Read Online An Inconsequential Murder by Rodolfo Peña - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Rodolfo Peña
Tags: Mystery
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bemused smile.
“ I meant personal ones, the kind that would make you notice that something was wrong, or that he was worried about something.”
“ No, not particularly. Victor is not, or, uh, was not the kind of guy to go around moping or crying about something. He was very quiet, and just did his job. He was a good boss, not the kind to interfere too much or be looking over your shoulder all the time. He only came around when there was a big problem or there was something special that needed to be done.”
Again Lombardo wrote something down. “When was the last time you saw him?”
“ Yesterday afternoon, before I went home.”
Lombardo’s phone started to vibrate. He fished it out of his coat pocket and flipped it open. He had a call from the Director’s office. He turned the phone off and said, “How did you come to see him? Just casually? Did he come by here?”
“ No, he called me and asked me to come to his office.”
“ What about?”
“ Oh, nothing special. He just wanted to know some technical stuff.”
“ Technical stuff? What do you mean by technical stuff, David?”
“ He wanted to know the schedule for backing up some files. He said he had to start writing up next year’s budget and that he wanted me to give him the schedules and space requirements for certain system files.”
“ Was this an unusual request, David?”
“ Not at all. It’s part of my job. We go through this capacity planning every year, sometimes twice a year.”
“ You said that these cards,” Lombardo lifted his security badge, “keep track of where you are in the building. Do you record the movements of people, you know, keep tabs on them?”
“ Yes, we keep general logs of most everything.”
“ Would you mind giving me a copy of just his movements, where he was at a certain time and such? Just for that last day, of course.”
“ Sure, I’ll ask the log manager to get that for you. He’s not here now but I can have it for you tomorrow. Is that ok?”
“ Yeah, that’s fine.” Lombardo made another pause then asked, “Do you have any idea why anybody would want to hurt Victor, David?”
David ’s face darkened, as if a shadow had passed over it. “No, not at all. He was just a simple, working guy. Never harmed anyone. Went about his job just like most of us here; he had a wife and a kid, like most of us, and not much money, like most of us.”
“ I haven’t seen his personal file yet; so he was married?”
“ Yes, and had a boy, about the same age as mine.”
“ Where did he live?”
“ In ‘La Florida’, I believe. I don’t know exactly where but I could find out.”
“ Don’t worry, I’ll get his personal file sometime tomorrow.” Lombardo put his notebook away and got up. He extended his hand and said, “Thank you for your time, David.”
“ I’ll accompany you to the door.”
“ Don’t bother; I can find my way out.”
“ It’s not a courtesy,” said David, “it’s part of our security policy.”
As they shook hands once again and he handed his security pass to the girl at the desk, Lombardo asked David, “By the way, these system files that Victor asked you to inform him about, what do they contain?”
“ Oh,” said David off-handedly, “mostly system logs, backup for system files, and things like that.”
“ System logs, eh? What do they record?”
“ Well, mostly activity of the various systems. What procedures are running, what databases are being accessed, security stuff, logins and logouts, you name it. As I said, we have logs for a lot of stuff.”
“ Would they show what Victor was working on that night?”
“ In a general way, yes.”
“ Did you know what he was working on, David?”
“ Not particularly but I assume he was working on one of the many tasks we have as systems managers. As I said, there’s
“ I meant personal ones, the kind that would make you notice that something was wrong, or that he was worried about something.”
“ No, not particularly. Victor is not, or, uh, was not the kind of guy to go around moping or crying about something. He was very quiet, and just did his job. He was a good boss, not the kind to interfere too much or be looking over your shoulder all the time. He only came around when there was a big problem or there was something special that needed to be done.”
Again Lombardo wrote something down. “When was the last time you saw him?”
“ Yesterday afternoon, before I went home.”
Lombardo’s phone started to vibrate. He fished it out of his coat pocket and flipped it open. He had a call from the Director’s office. He turned the phone off and said, “How did you come to see him? Just casually? Did he come by here?”
“ No, he called me and asked me to come to his office.”
“ What about?”
“ Oh, nothing special. He just wanted to know some technical stuff.”
“ Technical stuff? What do you mean by technical stuff, David?”
“ He wanted to know the schedule for backing up some files. He said he had to start writing up next year’s budget and that he wanted me to give him the schedules and space requirements for certain system files.”
“ Was this an unusual request, David?”
“ Not at all. It’s part of my job. We go through this capacity planning every year, sometimes twice a year.”
“ You said that these cards,” Lombardo lifted his security badge, “keep track of where you are in the building. Do you record the movements of people, you know, keep tabs on them?”
“ Yes, we keep general logs of most everything.”
“ Would you mind giving me a copy of just his movements, where he was at a certain time and such? Just for that last day, of course.”
“ Sure, I’ll ask the log manager to get that for you. He’s not here now but I can have it for you tomorrow. Is that ok?”
“ Yeah, that’s fine.” Lombardo made another pause then asked, “Do you have any idea why anybody would want to hurt Victor, David?”
David ’s face darkened, as if a shadow had passed over it. “No, not at all. He was just a simple, working guy. Never harmed anyone. Went about his job just like most of us here; he had a wife and a kid, like most of us, and not much money, like most of us.”
“ I haven’t seen his personal file yet; so he was married?”
“ Yes, and had a boy, about the same age as mine.”
“ Where did he live?”
“ In ‘La Florida’, I believe. I don’t know exactly where but I could find out.”
“ Don’t worry, I’ll get his personal file sometime tomorrow.” Lombardo put his notebook away and got up. He extended his hand and said, “Thank you for your time, David.”
“ I’ll accompany you to the door.”
“ Don’t bother; I can find my way out.”
“ It’s not a courtesy,” said David, “it’s part of our security policy.”
As they shook hands once again and he handed his security pass to the girl at the desk, Lombardo asked David, “By the way, these system files that Victor asked you to inform him about, what do they contain?”
“ Oh,” said David off-handedly, “mostly system logs, backup for system files, and things like that.”
“ System logs, eh? What do they record?”
“ Well, mostly activity of the various systems. What procedures are running, what databases are being accessed, security stuff, logins and logouts, you name it. As I said, we have logs for a lot of stuff.”
“ Would they show what Victor was working on that night?”
“ In a general way, yes.”
“ Did you know what he was working on, David?”
“ Not particularly but I assume he was working on one of the many tasks we have as systems managers. As I said, there’s
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