No Way Out

This was a coded suggestion from the judge that they should agree on a plea bargain.

Andi and Alex were led away by a bailiff to a Clerk to get the paper work sorted out. Later, a horde of news- hungry reporters swarmed around them as they left the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building — actually two buildings nicknamed the “Madonna Buildings” because from above their pyramid-shaped roofs were vaguely reminiscent of the singer/actress’s pointy bras of the late nineteen eighties. The building, which housed, amongst other things, the Oakland Division of the US District Court, Northern California District, consisted of two 18-story towers interlinked at ground level by a three-story glass atrium and near the top by a two-story sky bridge.

Alex put a protective arm around Andi as he shepherded her through the gauntlet of reporters.

“Ms Phoenix,” asked a man, thrusting a microphone into her face, “does this case have anything to do with your defense of Elias Claymore?”

Alex turned her away without a word, shielding her from the reporter’s inquisitive eyes with his arm. A female reporter was poised on the other side, waiting to pounce.

“Ms Phoenix is it true that you logged on to the CODIS database in a desperate search for evidence to exonerate your client?”

“No comment!” snapped Alex angrily.

The female reporter pushed closer and held out her microphone close to Andi’s mouth.

“Ms Phoenix?” she persisted.

Alex pushed the microphone away.

“Ms Phoenix has no comment,” he said again, firmly.

As the barrage of questions continued, Alex forced a path through the crowd of reporters and guided Andi to Juanita’s waiting car. They got in the back and Juanita floored the pedal before Alex even had the chance to say “drive.”

“I’m glad to see you’ve finally learned the art of keeping your mouth shut,” said Alex as the car roared away from the prying eyes of the reporters.

“She’s going to pay — the fucking bitch!” said Andi.

“It’s no use getting angry now. We’ve just got to figure out who’s behind this and nail ‘em.”

“Oh I know who’s behind it all right! It’s that bitch Lannosea!”

“The person whose been sending you the eMails?”

“Of course it is! Who else could it be?”

“But do you know who that is?”

“Not yet. But I intend to find out.”

“How?”

“I think it’s one of Claymore’s victims from the past”

“What makes you think that?” asked Alex.

“The things she said… the anger… the bitterness.”

“Well if you’re right then she shouldn’t be too difficult to find. That reminds me — call David.”

“Why?”

“When I told him about your call from the courthouse he told me that had some results on some probes. He said you’d understand.”

Without another word, Andi pulled out her cell phone and pressed two keys.

“Hi Andi. Glad you made R-O-R.”

“How d’you know?”

“I heard it on the radio. Where are you now?”

“I’m in Juanita’s car, with your dad. We’re on our way back to the office.”

“I see that Lannosea has upped the ante,” he said wryly.

“It looks like it.”

“Anyway listen, you remember those probes I set up on your account? Well they’ve created a traceroute log of what happened these past few days.”

“What did you find?” she asked eagerly.

“That unauthorized access to the DNA database was done via your office Wide Area Network but it ultimately traced back to the hotel where you were staying.”

Andi froze.

“They’re doing it from the hotel?”

“It’s worse than that. I was able to get the MAC number of the computer they were doing it from.”

The MAC number had nothing to do with Apple Mac computers. It was an identification number that identified an individual computer.

“And?”

“It came from your laptop Andi.”

“My laptop!”

This sent a jolt through her. When could it have happened? She had her laptop with her at all times as far as she could remember. The only time when she had left it was when it was in the car when she went into the rape crisis center. Could some one had got into her car, used her laptop — via the WAN of Levine and Webster — and then switched if off and left the car looking untouched all the in the space of a few minutes?

“Is it possible for some one to spoof a MAC number?”

“A few years ago I’d’ve said, yes, but only if it was a very experienced hacker. Now anyone who can do an internet search can download an off-the-shelf MAC spoofing program. You can get an evaluation version free or the standard version for thirty dollars.”

“But how would they have got my MAC address to spoof it? Only the IP address is transmitted with the message header. The Mac address is only transmitted to the initial service provider.”

“Maybe that’s where they got it. From the company WAN.”

“You think some one at Levine and Webster.”

“If the hacker could access the network there then they might be able to get the MAC address from there, if you use the laptop at work. Does anyone else have access to your computer — I don’t mean just now, but generally.”

Andi hesitated. She knew the answer to this. But didn’t want to think about it.

“Gene wouldn’t have the knowledge to do this sort of thing.”

“Gene?” he sounded surprised. She forgot that he didn’t know what she had found out last Wednesday. As far as the rest of the world knew, Gene might have the opportunity, but she wouldn’t have had the motive.

“She has access to my laptop… some of the time. But not recently.”

“And as you say, she wouldn’t have had the knowledge of how to spoof a MAC address… let alone a motive.”

“So what do we do next? asked Andi.

“Well, there’s something you should be thinking about. Let’s take an off-the-wall scenario and consider what if some one did somehow manage to gain temporary access to your laptop. We know that the person downloaded a file from the Bethel Newton rape case.”

“So?”

“That means then they might have left some tell-tale sign on your computer.”

“Holy shit! I almost missed that!”

“Well what I suggest is that you check it out when you get back to the office. Let me know what you find. In fact, if you can connect it up with PC Anywhere, I’d like to do a hard drive image.”

“Okay. Thanks David. Bye.”

She put the phone away and became aware of Alex’s eyes upon her.

“Good news?”

“It could be Alex… it could be.”

Tuesday, 1 September 2009 — 11:05