Page 26 of Fatal Conspiracy

The man introduced to him as Efren was the one to answer. “We’re good on the security end of things, boss. The organizers brought in extra personnel to scan bags for weapons before attendees entered the lectures, which frees us up as security guards for the speakers. There’s only tomorrow left, correct?”

“Tomorrow and the final speaker on Sunday morning, who will close the event,” Cal said.

“The man of the hour, Josh Hunt,” Derek muttered sarcastically, to which Alayah snickered from where she sat beside him.

“From the tech side of things, it’s easygoing,” Zac said. “Bringing Delilah in to replace Alayah was helpful and gave us plenty of coverage so one of us can be working on the cloud while the other two are running the conferences. We noticed that tomorrow there are three panels rather than individual speakers, so that will be a more intimate setting.”

The word conjured an image that heated the back of Derek’s neck, but he forced himself to stay in the game and not let his mind drift to holding Alayah all night long.

“We’ll sit down and make a plan for those panels tonight,” Cal agreed. “The final speaker for Sunday morning has a heavy footprint, so we’ll need a tight leash on that one. The speaker is Josh Hunt, owner of Virtual Scorpion Productions. As he’s Black Marlin’s direct competitor, Derek is here to tell us about Josh’s dealings with Hugo Victor.”

Cal walked over and handed him a marker to use on the whiteboard at the front of the room.

“Thanks, Cal. As he said, Josh owns Virtual Scorpion Productions out of Chicago. He’s young at barely thirty-five, but highly ambitious, and he set his sights on Hugo Victor immediately after graduation from college. He worked as an intern for Black Marlin Technologies for a few years after graduating from Caltech.”

“Seriously?” Cal asked, and Derek nodded.

“And he was good. Probably one of the best interns Black Marlin has ever had, myself included.” That got a chuckle from around the room. “But he was a little too ambitious. Josh tried to insert himself into projects he didn’t belong in and ended up costing Hugo a pretty big sale whenhe promised a client something he couldn’t deliver. Understandably so, Hugo was upset and let him go.”

“Giving Josh a reason to harbor a grudge,” Roman deduced.

Derek gave a nod. “Essentially. He moved to Chicago and started his own company with the help of Daddy’s money. Whenever he saw Hugo at events or conventions, he kept their interactions friendly, but a low level of hatred always simmered beneath the surface. At least on Josh’s part. Hugo was never bothered by Josh’s snark until he started trying to one-up his apps.”

“Were there copyright violations involved?” Roman asked, but Derek shook his head.

“No, because you can’t copyright public domain ideas, right?” he asked as everyone nodded. “It was more like he’d find out what Black Marlin was working on, and he’d immediately start working on his own version of it.”

“Josh was the great impersonator,” Roman said, and Derek pointed at him in agreement.

“That, but he struggled to get the notoriety he thought would come with following in Hugo’s footsteps.”

“Except he wasn’t,” Alayah pointed out. “He was copying his footprints, and Hugo had bigger feet.”

Derek touched his nose. “Ding, ding. Unfortunately, that concept was not one Josh could grasp. Instead, he doubled down and doubled down until, suddenly, Hugo was almost an obsession for him. We had to start heavily vetting new employees to ensure they weren’t tied to Josh or sent as spies to report back. The app Hugo planned to promote at this conference was one that the two of us created together Even the board didn’t know about it until that ill-fated board meeting earlier this month. It was our little side quest, so to speak. We had a lot of fun creating the app together, andall that was left was for Hugo to put the final touches on his coding and then test it. But we never intended to sell it, despite the hundreds of times Josh asked to buy it. We intended to allow vulnerable institutions to use the app to protect themselves. Institutions that couldn’t afford companies like Secure Watch to protect their assets or people. Places like nonprofit hospitals, clinics and low-income school districts.”

“Admirable,” Cal said with a tip of his head. “The need is there, and honestly, there aren’t enough of us in this business to go around, so many people depend on these apps to remain part of the business landscape.”

“Agreed,” Derek said. “It just hit me that I’ll never see that happen now. The board didn’t like our plan, but Hugo still owned the company and could do what he wanted with something he created on his own time and his own dime.” He cleared his throat rather than continue to speak, and Alayah jumped in.

“Derek heard from the head of the board this afternoon. Curtis informed him that since he was employed and paid by Hugo rather than the company, his work with Black Marlin Technologies was over.”

Cal raised an eyebrow. “That’s brutal, but maybe not unexpected?”

“No, not unexpected, but what was unexpected was his belief that I was responsible for Hugo’s death. I get it. His friend is dead, and he wants someone held responsible for that. I’m not that person, but I’m the easiest person to take his anger out on. I’ll shoulder that for Hugo’s memory, but I’ll never work in the industry again because of it.”

Cal walked over and squeezed his shoulder, giving him a moment to compose himself. “Secure Watch will always have a place for you, Derek. We don’t allow great talentto walk away if we can help it. Don’t make any decisions until this mess is cleared up and you’ve had time to think without the threat of arrest hanging over your head. Okay?”

“Thanks, Cal,” he said with the utmost sincerity. It was easy to see why Cal’s team was so dedicated to him. He cared.

“I also think that whoever is behind Hugo’s murder may plan to use me as their scapegoat.”

“Can’t say the same thing didn’t run through my mind,” Cal said.

“I just can’t get behind it being someone I worked closely with, or even Josh. I’m sure that’s delusional, but I’m a newbie at being accused of murder.”

“It’s only delusional in the sense that you’re a good person who believes the same of others,” Efren said. “Misguided may be a better word, but that’s why you have us on your team. You need that when you’re too close to a situation.”

“Agreed,” Roman said. “So, we have Josh Hunt as a Hugo hater. Anyone else?”