“I’ve kept them hidden on this machine for seven years,” she said.

Clara turned the laptop screen toward me.

Hundreds of file names filled a black background, each one marked with a creation date from almost a decade ago.

“He ruined my family over this,” Clara said.

I set my purse on a nearby chair and stepped closer to the screen.

The timestamps on Clara’s files were three full years older than the founding date of Prescott Technologies.

“Show me the core architecture,” I said.