Read Online By All Means (Fiske and MacNee Mysteries Book 2) by Alan Alexander - Free Book Online
Authors: Alan Alexander
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would have to come from Esslemont.
More than one DCI identified NEC's in-house computer nerd, Detective Sergeant Don "Dongle" Donaldson, as someone who could break into any computer and who was a genius at recovering deleted files and deciphering encrypted ones. Colin went to see him in his office, more like a lab, in a satellite building in the centre of Aberdeen which housed a variety of specialist units: computer crime; forensic anthropology; photographic and video analysis; voice recognition.
'DS Donaldson...'
Donaldson interrupted. 'Call me Dongle, everybody else does. What can I do for you, Inspector?'
Colin smiled. 'The first thing you can do is tell me why you're called Dongle.'
'Maybe because I'm the key to all computers? Or maybe because a guy called Don Donaldson who's into computers just invited the nickname. I can't remember, but I don't mind it. Helps me to stay doing what I'm good at and what I enjoy. We've nailed quite a few bad buggers on the basis of my ferreting about in their hard drives. What's your problem?'
Colin outlined the investigation of the two possibly related murders, emphasising the similarities in the jobs the victims had been doing and the identical protocols that appeared to have governed their reporting back to the USA.
'We've got one laptop and we're trying to locate the other. We're also trying to get copies of the encrypted reports that the dead men had already sent back. But we're dealing with some very edgy and secretive people and they're likely to try to block us, so we need to know if the deleted and encrypted emails can be recovered.'
'Almost certainly, but it may take some time. Two or three days, possibly. If you think you can get copies from the recipients quicker than that, I'm not your man. Assuming you can't, the fact that you've got one laptop is really helpful. If they were both issued by the same organisation, it's almost certain they both used the same encryption and deletion software. Crack one, and we crack the other, if you find it.'
'The companies are separate but share an owner, a private equity company that stays well away from publicity.'
'Still likely that they use a common IT system. Cheaper that way. And as I understand it, private equity is a byword for cost reduction and profit maximisation. I read that in the Economist and I've just shared with you the full extent of my knowledge.'
Colin liked Dongle's style. 'Do you want me to bring the laptop here or do you want to join our happy band at HQ?'
'Better for me to work on it here, where I've got all my magic tricks. I'll look after it. I've got a safe here for when I'm not working on it, so it'll be secure.'
'I'll get it to you by the end of the day, first thing tomorrow at the latest. We'll check that you're here before we bring it.'
*
As soon as Keller had been identified as the GRH body, DC Duncan Williamson went to hospital security to collect the CCTV recordings for the five days that Keller had been there. Because of the nature of his work and the secrecy with which it had been done, it wasn't possible to put together a definitive account of where he had been. They would have to look at all the recordings. There were twenty CCTV cameras recording 24 hours a day: 2400 hours of recordings that might enable them to build up a picture of where Keller had been. They needed to know when his laptop had disappeared.
Because of staff shortages it was unlikely that the work could be covered entirely, or even mainly, by CID. Colin decided that analysis of the recordings could be done by uniformed officers supervised by Williamson. He already had a high definition picture of Keller. He had enough copies of it printed for distribution to the officers who would examine most of the footage and he had, from Donovan, a detailed description of the bag containing his laptop which, Donovan had
More than one DCI identified NEC's in-house computer nerd, Detective Sergeant Don "Dongle" Donaldson, as someone who could break into any computer and who was a genius at recovering deleted files and deciphering encrypted ones. Colin went to see him in his office, more like a lab, in a satellite building in the centre of Aberdeen which housed a variety of specialist units: computer crime; forensic anthropology; photographic and video analysis; voice recognition.
'DS Donaldson...'
Donaldson interrupted. 'Call me Dongle, everybody else does. What can I do for you, Inspector?'
Colin smiled. 'The first thing you can do is tell me why you're called Dongle.'
'Maybe because I'm the key to all computers? Or maybe because a guy called Don Donaldson who's into computers just invited the nickname. I can't remember, but I don't mind it. Helps me to stay doing what I'm good at and what I enjoy. We've nailed quite a few bad buggers on the basis of my ferreting about in their hard drives. What's your problem?'
Colin outlined the investigation of the two possibly related murders, emphasising the similarities in the jobs the victims had been doing and the identical protocols that appeared to have governed their reporting back to the USA.
'We've got one laptop and we're trying to locate the other. We're also trying to get copies of the encrypted reports that the dead men had already sent back. But we're dealing with some very edgy and secretive people and they're likely to try to block us, so we need to know if the deleted and encrypted emails can be recovered.'
'Almost certainly, but it may take some time. Two or three days, possibly. If you think you can get copies from the recipients quicker than that, I'm not your man. Assuming you can't, the fact that you've got one laptop is really helpful. If they were both issued by the same organisation, it's almost certain they both used the same encryption and deletion software. Crack one, and we crack the other, if you find it.'
'The companies are separate but share an owner, a private equity company that stays well away from publicity.'
'Still likely that they use a common IT system. Cheaper that way. And as I understand it, private equity is a byword for cost reduction and profit maximisation. I read that in the Economist and I've just shared with you the full extent of my knowledge.'
Colin liked Dongle's style. 'Do you want me to bring the laptop here or do you want to join our happy band at HQ?'
'Better for me to work on it here, where I've got all my magic tricks. I'll look after it. I've got a safe here for when I'm not working on it, so it'll be secure.'
'I'll get it to you by the end of the day, first thing tomorrow at the latest. We'll check that you're here before we bring it.'
*
As soon as Keller had been identified as the GRH body, DC Duncan Williamson went to hospital security to collect the CCTV recordings for the five days that Keller had been there. Because of the nature of his work and the secrecy with which it had been done, it wasn't possible to put together a definitive account of where he had been. They would have to look at all the recordings. There were twenty CCTV cameras recording 24 hours a day: 2400 hours of recordings that might enable them to build up a picture of where Keller had been. They needed to know when his laptop had disappeared.
Because of staff shortages it was unlikely that the work could be covered entirely, or even mainly, by CID. Colin decided that analysis of the recordings could be done by uniformed officers supervised by Williamson. He already had a high definition picture of Keller. He had enough copies of it printed for distribution to the officers who would examine most of the footage and he had, from Donovan, a detailed description of the bag containing his laptop which, Donovan had
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