Free In Hot Pursuit by Karen Sue Burns Page B

meet.”
    â€œYou want me to meet someone?” Quinn’s heart performed a loop-de-loop. Jane wanted her to meet a man friend.
    â€œDon’t start planning the wedding. This is merely a meet-and-greet. No big deal. Understand?”
    â€œOf course, I understand. Meet and greet. What time and where?” Jane provided the details before ending the call.
    Jane had to be serious about this man if she wanted to introduce him to her mother. This was happy news and she would hold off on thoughts about the wedding … until she met the man.
    Finally it was after nine o’clock — time to call Ruthie, who was available.
    â€œI have a quick question for you,” Quinn said.
    â€œWhat’s up?”
    â€œWhen we talked yesterday you mentioned that a targeted virus could have been used to change the wire instructions.”
    â€œYes, that’s a possibility.” The clicking of Ruthie’s nails on the computer keyboard accompanied her words.
    â€œCould the virus have been launched by opening an email?” Quinn hoped that wasn’t a cyber idiot question.
    â€œSure, but usually something else is involved.”
    This was the confirmation of her theory. The pot of coffee had made her stomach queasy. “Could an attachment be used to initiate the virus?”
    â€œThat’s the most common way. It wiggles its way through the system and finds the target server. Then it carries out its mission,” Ruthie explained. “Fairly simple if you know what you’re doing.”
    Quinn performed a mental cartwheel then pounded a fist on the counter. This was the “how” part of her speculation.
    â€œMy working theory is that the wire instructions were altered by an attachment to an email.”
    â€œGood possibility.”
    â€œThanks, I’ll call you later.”
    Quinn basked in the glory of their conversation for less than fifteen seconds. Before executing a happy dance, she called Lynne.
    â€œI need your help with something.”
    â€œSure,” Lynne laughed. “As long as it’s legal.”
    â€œNot to worry. Would you check your email log of received messages during the last week?”
    â€œWon’t take a minute. What am I looking for?”
    Quinn heard the curiosity in Lynne’s voice but she held off on sharing her theory until she had verification of any email attachments. “Look for messages from any HCU employee.”
    â€œLet’s see, last Monday there’s one from Scooter Taylor, on Thursday one message from Rebecca Holland, one from Dr. Arnold and two from Scooter, then another from Rebecca on Friday. That’s it. Why are you asking?”
    â€œCuriosity, mostly. Is there anything strange or odd about the messages?” She looked out the window above her kitchen sink. It was going to be another beautiful day.
    â€œThey all related to the gift transfer. Scooter and Rebecca both wanted to make sure the bank was alerted to the transfer. Nothing unusual.”
    â€œWho — ”
    â€œI almost forgot,” Lynne said. “Bill Jenkins’s assistant emailed the instructions on Thursday.”
    â€œDid any of the messages have an attachment?”
    â€œLet’s see, I’ll have to check each one.” Lynne spoke again after several seconds. “The message from Rebecca Holland on Friday had another copy of the wire instructions. That’s the only attachment.”
    â€œHmm, does anyone else routinely receive emails from HCU?” She had to be missing something. “What about your assistant?”
    â€œHold on a second and I’ll go ask her.”
    It didn’t take more than a minute for Lynne to return. “My assistant received an email from Rebecca last Thursday. It was one of those silly jokes with a picture of a black cat in a pink bikini.”
    â€œHas she received them before from Rebecca?”
    â€œYes, they both like animals and send jokes back and