Chapter 7 - My first mistake
I made my first major financial-case mistake forty-eight hours later.
Daniel’s business laptop remained in our home office.
It belonged to Bennett Meridian.
I knew that.
I also knew Daniel had used it at home for years.
I opened it.
Bad.
Not because I guessed the password.
It was already logged in.
Still bad.
I searched:
Lakeshore.
Then:
Archer.
Then:
Vesper.
I found an email thread.
Printed it.
Then forwarded three messages to myself.
When I told Dana, she closed her eyes.
“You accessed company email after the investigation began?”
“Yes.”
“Did anyone authorize you?”
“No.”
“Did you alter anything?”
“No.”
“Did you download attachments?”
“Yes.”
She looked at me.
“Claire.”
“I was trying to help.”
“I know.”
Worst sentence in investigations.
I was trying to help.
The company’s lawyers had to document what I accessed, preserve system logs, and obtain the same materials through independent forensic collection so Daniel’s defense could not credibly argue the entire financial case depended on my unauthorized access.
My copies became contaminated evidence.
Not useless.
But complicated.
Daniel’s attorney later called me a “vindictive spouse conducting a vigilante corporate search.”
Painful.
May you like
Not entirely unfair.
I stopped touching company systems.
