Day 1, 1630 (about)
> Jordan glanced up and grinned. "Seems she knew her way around > computer systems, though. It’s password protected."
> "Can you bypass it?" > > "Eventually. How long depends on how good the program is."
Suddenly Jordan had an idea. He had noticed that the computer had activated the "a:" drive looking for a disk before accessing the hard drive. He began to search the desk and after a moment found what he was looking for, a 3-1/2" floppy disk labled in neat handwriting, "System Disk." With a grin he put it in the drive and reset the computer.
The machine ran through the memory test, and beeped happily as it began reading the system information on the floppy. less than a minute later Jordan was looking at the "A:" prompt blinking at him cheerfully.
"Long live Bill Gates," Jordan muttered.
Jordan accessed the "C:" drive and found the startup directory. He deleted the shortcut to the security program, removed the floppy disk and restarted the computer. Minutes later he was looking through the contents of Mary's hard drive. He found a directory called, "Diary," and opened it up. The entries were all word processor documents, and they seemed to be filed by date, year first, then month, and then day. Jordan selected the last one: 970803.doc, and double clicked on it.
The word processor started up and the file appeared on the screen. It began with the expected, "Dear Diary." The first couple of paragraphs were a brief description of Mary's day including what happened at work and what she had for lunch. Then came the interesting part:
"Ted called. I told him to stop. I'm not interested in seeing him anymore. We tried, and I though we'd suceeded, but we didn't. I really don't want to try anymore. He began yelling that I had to try again on the phone, so I hung up on him. I hope he'll stop because I really don't want to have to call the cops."
Jordan read the paragraph again, and looked at the date Mary had typed on the bottom. It was a day or two before the coroner had guessed she had died.
Jordan looked through a few earlier diary entries, and noted several referances to Ted, and Mary's activities with him. It seemed they had begun dating 6 months before she was murdered, and broke up shortly after Mary found out she was not pregnant. Was that sufficient motive for murder? Jotdan wondered.
The only problem was that Ted's last name wasn't mentioned, nor was anything else that might be helpful, like an address or phone number. Eventually he was staring at Mary's final entry again.
He heard footsteps approaching, and Zenya said, "Find anything?"
"Mary Ritchie's last diary entry. Take a look."
Zenya peered over his shoulder and read the paragraph, then she held up a casette tape. "This tape contains Mary's end of that telephone conversation."
"Well, we know it happened after Mary came home from work, and we have a date. It might be worth checking the telephone company's records to see if they can get us the origin of that call," Jordan suggested.
Zenya agreed. They copied all of Mary's diary entries on to a couple of floppy disks and took a final look around the apartment. Jordan had a nagging feeling that he couldn't quite place. With a shrug he followed Zenya out the door.
A few feet from the building, his phone rang. Jordan pulled the small phone out and answered, "Stern.
[The way you answer Agent Stern, I'd think you were a taut string.]
"Good afternoon, Agent Lee. How can I help you?" jordan said with a slight smile.
[Much more civil. Agent Reaper and I have talked to Mary Ritchie's doctor and have some interesting things to relay to you. Do you want to meet somewhere?]
"Agent Gorky and I have finished up at her apartment, and my stomache tells me it's time for dinner."
[We passed a place called Delaney's. It looked preaty good.]
Stern agreed, and got directions from Vanessa.
Jordan drove to the restaurant, and he and Zenya entered. If anyone was watching, they were unaware. They selected a table and waited. Agent Jones arrived a few minutes later, and the three awaited the arrival of Agent Lee and Reaper.
NRPG: Keep up the good work, I'll be back Thursday!
Sydnie: Great post! I was heading in that direction, and the casette twist was one I would never have thought of.
Peter: The follower is interesting. I have no idea who'd be that interested in this case.
Respectfully submitted, Alton Reich SA-4 Jordan Stern, Team Leader ZULU -- Alton & Elizabeth Reich [email protected] "Ani l'dodi, v'dodi li - I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine" --The Song of Songs