Hacked

Friday Night...End of a long week...We were all at a fashionable new spot called "The Green Room"

Beverly's boyfriend, Attorney Nelson East had told us about this place...

"Got to hand it to you Nelson..."I said... "I never pegged you for a foodie...but this place is awesome..you were right on the money with this..."I said...

"Glad you like it Donnie Ray...Actually,I'm not a foodie...but one of the Attorneys I know ,who was uh trying a case in the same courtroom I was in told me about it...Her fiance is the chef here..."said Nelson....

"My compliments to the chef...This food was off the chain."said Beverly West, Nelson's girlfriend and an Attorney herself as well as my wife's niece...

My wife, Attorney Olivia Bennett-Alexander had enjoyed her meal...She smiled serenely and said-

"This meal was so good,I'm going to be in the gym all day Saturday..."

"Who you tellin girlfriend?" said her good friend and also an attorney, Celeste Tate-Foster...New mother of a little boy and newly wed to our friend and former client, Soloman Foster....Who smiled and squeezed her hips...

"Aww Babes...as you know by now...you aint got to work out for me...I like you fat or slim..."he said smiling sheepishly...

"You Just like me period right?" she said laughing..

''Sure do." he laughed...I hadn't seen Soloman so happy,so content the entire time I knew him...Celeste had did wonders for him...

"Awwww, you two are soo cute..Newlyweds....I want to sound like that one day."said my wife's cousin,Kayla Bennett,also an attorney, looking at her boyfriend, Ryan St. James...who also was an attorney...

"Babes...I thought we do sound like that?" he joked...

"Nice comeback Ryan."I joked...I was the only one here that was not an attorney...I'm Donnie Ray Alexander...Ex-cop, currently an Investigator for my wife's firm...Alexander and West...

The waiter came with the bill...

Olivia smiled...

"Don't you guys dare go for your wallets....This is on me...Thank you all for being my friends.."she said and pulled out our company credit card...

"Awww thanks Livy." said Beverly,Celeste,Kayla and Soloman in unison...

''How lucky am I to be in the presence of such a baller." joked Ryan....

''Didn't come easy Ryan...I just got lucky and got a few clients who are ballers..Who pay me well."said Olivia.

"We've come a long way from the Public Defenders office huh Liv?" said Celeste...

"Girl, you aint never lied.."said Bev and they high fived each other..

"The first round of drinks are on me..."said Nelson..."To us...To success.."he said.

"I'm with that."said Soloman...

I smiled...I hadn't been in Philly that long...but I liked it..and I like these people....Back in New Orleans..My friends were either cops or musicians...I never hob knobed with too many lawyers and the ones I did hob knob with were Public Defenders and ADA's...These folks were way beyond that, and yet still down to earth folks...I liked them all..

Olivia, Beverly, Nelson ,Celeste,Soloman and Kayla had come from the hood...Had gotten great educations and had became attorneys...Working their way up from Public Defenders and ADA's to their own firms and the corporate world...without forgetting who they were before they got to this point..
I could respect that...

II-

The waiter walked back to us with a confused look on his face...

"This must be some mistake...Mrs. Alexander...I know who you are....but uh your card was declined!"he said.

''What? There must be some mistake...That's my company card...Are you sure?" said Olivia...

"Yeah I'm sure...We ran it three times.."said the waiter...

Olivia passed him a Mastercard...

"I'll have to look into this...Here take my Mastercard.." she said.

"Problem Livy?" I asked..

"Yeah..He said our company card was declined..."she said.

"That's impossible...You just got it..There are no charges on it."I said.

"I know."said Olivia...

 The Waiter came back with a mortified look on his face...

He whispered in Olivia's ear...

"Mrs. Alexander...this card was declined too and we ran it four times." he said.

"WHAT?? OH NO THIS IS CRAZY!" said Olivia...

''Auntay, what's wrong?" asked Beverly...

 ''He's telling me that my company card and my Mastercard are declined...Here take my Visa..."said Olivia...

"That's impossible..We never leave a balance on any of our cards...We pay them in full every month."said Beverly...

"I know and we never miss any payments.." said Olivia...

The waiter came back with the same look on his face...

"Mrs. Alexander....This card was declined too and I ran it five times to be sure..." he said..

"Here...take my debit card...It's the last card I have."said Olivia ,now visibly angry...

''What's wrong baby?...If there is a problem...Soloman and I can handle our end." said Celeste...

"Something is jacked up Celeste...My company card,My Visa and My Mastercard were all declined...That's impossible...I never miss a payment..you know me...and I pay in full.."said Olivia..

"We know that Auntay." said Beverly....

The waiter returned flabbergasted...

"Mrs. Alexander...Your Debit Card was DECLINED...and we made a call..They said your bank account has been closed..." he said..

