Mercy

these details, he had to do it by phone, where the security checks were supposed to be more rigorous. Of course the reality was that they were not. And that was what he was trying to take advantage of in this exercise in social engineering.

In case after case he was being told that they couldn’t find any trace of that name or account, and, once he was satisfied that that bank or branch could be eliminated, he told them that the account was over fifteen years old. The reason for this was that he had already established that if it had been left untouched for that period, the account would have become classified as a dormant account. That enabled him to end the conversation without arousing too much suspicion.

The trouble was, there was no way he could be sure of his assumption that she would have opened an account at a branch near the medical center. His reasoning was that she would probably have found a place to stay near the center and opened a bank account nearby. But what if he were wrong? What if she had found a place further out, which would have been cheaper? She could have been living anywhere in Greater London.

But he still hadn’t exhausted all the banks and branches on his list of the Finchley Road area, so he wasn’t on the verge of giving up. It was actually a huge list. Finchley Road was a long road and there were other major streets round it.

Finally, his luck started to change. He got hold of a bank and branch, explained about “her” “old” account that he thought “she” had just used “six years ago” — and was told by a young woman with an Indian accent that they had to go through some security checks before they could reactivate her account and give her the details.

“No problem,” said David, confident in all the information that he had assembled from Juanita for this part of the exercise.

“First of all, I need your date of birth.”

“April 1, 1980,” said David, the software disguising his voice and giving it that soft, feminine touch, enhanced by the deliberate nervousness that he was injecting into it.

“Next, I need to know your mother’s maiden name.”

“Segal.”

“Finally, the answer to the security question you set yourself. The question was, ‘Dog’s name.’”

A queasy feeling gripped David’s stomach and a column of heat rose up inside him. His cheeks flushed bright red. This was one question that he hadn’t prepared for. He couldn’t just end the conversation and then come back. That would just set off alarms. Even if he got through to a different operator at the call center, which he probably would, they might well have flagged the account by them.

He had to answer now and he had to answer correctly. But how? He didn’t have a clue what her dog’s name was. In fact he couldn’t even imagine her owning a dog. A dog could be a friend to someone who is otherwise friendless. But David’s father had told him that, according to Esther Olsen, it was Dorothy’s computer that was her friend. She never said anything about a dog, or at least his father hadn’t mentioned anything.

He had to play for time, or at least give himself an excuse for failure that would not arouse suspicions.

“I’ve actually had several dogs in the past ten years. I can’t remember which one it was when I opened the account.”

“Well I have to have an answer before I can give you the account details and password.”

David was frantically running dogs’ names through his head: Rex? Rambo? Toto?

Toto!

The dog from The Wizard of Oz! Dorothy’s dog! It had to be.

“I think the dog I had at the time was called Toto,” he said.

“I’m afraid that’s not the one I’ve got here.”

Damn!

Now he had blown it for sure.

“If you don’t remember, we may have to do some sort of written verification. That’ll only take seven working days.”

They hadn’t closed the door! He still had another chance!

“I really do need it sooner if possible.”

“Can you not remember the name?” asked the girl at the call center sympathetically, as she were almost willing “Dorothy” on to get it right.

Why would she choose this question for a security question if she didn’t have a dog? thought David. It made no sense. And then he remembered something.

The girl hadn’t said “Your dog’s name” — she had simply said “dog’s name.” In other words, the name of a dog.

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to hurry you,” said the girl.

What name would Dorothy Olsen associate with a dog?

“Clayton!” David blurted out.

“That’s the one,” said the girl triumphantly.

16:17 PDT

The guard outside peered in, as if concerned that Clayton’s flare of anger was going to erupt into physical violence. Alex signaled him to back off. The guard sat down and returned to his newspaper.

Clayton was now avoiding the lawyer’s eyes and there was a break in his voice, as if he couldn’t trust his throat to hold it together.

“Do you want to tell me about it?”

He didn’t want to talk about it, but Burrow had finally broken and they both knew that he had to.

“It was on April the first … her birthday … her eighteenth birthday. I told her it was a birthday present… a coming-of-age present. It was my idea of a joke.”

“I presume she didn’t see the humor.”

Alex silently cursed himself for saying it. It sounded judgmental — which it was. But it was the wrong time to say it. Judgment was the one thing that Clayton was running away from.

“She didn’t show any emotion at all. She begged and pleaded at first … and then she just stopped. Silence. Like she didn’t feel anything … or didn’t want me to know what she was feeling.”

“That’s it?”

“I think she may have been crying … but you know … like … crying silently.”

“And how did you feel?”

“At the time … or now?”

“Stop jerking my leash, Clayton.”

“I’m not — ”

“You are!”

“At the time I didn’t feel a thing. No, I did feel a thing: I felt satisfaction! I was angry. She’d got me canned, remember. I was kicked out of high school because of her. I wanted revenge.”

“So how did you do it?”

“I lured her to a construction site that night and raped her.”

“How did you lure her?”

“I told her I’d kidnapped Jonathan.”

“And she believed you?”

“I’d stolen his cell phone. She called the number and I answered. Then she believed me.”

“So you lured her to this construction site and raped her there?”

“That’s right.”

“And then?”