lab. I’ve got a bunch of statistics and reports from the experiments, but they don’t include the protocols on how we ran the experiments. The company wants to keep a lockdown on employees potentially selling sensitive data,” she explained.
“I thought Ms. Layne did that by threatening to sue anyone who looks at her the wrong way.” Charlotte sat back. “She’s famous for it. Do you like working for her?”
Her boss was extremely litigious, but she also allowed a kind of freedom no one else in the business ever did. It was a bit like walking a tightrope. “I rarely see her. She’s pretty hands off at this stage. If my research pans out, that’s when I’ll have more contact with her. The truth of the matter is if rumors get out that someone’s had access outside the company to my research, it could be bad for me.”
“She’s sued former employees before.” Hutch continued her line of thinking. “Mostly over loss of income due to the former employee not following security protocols. Did you sign an employment contract?”
“Of course.”
“We should have legal take a look at it.” Hutch’s tone had changed as though he was shifting to a more…dominant role. “I’ll run a search on your laptop, and I think we should also take a look around Ms. LaVigne’s apartment and check on anyone who has significant contact with her. I’ll need a list of everyone you spend time with. Have you had any new neighbors recently?”
She wasn’t sure what her neighbors had to do with it. And he wanted a list of her friends? This wasn’t what she’d expected. “Uhm, a new couple moved in two doors down from me last month. The woman who lives next door is pretty new, too.”
Cara was a freelance journalist who’d moved in a couple of months after Noelle had. Noelle liked her and they’d become fast friends. They spent a lot of time drinking wine and bemoaning their romanceless lives. Still, she hadn’t mentioned Sanctum to the other woman. No one but Aunt Lisa knew. Well, and her stepmom, but she tried not to think about that. She wasn’t sure why, but it hadn’t seemed like something to bring up with Cara. It was also a private club, and it seemed mean to talk about something she could never take her friend to.
Kyle had a notepad in front of him. “I’ll need names, but then we should probably play it safe and run traces on anyone in the building, and also at least the employees who would come into contact with Noelle.”
“Whoa. I don’t think that’s a good idea. I don’t want to invade anyone’s privacy.” Somehow she’d thought they would look at her system, tell her she was being paranoid, and she would be on her way. She should never have told her dad about it. She should have sucked it up and gone to company security and taken her chances. “Look, I think I’ve made a mistake, and I am sorry for wasting your time.”
She started to stand.
“Sit down, Noelle.”
Noelle sat at the sound of that commanding voice. It did not escape her that everyone was staring, but oddly, not at her. They were staring at the man who’d ordered her to sit. She got the feeling they were all surprised those deep-toned words had come from Hutch.
“Dude, you sound serious. Good for you, man.” Taggart nodded Hutch’s way.
Why was she sitting? She forced herself to stand again and reached for her cane. “Thank you for your time. Again, I’m sorry for wasting it.”
Hutch’s eyes met hers, and she felt a bit pinned by them. “Ms. LaVigne, the only thing you’re wasting is the unique opportunity to figure out if you truly have a problem. If you thought you could fix this some other way, you wouldn’t be here. I assume you’re going to ignore the problem now that you’ve decided we’re going to be too much trouble. There’s a reason you didn’t in the first place. If you turn your laptop over to company security, what do you think is going to happen?”
“Hutch, perhaps we should…” Charlotte began.
Her husband reached out and took her hand in his. “No. I want to see how this plays out. You wanted him in the field. He’s going to need to take charge. And possibly learn how to protect his balls. She looks like she knows how to wield that cane.”
She did, actually. Her self-defense teacher had believed deeply in turning anything around him