Worst Date Ever (Scandals #3) by Kathy Clark

the micro read.  I don’t think this will be just a couple of hours.”
    I sighed.  It wasn’t ideal, but I needed to check out that phone.  “Okay, I’m heading over now.  By the way, I’ve got a suspect and a plan on the identity theft part.”
    “What?  Who?  Already?”
    “I’ll tell you all about it later.”
    I had barely hung up when my phone rang again.  When I saw it was Liberty, I put her on the speaker.
    “Hey there sis…guess what?”
    “What?  Wait…am I on that speaker thingy?”
    “You are and Darius says hi.”  I glanced over at him and he nodded.
    “Hey Darius. Yes I got tied up…so to speak.”
    “Hail up!” Darius smiled broadly.
    “What?”
    “It’s Jamaican…hail up…hi.”
    “Oh, hail up to you…too.  Hey listen Tulsa.”  Her voice was excited.
    “What’s up?  I was expecting you to call earlier.”
    “You won’t believe it.”
    “What?”  I was getting a little impatient.  The news had better be good.
    “Your fireman guy, Cody…he’s a freaking computer genius.”

CHAPTER SEVEN
     
     
    That gave me plenty to think about as I drove back to the office.  I replayed the conversation in my mind, trying not to be judgmental…but failing miserably.
    “He’s worth a fortune!” Liberty exclaimed.
    “How much?”
    “ He sold his on-line game for $1.1 billion, split 50/50 with his business partner.”
    I hadn’t seen that coming.  “He’s a half billionaire and also a fireman?  Does that make any sense?”
    “I don’t have any facts about him personally other than while he was at Cal Poly, he and his roommate came up with this on-line game called Medic Maze.  It’s sort of like Grand Theft Auto except that you’re trying to save lives and fight off the bad guys rather than run over hookers.  I tried it out, and it’s really fun…but hard. I got hung up trying to move from ride-along to trainee…forget about getting to the attending medic level.  My kill rate was outta sight…which, in this game, isn’t good.”
    “It’s a paramedic game?”  I sort of remembered hearing about it when I was back in Oklahoma, but I’ve never really been a gamer, so I hadn’t paid much attention to the discussion.
    “Yeah, and it’s really cool.  You can play against the computer or play against other people anywhere on the planet.  You have to be able to diagnose patients and figure out treatments.  I saved several today, but I lost most of them.”  For a moment her voice was sad, then it perked back up. “It has sirens…everything.”
    “All right then.”  I tried to bring her back to the bigger issue.  “So, he probably paid cash for his condo.  That takes away some of the motive, but if he can create games, that certainly means he’s an expert at computer programming.”
    “That’s what I thought, too.  But you don’t think he’s our hacker, do you?”
    “I can’t rule it out. Sounds like he’s a little flaky.  I mean who would risk his life running into burning buildings when he has several hundred million dollars in the bank?  Maybe he’s bored.  Maybe that’s how he makes coffee money.  I don’t know.” 
    “I’ll keep looking.”
    Strike two for Cody.  Not only did his lines touch almost every one of the victims, but he had the bandwidth to write code and wreak havoc with Linked’s server.   But why would he do it?  Did he secretly hate Michael and was trying to get back at him for something?  Was he jealous?  Was he just doing it for fun?  I couldn’t begin to guess what went on behind those cobalt blue eyes.  It was obvious that he was, at the very least, in the middle of the mess, so the next step would be to find out more about him.
    I was brain dead when I walked into the Scandals office a little after three.  I needed the caffeine, so I got a Diet Coke out of the mini-fridge, then went to my office and, without turning the light on, shut the door and collapsed onto my desk chair.  I leaned back