Chapter 5 - The Police Report
The fluorescent lights of the 4th Precinct hummed overhead as Detective Miller reviewed the digital audit logs I had printed out.
“Miss Vance,” Detective Miller said, leaning back in his squeaky desk chair and adjusting his glasses. “Let me make sure I have this straight. Your sister physically destroyed your property at a public university event, and now your internal corporate IT team has flagged her home network attempting to breach your employment portal to cancel your contract?”
“Yes, sir,” I stated firmly, setting a flash drive on his desk. “This drive contains the raw network logs from Meridian Dynamics’ cybersecurity division, the livestream video from the graduation, and the photos of my personal tax documents that were taken from my private bedroom.”
Detective Miller let out a long, heavy sigh. “Domestic cases like this are always nasty. But attempting to access a secured corporate server using stolen personal credentials crosses into federal cybercrime territory under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.”
“I want to press charges,” I said without a single second of hesitation.
“Claire,” a voice called out from the lobby.
I turned around. Dad was walking quickly toward the desk, looking aged and exhausted, wearing his work jacket. He came up beside me, placing a hand on my shoulder.
“Dad?” I asked quietly. “What are you doing here?”
“Your mother called me in a panic,” Dad said, his voice thick with emotion. “She told me you blocked her. I drove over to the house... and I caught Vanessa sitting at the kitchen table on her laptop, trying to guess your portal security answers.”
I stared at him. “She was still trying to do it?”
Dad pulled a small USB drive from his pocket and set it beside mine on the detective’s desk. “I took her laptop, Claire. I backed up her browser history onto this drive. She was searching online for forums on how to impersonate an employee to trigger an immediate resignation.”
I looked at my father in complete shock. “Dad... you’re turning over evidence against Vanessa?”
May you like
Dad looked at me, tears welling in his tired eyes. “I spent twenty years letting your mother protect that girl from the real world, Claire. I thought I was keeping peace in the house. But seeing what she tried to do to you—seeing how far her hatred went... if I don't let her face consequences now, she will ruin her life and yours permanently. I’m so sorry I didn't stop this years ago.”
Detective Miller took both flash drives, nodding grimly. “Alright. Based on this digital evidence and Mr. Vance’s witness testimony, we have sufficient grounds for an arrest warrant for computer fraud and identity theft.”
