Story code: ST-001379
Part 2: The Routing Trail
Mr. Harrison did not look up from the document. He held the pages under the bright LED lights of the lobby ceiling, his thumb tracing the edge of the paper. “This is a serious accusation, Chloe,” he said, his voice flat. “The firm takes candidate confidentiality as a matter of absolute security.”
“Which is why she must be escorted out,” Chloe said, nodding toward the security gate. She turned to Elena, a thin smile touching her lips. “We cannot have people in this department who think the rules don’t apply to them. The documentation is right there in your hands, Mr. Harrison. The leak occurred on Tuesday at 4:15 PM.”
Elena took a short step forward, her eyes fixed on the paper. “Mr. Harrison, I did not send that email. I was not even on the premises on Tuesday. I was completing my remote assessments.”
“The portal allows external access,” Chloe countered quickly, her eyes flashing. “You had the candidate package. You sent it to a third-party recruiter to leverage your own position. The email shows the exact file names.”
Marcus adjusted his monitor, pulling up the active directory logs for the external candidate portal. He looked back and forth between his screen and the printed page in Mr. Harrison’s hands. “Mr. Harrison,” Marcus said, keeping his tone professional and neutral. “If I may look at the printout for a moment to log the document receipt.”
Mr. Harrison handed the papers to Marcus across the granite counter. Chloe frowned, her hand twitching toward her badge, but she remained silent.
Marcus laid the pages flat on the desk. His eyes immediately went to the routing headers at the bottom of the email thread. The line read: `Received: from mail.apexfinancial.com (10.12.4.82) by outbound.apexfinancial.com`. Marcus knew the IP mapping of the building by heart. The IP address `10.12.4.82` did not belong to the external applicant portal or a remote VPN connection. It belonged to the physical desktop terminals on the fourth floor-the compliance department where Chloe worked.
“According to the header information here,” Marcus said, pointing to the printed string of numbers, “the message did not enter our network from the outside. It originated from an internal desk.”
Chloe stepped closer, her posture suddenly stiffening. “That’s just the forwarding route. Elena sent it to an internal address first, obviously.”
“The initial sender’s stamp is what’s listed here, Chloe,” Marcus said, pointing to the original timestamp. “It shows the message was created and sent from terminal 82 on the fourth floor. That terminal is registered to a specific compliance analyst.”
Chloe’s fingers tightened around the strap of her leather handbag. She did not look at Elena, keeping her eyes fixed on Mr. Harrison. “There must be a system error in the printout,” she said, her voice rising slightly in pitch. “The content of the email is what matters. The candidate data was leaked, and Elena is the one who benefits from it.”
“The policy applies to the transmission itself, Chloe,” Mr. Harrison said, his voice dropping to a colder register. He looked down at the specific terminal number printed in the header, then back up at Chloe. “We track every internal terminal login. The server logs will show exactly who was signed in to terminal 82 on Tuesday afternoon.”
Elena did not speak. She simply watched her cousin, her arms crossed, her breathing slow and measured. The printout remained in Mr. Harrison’s grip, the evidence of the internal transmission clear to anyone who knew how to read the system headers.