“There is something else we can try. If I can take a look at the computer that was used for the scan, I can check the outgoing packet log for the upload to the LDIS server.”
“Does it keep that data?”
“Only as a temporary file. But when the system deletes it, it doesn’t do a double delete like the hacker did on the database. It just frees up the area of the disk for reuse. If there hasn’t been much more activity on that computer, I could recover the temporary packet log file with a standard utility and recover the raw data.”
“OK can you do that ASAP?”
“We have to. Let’s take that server out of use right away.”
“Okay and then when you’ve done that, run another comparison between the
“Will do.”
Greenberg was about to say more, when he suddenly remembered the airhead who had phoned up a few days ago. He hadn’t told her the password. All he had told her was that it was his mother’s maiden name. But he hadn’t told her what that was. He had been hoping that she would call him back after she phoned during the day and asked one of his colleagues all those questions about him. They had teased him mercilessly about that afterwards.
She had asked about his age and his eyes and his zodiac sign!
He realized what had happened. She had “social engineered” him —
He tried to put it out of his mind as he looked at the file allocation table. Then he remembered something else.
“Dr Alvarez, I noticed that there are also extra reference samples file for Elias Claymore, Bethel Newton and Louis Manning. According to the properties, these are mitochondrial DNA profiles.”
“Yes that’s right. We do mitochondrial DNA profiles on reference samples as a matter of course. But we decided to use Y-STR on the evidence samples.”
“And you haven’t got any more evidence samples?”
Alvarez thought for a moment.
“Let me just check.”
He typed in something at his own computer and smiled.
“Oh I’m wrong. There’s another nail sample — the thumb of the victim’s other hand.”
Greenberg smiled.
“Well maybe it would be a good idea if addition to the new Y-STR test we
Alvarez smiled.
“That’s a good idea. I’ll get right on it.”
Tuesday, 1 September 2009 — 6:45
Andi was sleeping in her hotel room in San Francisco, or at least trying to. It had been a sleepless night as she had tossed and turned, after yesterday’s events in court. She had been expecting to call Gene as a hostile witness, but that had all been postponed till Wednesday. So all Andi could do was worry. She had finally managed to fall asleep in the wee hours of the morning. But the silent peace of her early morning slumber was not to last long. It was shattered by a heavy pounding on the door. Squinting against the dawn light, she staggered downstairs to answer, and looked through the spy-hole to see several police officers.
What on earth was going on?
“Yes?” she shouted through the door.
“FBI, ma’am! Would you mind opening the door?”
She opened the door in haste.
“Special Agent Caine Ma’am,” he said, flashing a badge in her face. “Are you Andromeda Phoenix?”
“Yes,” she replied hesitantly.
“I have a warrant for your arrest,” he said, holding out the warrant, “and another to search these premises.”
“Arrest? What’s the charge?”
“Illegally, accessing a government computer without authorization.”
Tuesday, 1 September 2009 — 10:35
“Your Honor,” said the diminutive but feisty lawyer, “my client is a man of limited means but has strong roots in this community where he has lived for twenty seven years.”
Andi was sitting with a group of other unrelated defendants in a crowded District Court, along with dozens of other defendants. She felt uncomfortable with Alex sitting next to her, yet comforted that he was there. It was embarrassing to feel that she needed his assistance, yet reassuring that he had dropped everything else he had to deal with — at a moment’s notice — to come to her aid.
There were also quite a few journalists milling around. Usually an arraignment court isn’t a particularly newsworthy venue. But some one had tipped off the press about the celebrity defendant and so there were a lot of reporters, packed in along with the usual suspects and the low-life shysters looking an easy fee — “court-house leaches,” Alex called them.
“Bail is set at fifteen hundred dollars,” said the arraignment judge. “Next!”
Andi and Alex were signaled to step forward by a bailiff. When Andi took her place before the judge, Alex went with her.
“Case 08-31-09-2346, United States versus Andromeda Phoenix,” said the clerk, rattling if off like a machine- gun. “US Code, Title 18, Part I, Chapter 47, Section 1030, Paragraph 2, Clause C, Unauthorized access to a computer used in interstate communication, one count. No priors.”
“Is the defendant represented by counsel?”
“Yes your Honor,” said Alex. “Alex Sedaka. I appear on behalf of Miss Phoenix and my client pleads Not Guilty.”
“Does the prosecution oppose bail?”
“No Your Honor. The accused has no priors and strong domestic and professional roots in the community. Therefore the prosecution does not see her as a flight risk.”
The duty prosecutor knew that she would make bail regardless. Although Andi had been living in the community for less than three months, it was now her home and she had an unblemished record.
The US Attorney in charge of the case would probably offer her a plea-bargain on the lines of probation and maybe community service — teaching computer skills to disadvantaged kids. She wasn’t really a threat to anyone. As far as he could tell she had just got overzealous trying to get information to help her client.
“Your Honor,” said Alex, “in view of the prosecution’s favorable statement, I would ask the court to release the accused on her own recognizance.”
“Any objection from the government?”
“No, Your Honor.”
“In that case the defendant is released on her own recognizance. I’ll set the pre-trial thirty days from now. Hopefully the three of you should be able to work something out by then.”
