Chapter Six
The Craftsman….
Noon...
Alan and Millie were working on a puzzle, both thinking about Millie and Charlie's conversation about Millie's computer being hacked, which nearly resulted in her becoming a pariah in the entire academic community.
"You okay, Millie?" Alan asked, as he was concerned about her.
"I'll be okay, I just can't believe someone would hack emails and use it to stir up trouble between me and Charlie." Millie said, thinking about the conversation between her and Charlie.
"At least you caught it before it caused even more damage." Alan said, hoping that it would comfort her a little.
"Thank you Alan, I always thought that if I was hacked, it would be to get information about research or a paper that hadn't been published yet." Millie said ruefully
"Well, whoever it was, the hacker seems to have a grudge against either you or Charlie or just some kind of troll." Alan said
"I just hope they figure out who this person is because I worry this person or persons could do something worse." Millie said worriedly
"Well, no matter what, we will get through this issue." Alan said as he patted Millie's hand
"I hope so, too." She said before continuing, "Let's continue with the puzzle shall we? I am hoping to figure out the puzzle in a different way this time."
"That I can do." Alan said as he put in an edge piece.
Outside the house…
Marshall looked around, making sure that there was no one who could spot him, and put a small package in the Eppes mailbox.
'This should send a message, Epsie, as I intend to make things worse for you.' He thought as he put it in the mailbox and quickly ran for his car.
'This plan is about to go about flawlessly and Epsie will never try to deny my genius ever again.' He thought to himself as he drove away, thinking about what was about to happen when Alan Eppes opened the box and imagined the man's face when he opened it.
'Too bad I won't see, but I have a conference to prepare for.' He thought to himself as he drove off.
Alan heard the car running and was curious when he saw that the mailbox sign was up and wondered who would be leaving mail at this time of day.
'This better not be another prank, I've already had to deal with this kind of thing twice already.' He thought to himself as he went to the mailbox.
When he opened the mailbox, he was surprised to see a strange package in there and wondered as to who left that there.
'This is weird, who would leave this type of thing?' He thought to himself as he took the package inside.
Millie saw the package and had to ask as to who sent it.
"I don't know," Alan answered, "I just found it after hearing a car speeding away."
"Think it is some kind of prank?" She asked as he put the package on the table before sitting down.
"Probably, I'll look at it later and see if it is something worth fussing over," Alan said as he and Millie continued with the puzzle, unaware of what is about to happen to them.