Five“TESS, DETECTIVE. I’M sorry to have to tell you this, but you’ve guessed most of the details. As you now know, it’s all a hoax. But it was bought and paid for outside the company. The only reason the clues pointed back to you, Tess, was to tickle your curiosity to solve the details.
“In fact, this recording wasn’t going to trigger until you had. So, congratulations.
“I’m alive and well. On a long vacation right now. Somewhere out of New York’s grit and cold.
“Those ads will keep coming, as they are all AI’d. Actually, I haven’t done much designing for the last month, as the AI was that good.”
Tess nodded. “We’ve sent less work to freelancers recently, but I never connected it, as our clients have kept us swamped with their work requests.”
Judith continued, “Yes, you were too much
