Dead Ringer by joe mcnally

Author:joe mcnally
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: joe mcnally

32

As midnight rolled us into Tuesday, Maven Judge was examining the picture I’d taken at Watt’s of the cable ends dangling in the fireplace.

‘Quality stuff, Eddie. Not a cheap system, going by the cables alone.’

‘Were they connected to a laptop or a PC?’

‘Just a hard drive. A big hard drive that would be programmed to record to its capacity then start recording over the oldest files.’

‘What if you needed to see the oldest files?’

‘Well, we’re talking weeks here, maybe even months, before it would delete. He’d be reviewing it before that and saving anything he needed. Email me that pic, will you? I want to take a closer look on my screen.’

I mailed the picture.

‘Give me a minute,’ Mave said.

‘What do you think you’ve got?’ I could see her leaning forward. ‘Maven Judge, you’re screwing your eyes up. You need glasses, my friend.’

‘Eyes like a shithouse rat, me…listen…I can see the supplier’s name on the cable. They’re the best in the business and, if I’m not mistaken…’ She keyed quickly and leaned back, clicking her mouse three times, ‘…they offer free backup for the first year for all files.’

‘You think they have a copy of all the footage from Watt’s camera?’

She was clicking rapidly. ‘I think, I think, I think…yep, free backup is automatic. Watt would need to have opted out rather than in to reject it.’

‘Backed up to where?’

‘The company’s servers.’

‘The site you’re looking at now?’

‘Keeerect, my friend, and I anticipate your next question. Yes, I probably could get in, though I don’t know how long a job it would be. A warrant from your sergeant buddy might be quicker.’

‘Only if it’s going to take you the rest of the year to crack their system.’

‘Let me have a nose around tonight.’

‘Thanks. I appreciate it.’

‘Sure you do.’

‘Mave. Mave…’

She stopped typing and turned her plain, gaunt face to the webcam. I’d rarely seen her express emotion. Her brown eyes always had a guarded look, as though she was constantly assessing whatever she was seeing. A handful of times I’d broken through with a wisecrack that had made her expose those crooked teeth in a smile, giving me a ridiculous feeling of accomplishment, almost like riding a winner. ‘Listen,’ I said, ‘I am really grateful to you. I’m not just saying it. You ask nothing in return for the favours you do.’

‘Oh, don’t go all soppy on me, for God’s sake. You’re an investment for me. I’m looking after that investment, despite its propensity to dash around on a white charger. You were born in the wrong century, Eddie. You should have been on earth when there were dragons to slay and maidens to rescue.’

‘An investment, eh? There was me thinking I was your friend.’

‘Never contract friendship with a man that is not better than thyself. And I’m still waiting.’

‘Sayeth who?’

‘Sayeth me for the second part and sayeth Confucius, the first.’

‘You’re a big softy, really, Mave. Thou shalt blubber at my grave, I do not doubt.’

‘Any blubbering from me at your grave will be no louder than it would for watching a casket of banknotes being lowered into a furnace.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.