"Nooooo...No way....No way...I just deposited money in my account two days ago."said Olivia..

I took the bill...It was hefty...Eight people had eaten....Nelson,Ryan,Kayla and Soloman weren't aware of what was going on...I gave him cash and a tip....That put a hurtin on my wallet,but I didn't want to see my wife further humiliated tonight...

It was a good thing Nelson ordered a round of drinks and paid for them....

I knew my wife and I knew her habits...How fastidious she was and how she paid her bills...She paid her credit cards in full every month and she never missed a payment..She didn't carry a balance...We had just recently gotten a Company Card for instances like this...There was no balance on it...And no reason for it to be declined...No something was up...As a Private Investigator and as an ex-cop...I knew that this was no co-incidence...

"Don't you worry Livy...First thing Monday Morning...I'm going to get to the bottom of this"I said.

"Oh My God..I can't believe this.." said Olivia..

The rest of the night was uneventful ,considering..

III-

Monday , 4:30 pm...

I arrived at the courthouse just as Olivia and Beverly were leaving for the day...

We had a new client.. a man who had been in prison for 15 years...for a murder he may or may not have committed...problem was...There was so much shoddy policework and prosecutorial misconduct that there was no way this guy got a fair trial...Olivia and Beverly had been hired by the Innocence Project to hear his case and to argue his case...

Beverly, bless her heart had done the preliminary investigation....I hadn't had the time today because I was busy trying to see what had happened to my wife's finances...

I smiled as Olivia and Bev exited the courtroom...

''Hey ladies...busy day today?" I asked.

"Yeah...opening arguments....You know how that goes...Show me what you got posing from both sides..."said Beverly....

 "Were you able to get to the bottom of anything?" asked Olivia....not talking about the case....

"Yes..I was...Let's go into a side room and talk about this." I said...I had four folders worth of stuff with me and I wanted to unload them...

'And Donnie Ray thank you sooo much for footing that bill Friday Night...I was sooo embarrassed..That has never happened before...I promise you I'll pay you back every cent..."said Olivia..

"Should I wear earplugs tonight?" joked Beverly...

Olivia laughed...

"No,I mean in cash...I'm going to give him his cash back..." said Olivia..

"Nonsense....We are married...That's what married couples do."I said...I opened up the files and spread them out on the table...

"Livy...You were hacked."I said.

"HACKED!!!" her and Beverly said in unison...

"Yeah...Hacked...I've been on the phone all day...Me and Josie...

Apparently this hacker got into our Company account and your Visa and Mastercard accounts...They didn't take anything or charge anything...They just closed your accounts...They closed your bank account too..."I said.

''Wouldn't I have to do that in person?" asked Olivia..

"Not if the hacker could adequately verify your identity.....This person is good...Anyway...Josie and I were on the phone with your bank and your credit card companies and we got the whole matter straightened out....Now here are some documents you have to sign....Once that is done...I'll fax them back to Visa, Mastercard and your bank and you'll be issued new credit cards with new passwords tomorrow around this time..I got your bank account re-opened and here is a new debit card today..."I said..

"Ohhh thank you....thank you baby....You are such a good man...I love you so much.."said Olivia ,kissing me passionately...

"Yeah...I'm gonna need earplugs tonight."joked Beverly....

''While I was at it...I checked my credit and debit cards and Shortcake's too to make sure that we weren't targeted...  Then I checked your car....found a GPS tracking device ..Not one..but three...One was in the obvious place,under the car...the other two were in places..I would put them that the average person wouldn't....Your hacker is really good..almost like they have a law enforcement background..."I said..

"But why? Why would someone do something like that to me? asked Olivia...

"I don't know babes....But this was just to mess with you...To frustrate you...I have a feeling more is coming...Maybe we should rent a room downtown..All of us." I said.

''We are in the middle of a trial....I can't do that...I'm not going to live in fear."said Olivia...

"You find out anything else D..R." asked Beverly...

"Yeah, the I.P. address of the hacker and the exact time they did this...Your accounts were closed just 24 hours before we went to that restaraunt..."I said.

"How did whoever know we were going there/" asked Beverly...

''They didn't have to know where we were going baby...Just anytime I would have attempted to buy something this would have happened...Crippling me.."said Olivia..

"That's right...Shortcake...This would have been confusing and disasterous all weekend,possibly all week..." I said.

''Had it not been for my hubby."said Olivia kissing me again.

''Come on girls...Let's go home.."I said.

Just then,Olivia's smartphone rang....

"It's a blocked number." she said...

A photo came up...

It was our home!!!!!...

"Somebody just sent me a photo of our home."said Olivia...

"It's your hacker!" I said...''Whoever it is...They're watching."I said.

(TO BE CONTINUED)