Read Hiding in Plain Sight for Free Online

among the employees at NUTEC, the better my chances were of stumbling on to something important.
    Debbie and Stuart Yaeger . Software Developers. Debbie is competent but with an exaggerated opinion of her own abilities while Stuart is the more talented of the two but very quiet and modest. With both of them taking home excellent wages from NUTEC, it seems unlikely that they have any money worries
.
    â€œThe odd couple,” Mrs. Thompson said. “You’d never in a million years expect them to be married to each other, but they’ve been together since they were in university and they seem to get along just fine. They share the largest office, which, surprisingly enough, works out all right.”
    Joey Sands . Software Developer. The youngest staff member. A computer genius but not terribly reliable. He designed the stolen program. Financially, he seems less stable than the others. He receives a good salary and generous bonuses from NUTEC but is often broke and borrows small amounts of money between paydays
.
    â€œSometimes he misses work without calling in. He’s also a bit moody, and while he’s usually sweet andcharming, he can be quite cranky. That’s probably just because of his age. No doubt he has girlfriend problems at times. I’m sure he’s harmless enough.”
    Carol Coppice . Office Assistant. This is the newest staff member, a forty-something-year-old woman hired through a government make-work program for people who have been unemployed for a long time. She does simple tasks like making photocopies, shredding old documents, and running errands
.
    â€œI’m afraid she’s not very likable,” Mrs. Thompson said, “though we all make an effort to overlook some of her habits because, as you’ll easily see, she’s somewhat, uh, limited. Having an office job seems to have made her feel terribly significant and she goes about with a blustery, self-important attitude. She
always
has something to say, but sadly not much of it is worth hearing, which can be very annoying.
    â€œI don’t know if this is worth mentioning or not, but we did have a computer programming student from the college in Viander doing a field placement up to a few weeks before the robbery. His name is Gary Todd, but I understand he had a job to go to in Saint John right after his placement was finished, so he wasn’t even in the area at the time the theft occurred.”
    I added his name to the list, just in case.
    Later on, back home and in my room, I looked over the list of employees again, trying to conjure up mentalimages of each one. It was silly, but I felt kind of disappointed that none of the names jumped out at me. Mrs. Thompson’s descriptions hadn’t made anyone stand out as a potential criminal.
    The only one who seemed a possibility at all was Joey Sands, partly because he’d designed the program and might view it as belonging to him, and partly because he was the only one who had a noticeable shortage of funds from time to time. It wasn’t much to go on, though, and certainly not enough for me to consider him a definite suspect without some actual evidence.
    After memorizing as much information from the list as my brain would absorb just then, I folded the paper and slid it into my desk drawer.
    As I got ready for bed, I couldn’t help thinking of Betts and how trusting and confident she was that I’d be able to figure this whole mess out. Clicking off my light and crawling under the sheet, I wondered what I’d gotten myself into.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    I might as well admit that I was nervous when I walked into the NUTEC offices the next morning. My main goal at that moment was to look calm and nonchalant, but if you’ve ever tried that you know it’s not as easy as it sounds. I’m pretty sure the effort made the expression on my face appear mildly insane rather than casual.
    â€œYou must be Shelby,” the receptionist said as I