Known as the greatest technology sleuth in the city, Detective Dash has been hired by Legacy Bank to solve the mystery of its troublesome customer portal. Follow the case by reading the all of the chapters in his story: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7 and Chapter 8.
Chapter 3: Time’s a Tickin’
“T.K., T.K., T.K.” Detective Dash wrote the initials over and over in his notebook.
“Who could T.K. possibly be?” He wondered aloud.
Shrugs had warned him that T.K. was responsible for project timelines but had left abruptly before filling Dash in on the rest.
Now, Dash had to figure out who those initials belonged to, quickly. The Legacy Bank portal was acting up. It was clear to Dash that Shrugs, although understaffed and tired, was not entirely responsible for the slow pace of development.
Someone up the chain had Shrugs in a bind, and Dash intended to find out who.
His stomach grumbled, which could only mean two things. Either Dash was hungry, or he let last night’s deli sandwich sit out a bit too long. Hoping for the best, the detective grabbed his coat and headed to his favorite diner.
There he poured over his notebook again, scribbling in the margins and on the paper napkin on the counter.
The waiter refilled Dash’s coffee mug.
“Something got your mind in a jumble, Dash? I don’t usually see you sweating this much over anything.”
“Something, alright,” said Dash. He sipped his coffee slowly and shook his head quickly, as a dog shakes off water.
“Nothing like slightly burnt diner coffee to get your engine going again,” he muttered to himself.
“What’s that?” asked the waiter.
“Nothing. Nothing. Hey, I have a question for you. You wouldn’t have any idea what the initials ‘T.K’ stand for, would you?”
The waiter furrowed his brow. “T.K.? Could be anything.”
“Could be anything,” Dash replied.
The waiter turned, tossing a bar rag over his shoulder as he did. He slid the glass coffee jug back onto the warming pad against the back wall then leaned over to write something down on a notepad.
Above him on the wall a clock ticked, counting the minutes Dash had wasted trying to decipher a clue with a million answers.
Tick, tick, tick.
Why was it taking him so long to figure out the next piece of the puzzle? Why was it taking the bank so long to update its portal?
Tick, tick, tick.
Dash wished that the clock would stop ticking and time would slow, giving him the precious minutes, he needed to solve his case.
The waiter caught Dash staring up at the clock.
“Keeping time for something?” he asked.
Dash jolted to, hurriedly pulling cash out of his wallet and laying it on the counter.
“Thank you!” he yelled, as he grabbed his coat and ran out of the diner door.
The Time Keeper’s office was down the block from the main bank branch in an old office building. Once Dash realized what the initials referred to it didn’t take him long to look up the bank’s corporate office.
Along the walls were clocks with various time zones and desk calendar pages marked with different colors and pinned to bulletin boards.
“Hello, I’m Detective Dash. I’m investigating a case for Money Meg. Can you answer a few questions for me?”
“Yes, but I only have 1.3 minutes before I need to run,” she replied.
“What do you know about Legacy Bank’s banking portal?” When will it finally be modernized?” Dash asked.
The Time Keeper looked down at her desk and thumbed through the calendar in front of her, counting in whispered tones.
“Don’t you know? This is a two-year project,” she said. “Monolithic apps need new code for development. It’s a lengthy process.”
Shrugs had mentioned a similar timeline. Dash just didn’t believe it at the time.
“Two years?” asked Detective Dash. “That’s a long time! The bank portal needs upgrading now. You’re losing customers because of it.”
“There’s nothing I can do,” T.K. responded. “All of the dependencies, our waterfall method of software development and updating a monolithic app. It leads to difficulty at every step.”
“Waterfalls? I thought you weren’t supposed to chase those,” Dash asked. “And monoliths? What are we even talking about here?”
“Listen,” she said. “I don’t like it any more than you do. These methods are seriously outdated and it’s time for a change. But it’s been hard getting buy-in from the top, so we continue doing what we’re doing for now.”
“That’s not going to cut it,” Dash replied. “Not when time is of the essence.”
“You don’t need to tell me twice,” T.K. said before glancing at her watch. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to run. If you want to talk to someone else about this, get ahold of one of our developers. Last I heard the team was messaging about a new person, Kate, maybe.”
“Kate?” Dash asked. But it was too late. The Time Keeper was already out the door and off to her next appointment.
Dash scratched his head. “Waterfall method? Monoliths? Who is Kate?” He wondered, before getting up and heading out the door himself.
