It was a brilliant spring day, but Jackson barely noticed the flowers blooming on the side of the highway while he viciously honked the horn at the driver in front of him. He really didn't want to be late to work today; he couldn't wait to see his co-worker, Adam, set off the prank he had meticulously placed last night. He had been planning this prank for weeks and definitely did not want to miss the show. He impatiently honked the horn again, but his efforts were unrewarded. Instead, the little old lady in the car in front of him turned around and gave him a rather rude gesture.
Despite his worries, Jackson was able to slide into his cubicle by seven fifty-three. He woke up his computer and organized his pens, excitedly fidgeting. Just as he typed his login information, Adam walked in and sat in his cubicle, unaware of Jackson's plan. Jackson tried his best to bite back his laughter, waiting for the computer to boot. The login would trigger it....
As the last few workers trickled into their cubicles, music began playing throughout the the office, strong but soft chords speaking of bravery. Quietly at first, the strains of the 1812 overture grew in volume and pride. The confused employees glanced around at each other curiously, wondering out loud if HR had come up with some new evidence that classical music improved workflow or some such. Most of them shrugged it off and began working, the tap-tap-tappity of their keys providing percussion to the Tchaikovsky masterpiece.
By now, the music had reached its highest point, a brassy fortissimo increasing in volume as the music slowed dramatically, the recorded instrumentalists preparing themselves for the festive explosion of sound that the Overture is famous for.
As the celebrative music started, Adam yelled out loud. His keyboard had begun exploding with glitter, the bursts timed with the music. Keys were flying off his board and showering glitter all over his cubicle like fireworks on the Fourth of July.
Jackson exploded in laughter, happy that his planning had paid off. The hours of work making the rigged keyboard and connecting his computer to the office sound system were all worth it for the shocked expression on Adam's face. Jackson's work buddies came over to congratulate him on a job well done as the rest of the office joined in laughing at Adam. Adam smiled, going along with the crowd, congratulating Jackson on his good work.
After a few minutes, the laughter died down and everyone returned to work, including the glitter-covered Adam. Jackson returned to his computer, still chuckling slightly. The remote desktop program he had used to coordinate the login with the music was still connected to Adam's computer. He hovered his mouse over the X, ready to close the program, but something stopped him. Adam had begun his work and had just clicked on a file that read "Extra Income."
Jackson knew that he should close the program and get to his own work, but he didn't. His eyes were transfixed on the window displaying Adam's screen, which was now loading an Excel document. When the document loaded, it was revealed to be an expense report. Everything looked normal until Jackson caught one of the lines in the "expenditures" column. Private Income, it read.
Jackson recoiled. Adam was in charge of some minor finances for the company, but his income was listed in a different part of the spreadsheet. This additional income column was far above Jackson's own pay, far above even the pay of their boss. Was Adam laundering money from the company?
---
Later that day, Jackson went to talk to his boss about what he had found. Daniel greeted him cheerily as Jackson stepped into the small office and sat down in the visitor chair. "What can I do for you, my friend?"
Cautiously, Jackson began to describe what had happened that morning after the prank. As he spoke, Daniel began to look more and more serious. "Are you sure?" he asked Jackson. "That's a pretty serious accusation to make."
Jackson nodded. He had kept tabs on Adam's computer throughout the day until there was no doubt left in his mind of Adam's guilt. "He's stealing from us, sir."
"All right," Daniel replied. "I'll make some calls, get it taken care of. You did the right thing by coming to me."
Jackson nodded respectfully to him and returned to work.
---
By the end of the week, Jackson noticed a general shift in the attitudes of his co-workers. When he walked in, they normally greeted him with smiles and the occasional joke. The responses to his emails became brief and curt where they had once been warm and jovial. Whenever he tried to approach someone about the sudden change in temperament, they would shrug him off with a harsh look and a "oh, you know."
Jackson tried to shake off the feeling and return to programming, but before he could open the program, the door to the office floor was opened rather harshly. Five police officers strode into the maze of cubicles. One of them stopped by Jackson. "Are you Jackson Hirsch?"
Jackson nodded. This must be about what he had discovered earlier this week.
The officer signaled the others. "I'm going to have to take you into custody for redistributing money from this company into your own personal funds."
"What?" Jackson shouted, jumping up. "No! It wasn't me, it was--"
He was cut off harshly as the officer grabbed him, rendering him immobile. "We know you've been accessing the computers of others in order to transfer the funds. Thought you couldn't leave a trail, huh?"
Jackson stuttered incoherently, unable to make sense of this new development. How could he be taken into custody? Surely Daniel would show up and make sense of it. Adam must have somehow discovered his program for the prank and used it to try to pin the crime on Jackson. Unless...
As Jackson was led out of his workplace, he caught the eyes of his co-workers, pleading for one of them to speak for him. They looked at him with cold eyes, indignant that he had supposedly stolen their hard-earned money.
Alice, who he used to flirt with over coffee. Ethan, who helped him pull all his office pranks. Ryan, Sam, and Ben, who were always helping him figure out bugs in his coding. Sandra, the intern; Anna, Brendan, Lauren, Jason... those who he used to call his friends were standing emotionless as he was pulled into the elevator. The last thing he saw before the doors closed was Daniel's hard eyes and a smirk across Adam's face.
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