Scattered Graves

said.
‘‘That’s a good question,’’ he said. ‘‘A very good question.’’
Frank sat thinking for several moments. ‘‘Where was the computer taken after it left the mayor’s house?’’
‘‘The police station. They tried to get into it but couldn’t get past the encryption. Then it was brought to the crime lab, where it sat on a shelf. It went from there to my museum office,’’ said Diane.
‘‘Someone had remote access to it every time it was turned on,’’ said Frank.
‘‘How?’’ asked Diane.
‘‘Its wireless network adapter. It could connect itself to whatever computer network it detected. The police station and your museum both have local area net works with wireless connections,’’ said Frank.
‘‘But doesn’t each computer have to be...I don’t know . . . don’t they have to have a special card to work with each network?’’ said Diane.
‘‘Not with wireless connections,’’ said Frank. ‘‘All the fellow had to do was defeat the security regulating wireless access to the network. For an experienced hacker, that’s a piece of cake, even for your museum network . . . No offense. Whenever Jefferies’ computer was turned on, it could automatically connect itself to the nearest wireless access point and send out a ping to the hacker’s computer.’’
‘‘A ping?’’ said Diane.
‘‘Computers talk to each other in the background constantly. A ping is kind of like one computer ringing the other’s doorbell and saying, Hi, it’s me. I’m here, you there? ’’
‘‘Its doorbell?’’ asked Diane.
‘‘A metaphor,’’ said Frank.
‘‘An analogy,’’ said Diane.
‘‘A good one. I know how you hate bad ones. The point is, for as long as Jefferies’ computer was turned on, our clever fellow could put anything on or take anything off of it that he wanted—programs, data files, photos of your iris, incriminating lists . . . anything.’’ Frank grinned. He seemed almost gleeful over his analysis.
‘‘Is nothing safe?’’ said Diane. The potential for in vasion of privacy was staggering to her.
‘‘Not a lot. You need good protections. If I were you, I’d let David take a look at your museum systems. He is really good.’’
‘‘Frank, please don’t put him on your list,’’ said Diane suddenly. David would hate the very idea.
He reached over and squeezed her arm. ‘‘I won’t. Don’t worry.’’
She looked at Frank. He wouldn’t, she thought. An other thing she liked about Frank. He was decent.
Diane thought a moment. ‘‘So it was someone who wanted to make things right. It’s probably someone on the list of hackers,’’ she said.
‘‘He or she probably took their name off the list,’’ said Frank.
‘‘So we can’t find out who it is,’’ said Diane.
Frank studied the wall opposite their bench, lost in thought. ‘‘I can look at the list and see if there are any businesses left off that should have been a prime target—have a look at their employees. I can see if there are any hackers that I know about who aren’t on the list,’’ he said. ‘‘We know Edgar Peeks was re cruiting at university job fairs. That’s not uncommon; many agencies recruit employees that way—easier to find the kind of employee you want. The university placement offices should have records on their fairs.’’
Diane sat up. ‘‘Could that guy, Malcolm Chen, have done it before . . .’’ Diane shook her head. ‘‘He died several months ago.’’ She looked up again. ‘‘If those are his bones from the field. They might not be. Jin hasn’t finished the DNA analysis yet.’’
‘‘It’s worth checking out,’’ said Frank. ‘‘He may have just gone to ground—in another way,’’ he added.
LaCroix came out and motioned for the DA and Janice. Frank, Diane, and the chief of police went back to the observation room.
‘‘My client can offer you the murderer of Edgar Peeks all wrapped up with a bow. What can you offer her?’’ said LaCroix.
‘‘What about the murderer of Jefferies?’’ said Ja nice Warrick.
‘‘She doesn’t know who killed him,’’ said LaCroix.
‘‘They weren’t killed by the same person?’’ said Ja nice. She looked surprised.
‘‘They may have been,’’ said LaCroix. ‘‘But my cli ent can only prove who killed Peeks. What can you offer her?’’
‘‘She held a gun on four people employed by the Rosewood Police Department and one Atlanta detec tive,’’ said Riddmann.