Ms. Solomon did.” Good thing that I had good volume control.
“Why did you look at me then?” I asked, confused.
“Let’s cut to the chase,” he said, not answering my question. “You want information and so do I. Ladies first, tell me what you want to know.” He was smart. He wasn’t going to offer anything more than I demanded. I had to admit that I really did enjoy the challenge of facing a good lawyer.
“Why don’t we start with who, and what, brought our client, Mr. Collins, to your attention,” I responded, keeping both my voice and my eye contact steady.
“You know about Randall Greene.” He picked up a pen and idly started twirling it between his fingers.
“I take it that he hasn’t reappeared yet.”
“No. And in addition to filling in for him, as I said at the press conference, I’m also trying to do everything I can help find him.”
“That’s very professional and very nice of you. Are you two good friends?”
“Randall’s a colleague. It’s the right thing to do,” he said simply.
“And what does Mr. Greene’s disappearance have to do with my client?”
“I’ve been going through his notes and files trying to figure out what he was working on when he disappeared. I even turned his computer over to the FBI lab to see if he had deleted anything recently that might be relevant. The lab guys found something odd. It seemed that a bunch of data had been wiped from his computer via an untraceable remote access the day he disappeared.”
“Do you have any idea what kind of data it was?”
“Yes, I do actually. The lab guys were able to recreate it. It contained references to an online break-in at a company called DocuKeep, details about the date and time. He had tagged it as ‘urgent and classified.’ There was also the name, Deon Flux.”
“Go on,” I urged.
“We started researching Deon Flux and found that someone with that name had been commenting in an online chat group frequented by techies ... about a break-in at a company called DocuKeep.”
“And what exactly did she say?” I asked.
“How do you know that Deon is a she?” he asked and I realized that he had caught me. His eyes were gleaming again. I was angry with myself, but madly turned on by his sharp mind. What a shocker.
“I don’t. I just don’t make assumptions.” I smiled. “You were going to tell me what Deon said I believe.”
“My turn first. Your colleagues both claim that if Mr. Collins were involved in any way with this break-in, it would only have been because he wanted to make a political statement about knowledge being free.”
“That’s correct. He would, hypothetically of course, have downloaded a great quantity of say, scientific research, and made it freely available to those who needed it but couldn’t afford it.” Sachs got a dismissive look on his face and tossed down the pen he had been twirling.
“If that was the point, then why did he only download one article about DNA sequencing? He had to have another purpose.”
“He was just checking things out, figuring out the system ... hypothetically! If he actually did it, although I’m not saying that he did.”
“Ms. Roth, what you must understand is that even if he had downloaded hundreds of files, printed them up and passed them out on the corner of 15 th and Market with a cup of lemonade and a free kitten, it still would not merit the attention of the Computer Crimes Division of U.S. Attorney’s Office.”
“You’re asking me why your colleague was interested in a simple politically motivated online break-in? Well, I’m afraid that I have no idea. But I do know this. Just because he was interested, that does not mean that there was any more to it than that.”
“There has to be more to it. Not only was Greene interested, but someone hacked into his system to try to hide that interest and now he’s missing.”
“Maybe he just needed a break and took a short trip or something.”
“Without
“Why did you look at me then?” I asked, confused.
“Let’s cut to the chase,” he said, not answering my question. “You want information and so do I. Ladies first, tell me what you want to know.” He was smart. He wasn’t going to offer anything more than I demanded. I had to admit that I really did enjoy the challenge of facing a good lawyer.
“Why don’t we start with who, and what, brought our client, Mr. Collins, to your attention,” I responded, keeping both my voice and my eye contact steady.
“You know about Randall Greene.” He picked up a pen and idly started twirling it between his fingers.
“I take it that he hasn’t reappeared yet.”
“No. And in addition to filling in for him, as I said at the press conference, I’m also trying to do everything I can help find him.”
“That’s very professional and very nice of you. Are you two good friends?”
“Randall’s a colleague. It’s the right thing to do,” he said simply.
“And what does Mr. Greene’s disappearance have to do with my client?”
“I’ve been going through his notes and files trying to figure out what he was working on when he disappeared. I even turned his computer over to the FBI lab to see if he had deleted anything recently that might be relevant. The lab guys found something odd. It seemed that a bunch of data had been wiped from his computer via an untraceable remote access the day he disappeared.”
“Do you have any idea what kind of data it was?”
“Yes, I do actually. The lab guys were able to recreate it. It contained references to an online break-in at a company called DocuKeep, details about the date and time. He had tagged it as ‘urgent and classified.’ There was also the name, Deon Flux.”
“Go on,” I urged.
“We started researching Deon Flux and found that someone with that name had been commenting in an online chat group frequented by techies ... about a break-in at a company called DocuKeep.”
“And what exactly did she say?” I asked.
“How do you know that Deon is a she?” he asked and I realized that he had caught me. His eyes were gleaming again. I was angry with myself, but madly turned on by his sharp mind. What a shocker.
“I don’t. I just don’t make assumptions.” I smiled. “You were going to tell me what Deon said I believe.”
“My turn first. Your colleagues both claim that if Mr. Collins were involved in any way with this break-in, it would only have been because he wanted to make a political statement about knowledge being free.”
“That’s correct. He would, hypothetically of course, have downloaded a great quantity of say, scientific research, and made it freely available to those who needed it but couldn’t afford it.” Sachs got a dismissive look on his face and tossed down the pen he had been twirling.
“If that was the point, then why did he only download one article about DNA sequencing? He had to have another purpose.”
“He was just checking things out, figuring out the system ... hypothetically! If he actually did it, although I’m not saying that he did.”
“Ms. Roth, what you must understand is that even if he had downloaded hundreds of files, printed them up and passed them out on the corner of 15 th and Market with a cup of lemonade and a free kitten, it still would not merit the attention of the Computer Crimes Division of U.S. Attorney’s Office.”
“You’re asking me why your colleague was interested in a simple politically motivated online break-in? Well, I’m afraid that I have no idea. But I do know this. Just because he was interested, that does not mean that there was any more to it than that.”
“There has to be more to it. Not only was Greene interested, but someone hacked into his system to try to hide that interest and now he’s missing.”
“Maybe he just needed a break and took a short trip or something.”
“Without
Similar Books
