Wendel asked Jack a few more questions, then opened the conference room door and told agent Franks that they were ready to answer questions, if they still had any. Agent Franks led them back to the interrogation room where they found five chairs, three on one side of the table and two on the other. Jack, Henry, and Wendel sat on the side facing the one-way mirror and agent Jackson and agent Franks sat on the other side.
"So, ready to confess?" asked agent Jackson.
Jack gave agent Franks a look that said, "Is this guy serious?"
Franks gave Jackson a look of disappointment but kept his mouth shut.
After a few moments, Wendel said, "My client is prepared to provide information related to the matter at hand."
"When did you first become aware of Miss Kavanagh's illicit activity?" asked Franks.
This again? Jack thought. What is it with these stupid questions? Speaking slowly, to make sure they understood, he said, "To the best of my knowledge, Madison has never engaged in illicit activity."
"When did you first learn about her attempts to compromise the computer systems of Cascade Marketing?" asked Jackson.
"I first learned of the existence of Cascade marketing when you mentioned them here in this room a few hours ago."
Jackson frowned.
"When did you first learn that Miss Kavanagh was engaging in attempts to compromise the computer systems of online companies?" asked Franks.
This was a trick question. Madison had told him about her participation in bug bounty programs, and if he answered the question assuming that "computer systems of online companies" equaled "participation in bug bounty programs" they could claim he had accused Madison of hacking. So, he answered a slightly different question from the one they had asked.
"Madison has on several occasions mentioned to me that she was participating in bug bounty programs. She never mentioned the names of the companies and did not share the details. She did mention that she was careful to remain within the bounds set out by each bug bounty program and that she would only participate in the bug bounty program of a company if they had a published safe harbor clause. On the day after she moved in with me, she had received a payout from one of the bug bounty programs. She didn't say which company."
"And you never bothered to ask about her hacking?" asked Jackson.
"The first time she mentioned participation in a bug bounty program, I asked her about it, but after mentioning nonsense terms like, 'rop chain', 'row hammer', and 'padding oracle', I just gave up trying to understand what she was talking about, and she stopped trying to explain."
"And you never helped her with her hacking?" asked Franks.
"I never helped her with her participation in any bug bounty program," replied Jack.
Someone opened the interrogation room door and beckoned to the two agents. Jackson got up and went outside, closing the door.
"Have you ever let Miss Kavanagh use your laptop?" asked Franks.
"Sure, there's been a few times were I let her use it to do a web search," replied Jack.
"And have you ever use her laptop?" asked Franks.
"No, not that I can remember," replied Jack.
Jackson re-entered the interrogation room, grinning and rubbing his hands together.
Ah, I bet they discovered my bank transfers, thought Jack. Wanting to wipe the smug grin off Jackson's face, Jack said, "By the way. My lawyer has advised me to inform you that I won the Redball lottery recently. So the recent large transfers of funds that you have no doubt discovered are entirely legitimate."
"I think it appropriate to warn you," Wendel added, "at this time, that disclosure of private information about my client to anyone not directly involved with this case caries severe penalties. Given the amount of money my client now possesses, I'm sure you can understand that leaking information about his windfall could endanger not just your careers, but also my client's life."
Jackson looked like he'd swallowed a lemon, and Franks was giving Jack an appraising look.
"Understood," said Franks. "Are you willing to provide proof?"
Jack looked at Wendel, then said, "If you are willing to return my phone, laptop, and hardware tokens to me, then I would be happy to log into my bank accounts and show you the transfers. But only in an unmonitored room. The last thing I need is one of you recording my PIN."
"That's-" started Jackson, before Franks put a hand on his shoulder.
"I think that might be possible," said Franks. Then he got up and dragged Jackson out of the room with him.
"We didn't discuss this," said Wendel.
"No, but it seemed like a reasonable compromise," said Jack. "I get my stuff back, and they stop wasting their time."
"True, it would be an ideal outcome for you," said Wendel. "Honestly, I'm just surprised they're even considering it."
"Really? Why?"
"Because the FIS doesn't return evidence in an ongoing investigation until well after the case is closed. The fact that they are willing to even consider returning your devices is unexpected."
A few minutes later, Franks came back in and said, "Your offer is acceptable. If you'll follow me to the conference room, we can get started."
Wendel muttered, "Unbelievable! What's next, a blizzard in hell?"
As they followed Franks to the conference room, Jack heard a voice somewhere behind him.
"This is bullshit! There must be something. I'll just go and-" The voice, which sounded like Jackson, faded out before Jack could catch the rest of the sentence. What is that guy's problem, anyway? He wondered.
When Jack arrived in the conference room, he found his laptop, phone, hardware tokens, wallet, and keys sitting on the table. He sat and opened his laptop and found it was powered off. His phone also powered off. Once they were booted, he tethered his laptop to his phone via WiFi, then opened his virtual machine software.
"What's that?" asked Franks.
"Virtual Machine software," replied Jack blandly. "Madison taught me things I can do to protect myself from malware, and one of them is to use virtual machines for any casual browsing. Using a separate VMs for casual browsing and online banking reduces the risk of someone gaining access to my bank accounts. Though, she said, it's not perfect. If someone gains access to the host OS, they could still compromise the VMs, but it's much less likely and would require targeted hacking."
"I see," said Franks. "Please, continue."
When the VM finished booting, Jack plugged one of the hardware tokens into his laptop, then used the VM management software to connect the hardware token to the VM he had just booted. Once it was connected, he opened a browser in the VM and navigated to his bank's online portal.
When the login page appeared, Jack looked at Franks, who was peering over Jack's shoulder, and said, "A little privacy, please?"
Franks grunted, then moved around to the other side of the conference table, but remained standing. Eyeballing Franks' line of sight, Jack tilted the laptop screen partway closed, then entered his username for his High Desert Holdings bank account. When he was prompted for his PIN, he checked to make sure no one could see what he was typing, then entered it.
Once the login completed, he navigated to his transaction history and located the transfer of funds to his personal bank account so he could pay for his Land cruiser and GR Supra.
"There, take a look," said Jack. But put the cursor over the VM kill button. If Franks made a grab for his laptop, he'd kill the VM, preventing anyone from getting access to his accounts.
Franks came back around and looked at the laptop screen.
"Damn, that's a lot of zeros," he muttered.
"Yeah, that's the first thing I said when I logged in for the first time."
"May I take a picture of that?" asked Franks.
Jack looked at Wendel.
"They can subpoena your records from the bank, so there's nothing on your screen they can't get directly from your bank if they really want to," he replied. "So I don't see any issue with letting agent Franks take a picture."
Jack nodded to Franks. Franks pulled out a smart phone, snapped a picture, then checked it on the smart phone.
"Okay. This proves your funds are legit."
"You don't need proof of origin for the initial deposit into this account?"
"No. There is literally no way for someone in your position to have gained that much money, except via the lottery. And the amount matches the Redball jackpot, so there's no need for additional proof."
"So, am I free to go?" asked Jack.
"Well, there's some paperwork for you and your lawyers to complete, but essentially yes, we are releasing you. No charges will be filed against you, at this time."