Wicked Games (Hartley Grace Featherstone Mysteries Book 3) by Gemma Halliday (books for students to read TXT) 📕

The frowned deepened. "I'm not admitting anything. But, yeah. I told you Peak Games has a booth at the convention. I was there Saturday morning."

"But you weren't there when Connor died?" Sam asked.

"No. I left." She looked from me to Chase to Sam. "I have a room here where I was taking private meetings with prospective vendors."

"What time did you leave?" Sam pressed.

Phoebe put a hand on her hip. "Exactly what is this?" Her gaze raked over the three of us again. "You aren't really interns, are you?"

Busted.

"No," I confessed. "We're not."

She looked at me and scoffed. "Well, you certainly weren't in the running."

I swallowed back a smart retort. Mostly because I didn't want to get on the bad side of a potential murderer. "We're members of the press," I said, maybe a little more loftily than I'd intended.

Phoebe rolled her eyes. "Figures."

"Look, we're doing a story on Connor's murder," Chase stepped in.

At the word murder I saw her visibly flinch, some of the coolness in her eyes replaced by emotion again.

"We have a witness who put you at the VizaSoft booth the morning Connor died," I pressed.

That emotion started to look a lot like fear. "It's not what you think," she said quickly.

"Then what is it?" Sam piped up.

Phoebe took a deep breath, her eyes scanning us again as if trying to figure out how much to share. But she must have come to the conclusion that the truth was less damaging than what we could be imagining and likely planning to print, as she finally relented. "Okay, yes, I was at the VizaSoft booth that morning. Briefly. Only long enough to serve Simon papers."

"Serve him papers?" Chase asked.

"I was suing him." Phoebe tilted her head back with an air of defiance.

"You were suing Connor?" Sam repeated. "Why?"

"Over rights to Athena's Quest."

"Wait—are you saying Athena's Quest was your game?" I asked.

Some of her confidence faltered. "Well, not exactly. I mean, I didn't develop it."

"Then how are you claiming rights?" Chase asked.

She pursed her lips together. "Look, Connor had a contract with Peak, okay? All I was asking was that he honor it. Anything he developed while working at Peak Games is property of the company."

"And you think he developed Athena's Quest while still under contract with Peak. Not after he left to sign with VizaSoft?" Chase said, putting it together.

Phoebe nodded. "Yes. I have reason to believe he did."

"What reason?" I asked.

"Because I know Connor, okay." She sighed, some of the fight leaving her. "Or knew. I know how he coded. And as soon as I saw the first leaks of Athena's Quest, I knew there was no way he put together a game like that so quickly. That's when I realized what he'd really been up to."

"Tell us," Sam prompted.

Phoebe shifted her bag to the other shoulder. "Look, something changed in Connor over the summer. Right before he decided to leave. He became secretive, distant. Like his mind was on something else. He kept missing days of work, skipping meetings. At the time, I just thought he was unhappy with…well, unhappy."

"But now?" I asked.

She tilted her chin higher. "Now, I think it's clear what he was really feeling. Guilt. All those days of work he missed—they were because he was putting in time on a new game that he had no intention of releasing with Peak."

"Are you sure Connor didn't just whip this one out faster than normal?" Sam asked, sounding skeptical.

"Positive." Her eyes shifted to me. "Here, I'll prove it to you. Hand me your phone."

"My phone?" I hesitated, suddenly suspicious.

"I'll download our latest game. Hera's Pride. The last one Connor did for us."

Sam nodded for me to do it.

"Okay, I guess." I handed it over.

Phoebe took it, typing some stuff into a browser to access a private website and download the app. "This game took him ten months to develop. And that was fast for him. And he had the whole Peak team working on it."

"Wouldn't he have an even bigger team at VizaSoft?" I reasoned. "I mean, maybe they worked faster?"

But Phoebe shook her head. "No. I know Connor," she repeated. She handed my phone back to me as the game finished loading.

Sam looked over my shoulder as I clicked the app open. Even though I was no advanced gamer, I had to admit the graphics on the home screen looked nowhere near on the realm of what I'd seen of Athena's Quest. Far less realistic and cruder. I clicked through to play the first level and saw more of the same, the movements of the character less fluid and articulated than I'd seen in the press releases of Connor's new game.

"See what I mean?" Phoebe said, giving us an I told you so look.

"Okay, so maybe Connor had a lot of help at VizaSoft. Maybe he put in overtime on it?" I asked.

Something flitted behind Phoebe's eyes. "No. Not Connor."

"Do you have any actual proof he was working on it while still under contract with Peak?" Chase asked.

Phoebe crossed her arms over her chest. "Not yet. But my lawyer is getting a subpoena for his early code. And an injunction against VizaSoft putting out the game."

Ouch. I was no business whiz, but it was clear they'd put a bundle of money into marketing the game already. I wondered how much they stood to lose if Phoebe's lawyer was successful.

"What did Connor say about it all?" Sam asked.

"What?" Phoebe turned her attention to Sam.

"When you served him the papers at the convention. I bet he wasn't happy?"

Phoebe snorted. "Not even a little."

"Did you two argue?" Sam pressed.

Phoebe frowned. "Now, wait a minute. You're twisting this."

"What time was that?" I