AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘But you can sometimes?’ Jamie wasn’t letting this go.
‘Yes.’
‘I’ve got her laptop in the van.’ Jamie turned and made for the door, as if everything else went without saying.
‘Whoa, hold up there, Jamie.’ It was time for Euan to step in. ‘First of all, why would someone use their own email address to set up a drugs sale?’
‘They might have spoofed the address. There’s a way to get around that and see where an email originally came from.’ Sam fell silent as Euan glared at her. She might be right technically, but the comment wasn’t helpful.
‘Okay, so it’s possible. Jamie, the police and the drug agencies are handling it. You don’t need to get involved with this.’
‘Yes. I do.’ Jamie gave him a truculent look.
‘So what do you think you’re going to do?’ Euan asked.
‘Sam can find out where the email’s coming from, she said so just now. And then we find the people who gave the drugs to Kirsty and we do something about it, instead of just sitting around talking about feedback.’ He spat the word out as if it was some kind of poison.
‘Jamie, I know you’re angry—’
‘Damn right I’m angry! Just tell me what you’re doing about it, Euan.’ Jamie pushed his face up close to Euan’s in ferocious defiance.
‘Stop it, you two. Right now.’ Sam’s voice was suddenly so assertive that even Euan blinked, and Jamie jumped back suddenly. Euan bit back the temptation to defend himself and claim that it wasn’t he who was being reckless, deciding that sounded a bit too much like a kid caught fighting in the street.
‘Now, look here.’ She turned the full force of her stare onto Jamie, and all Euan could think about was that he was glad it wasn’t him. ‘Sometimes you can trace the source of an email from the data that comes with it. Sometimes you can’t, it depends on how the person’s sent the email. If it’s from a web client then all you’ll get is the IP address of the host servers...’
‘What?’ Jamie’s expression turned from defiance to grudging incomprehension.
‘Okay. Take my word for it, there are loads of different ways to send an email and not all of them can be traced. If...’ She gave Jamie a look of the utmost severity ‘If it’s possible to trace the email, and if it’s from who you think, then you might get some idea of where someone was two weeks ago. Is that enough?’
Jamie sighed. ‘No. Not really.’
She nodded and the steel in her voice gave way to warmth. ‘I’m sorry, Jamie. That’s how it is.’ Then she turned to Euan.
If he’d thought he was going to be the one who got off lightly in this, the expression on her face shut that possibility down straight away. ‘The police and the drug agencies are handling this, right?’
‘Right.’ Under the intensity of her stare he felt like a child being brought to account for its actions. And also a man. He felt like a man who wanted to see what might happen if his own spirit clashed with hers. What kind of fireworks that might produce.
‘And you think that’s enough information? Enough for anyone who’s lost a friend?’
She hadn’t noticed her own slip of the tongue. Jamie hadn’t lost a friend. Maybe Sam had. But he’d promised not to go there. ‘Perhaps not.’
‘There’s no perhaps about it. It isn’t.’ Something like fire sparked in her grey eyes.
‘You’ve made your point. I could have said more.’ He turned to Jamie. ‘The police have already interviewed Kirsty—’
‘What? She’s still in hospital, for crying out loud. What the hell are they doing, upsetting her?’ Jamie’s passion flashed to the surface again and Euan held up his hand.
‘They sent a policewoman in plain clothes, who treated her very gently. I was there for her the whole time. We talked about it with her parents first, and Kirsty decided she’d rather not have them present during the interview.’
Jamie sighed. ‘She wouldn’t have wanted to upset them.’
‘She doesn’t want to upset you either.’
‘She doesn’t need to worry about that. I’ve been there, remember.’
Euan took a moment to consider his reply. This was what Jamie needed to hear, but maybe Sam needed to hear it as well. ‘Being close to a drug abuser isn’t easy, and it’s okay to have your own feelings about that.’
‘But the email...’ It looked as if Euan wasn’t getting through to either of them. Sam was shaking her head slightly, and Jamie was still protesting.
