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After a few minutes, she realized that Scott and his lawyers had been serious about keeping things guarded. Everything was hidden under firewalls and passwords. Quickly, she worked through them. She just needed one way in. Just needed to crack one entrance point, and she'd have access.
She knew that her programs would find a password eventually, but the timeframe for that was uncertain, and it might take hours. There was going to be a potentially faster way to do it, and that was via information gathering on the company employees.
Swiftly, Cami sketched out a list of the key people. The second in command, two directors, the company secretary, the head of security.
The company secretary of the organization was the one most active on social media, so it was here that Cami’s curious attention turned. In addition to her day job, Joan Brand was a hobby breeder of French poodles, Cami saw. Quickly, she created the link she needed to gain access, and sent an email through to Joan from a seemingly legitimate address, claiming that she was a fictitious person by the name of Barbz Barnardo. She thought that was a nice, catchy name.
"Hi, Joan! I'm very interested in your puppies, but would also like to know how they compare in terms of quality to the poodles from the breeder who's my other choice. I am keen on dog showing, so having a perfect dog is important to me. Please, could you take a look at these photos in the link, and tell me what you think and if your dogs are better? Is there any fault with these ones?"
She masked the link with a believable name “poodle-dog-pups” and then sent the email off to her work address.
Cami hoped that the secretary would take time out from her day job to answer this very important question about the pedigree dogs, and before she did that, she'd click on the link to look for faults in her opposition’s dogs, which would then allow Cami a way in.
She didn’t know how long it would take, though.
What if the secretary was in another meeting? What if Connor was thrown out of the office by the team of lawyers? What if the security guards came in, saw her, and got suspicious?
Anxiety festered inside her as she waited to see whether this would work. She fidgeted and bit her fingernail, glancing again and again at the screen.
A minute passed, then another.
And finally, just as she was starting to panic in earnest, she heard the quiet ping that meant she was in. Joan had taken the bait she’d offered, and hopefully this would be in time.
Letting out a huge sigh of relief, Cami set about exploring the email network, heading straight to Joan's boss's inbox.
If only Scott was as hell bent on making sure his online security was as good as his physical security, Cami thought, with a touch of amusement. The human factor was always the weakest link, that was for sure.
What could she find?
She scrolled back in the archives first, wanting to find out if there had been any further interaction between Scott and the two victims. Had he connected with Shiree or Caroline after that installation?
Searching for their names, Cami came across a whole sheaf of archived emails, about two years old, which would correlate with the time Scott had left to set up Global Security.
It seemed like Scott had sent the same email to about forty different clients.
"Dear Caroline," the one she clicked on read. "I've recently become unhappy with the standards of quality at the old company I worked for. I have left as a result of this and started my own firm, Global Security. I would like to know if we could give you a free review of your alarm system and assess the quality and workmanship. Please let me know if you would like to set up an appointment."
Cami narrowed her eyes, feeling cynical. She thought she saw how this would have gone.
Scott might have deliberately botched the installations, creating weak areas that the clients would not have been happy with. And then, he sent out this friendly email, claiming that he'd left because of the low standards he'd created!
It was a clever and highly unethical technique for drumming up business and switching clients' loyalty. From the numbers of return emails she saw, it was clear that he'd gotten a lot of people wanting this assessment and a lot of customers from it.
Feeling that she should do the helpful thing, Cami quickly forwarded all these emails to Malcolm from Edge Security. He might be able to do nothing with them, but then again, he might. At least he'd know what his “competition” was up to, she thought.
Even though these mails had done nothing for her opinion of Scott as a person, they also didn't prove him to be a killer, and Cami knew that she'd have to keep looking for any information that could confirm this.
Was there anything in his appointment calendar?
Cami found the online calendar for Scott, and started to review it, looking for any time gaps that might have been suspicious, or any blank spaces at the times that the two murders had occurred.
Would he have an alibi?
There was nothing listed for the day and time that Caroline had died. But what about Shiree? Had he been anywhere yesterday afternoon?
Cami let out a disappointed breath as she stared at the appointment calendar. Yesterday, Scott had been busy. And not working, either, although the afternoon had been booked off for a “meeting.” But he'd spent the entire afternoon playing a golf four-ball. She saw emails confirming the golf from his fellow players, and she saw an email after the golf confirming his results, with a couple of photos.
Scott had been skipping work to go golfing. He'd probably never admit to it because he wanted to play hardcore games with the FBI, rather than cooperate. But the evidence was here, as disappointing as it was.
