years ago. Unless she's inheriting someone else's work…'

Roland soon arrived at the correct conclusion. 'Anna is a scapegoat.'

He remembered the incident that had led to Anna coming directly into his life. She'd been framed by Nightingale before.

'She was framed before, and she's being framed again.'

The weight that he'd felt pressing down on him lifted slightly as he realized he hadn't misjudged her…

'Yes, she might be mistaken about Roni, but she's good at heart.'

…but then an even heavier weight started crushing him.

'Ah, crap. This means I haven't caught Nightingale; I've merely followed the path they laid out for investigators before.'

For a brief moment, Roland felt a great sense of failure pervading his body. He'd finally caught the tail of the infamous hacker who'd meddled with his company's affairs several times.

Yet…

He'd screwed up.

Roland had found a golden opportunity, but he had still let the malicious songbird escape.

'No.' A determined look entered his clouded eyes.

'I've merely stumbled. If I act quickly, I might react before Nightingale has chance to react. If I'm lucky, they might not have detected my failed trace.'

His slouched back became as straight as a rod, then he leaned forward and started typing like a man possessed.

…

Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, 'Nightingale' did fail to detect what had just happened; she was otherwise occupied.

After letting Maggie play with her secret computer program that was tapped into one of the most secure and advanced systems in the world, Maggie and Veronica had gone downstairs to bake cupcakes. As such, Veronica missed the alert flashing on her screen.

It was left to silently flash in the pitch-black room, briefly illuminating her bedroom before it was plunged into darkness again, only to repeat itself again.

The cycle didn't cease. It was as if the computer was praying for its master to return in time.

…

Roland's first method of attack was, surprisingly, a success. He'd guessed that the files were being routed through Anna's home network rather than being sent there as a decoy. To send all those files twice would be too inefficient; that was something that would hurt any competent programmer.

After searching more thoroughly through her home network, Roland found a new lead. He patiently followed the trail. Roland was certain Anna wasn't Nightingale. If she was, Anna would have to be a super genius to have predicted this course of events and framed herself twice to feign innocence.

Finally, after some stressful hacking, he discovered Nightingale's real address. He recognized this one too.