Installment #31
Meg, Jack, and Ambrose
Meg gazed at the two men on her doorstep. Detective
Jack Farley and Detective Ambose Middleton. She felt a
feeling of being disconnected from her own body. Yes, she had
seen the news. No, she did not know a Jeffery Purcell. And
what did any of this have to do with her? Well, yes she did
know a redranger from the Internet. No she had never met him.
Yes she was supposed to meet him in Denver at the Sheraton on
Thursday, but he had not shown up. No, she had heard nothing
since then. And the final blow when Jack Farley explained how
Jeffery Eldon Purcell had flown out of Brattleboro, Vermont
and flown into Denver. He had disembarked at Stapleton and
his wife had heard nothing from him since he left Vermont.
“Were you aware that he had a wife and children?”
“Of course not, Mr. Farley! What kind of woman do you
take me to be?”
“Well certainly not one that picks men up on the
Internet!” He remarked sarcastically and Meg blushed. He was
right about that!
“We are going to need to take a good look at your hard
drive. Going to have to take it in and that may take some time.
Is that a problem?” This Jack Farley was getting on her last
nerve.
“Oh it most definitely is a problem. I run my eBay
business through the computer. I keep all my records on the
computer. I communicate through my computer. I just can’t
let you take that!” She crossed her arms across her chest and
then quickly remembered that was a defensive gesture. She
dropped her hands to her sides and then felt vulnerable. She
placed a hand on each hip and glared at Jack Farley. “I have
done nothing wrong here! What earthly good would my
computer be to you? I told you about our emails.” Jack
Farley thought for a moment.
“Alright I can probably do this here and get what I
need.” He turned to his partner. “Ambrose, I am going to
need about five or six hours. You want to hang out here or go
kill time somewhere? I could actually use the help if you
don‘t mind.” Ambrose nodded his assent. Jack turned to Meg
and extended his arm indicating that she should lead the way.
She opened the door and stepped inside. The men followed.
Jack was experienced at what he was doing and very
quickly had the computer booted and running and was in her
email account, but in an area she did not know existed. He
scrolled slowly through her correspondence with redranger,
pausing now and then and making a notation. Then he turned to
her and asked, “Why do you read his emails and then rather then
just leave them, mark them as new and then come back later and
answer them? That seems kind of strange.” He waited.
“ I don’t. I open them, answer them and then they go
to old mail. Why would I want to save them as new?”
“You are the only one that uses this computer, right?”
“Yes, my son was here, but he didn’t even come in here.”
“Well either you are doing that or you have a very savvy
hacker. Come here.” He pointed to a blip on the screen. “See
that? That is open, then keep as new. And here. Another one.”
He continued to point them out as she stared in amazement.
“No one is ever in here but me!”
“Oh, he does not have to be in here. He can be miles
away. If you did not do this then someone is operating your
computer from their computer. No problem at all for someone
who knows what he is doing. Probably paid you a visit at some
point and left behind what he needed to make this work. Had any company
lately besides your son? I am assuming he would not do this?”
He looked at Meg and waited for a reaction. He got it as she
suddenly remembered the bar of Irish Spring in her shower when
she returned from California.
“Yes,” she said very slowly, “Yes, but I do not know
who it was.” She then explained to him about that experience,
about the bars now on the windows, the doggie door alteration
and who had done the work.
“This Fred guy, how well do you know him? Good with
electronics? I mean computers and such?”
Meg laughed. “Oh, no! Fred is not good at anything
except manual labor. He lives up the hill and is the area
handyman. I don’t think he knows that computers even
exist. Other than that I can‘t think of anyone who has been here.”
“Neighbors? Any of them ever stop by?”
“No. I only ran into the man up North once in the past
I don’t know how many years. He is only up there some time.
I think. Guess I really don’t know.”
“Got any fellas hanging around who might be a little
jealous? I noticed the only emails that were messed with were
the ones from redranger, Jeffery Purcell. So he is not after your
money, or your accounts, he just wants to keep tabs on your
extracurricular stuff basically. And he knew you planned on
meeting Jeffery on Thursday. See anyone you knew in the
Sheraton that day?”
Meg stared in disbelief. What was this guy after? But
sadly it all made perfect sense. Someone was in her home and
now was in her computer and was in her life and in her head.
How could she type another word and feel safe? She couldn’t.
But who would be doing this? No one paid any attention to her
movements. Well not that she knew about anyway.
“No, not a soul.”
“Anybody follow you home? Anybody here when you got
here? Anything messed with?”
“No. No. I just cannot think of anyone at all who is even
remotely interested in me for any reason.” She dropped her head
in her hands and began to cry softly. “Oh, Tommy,” she thought
to herself, “What is this all about? God I wish you were here.”
Jack Farley patted Meg awkwardly on her shoulder.
“Listen, Meg, uh, may I call you Meg?” She nodded her assent
and he continued. “I can’t do it. I am not smart enough, but
there are guys at the station who can dig in this thing and come
up with who ever is messing with your account. I got a feeling
that he messed with Jeffery Purcell too. That guy didn’t just fall
off the face of the earth. And I think we need to know this now,
because I think you are in danger. So can I take your hard drive?
Or is eBay more important? Not to put any pressure, but I can get
a warrant if I need to go that route.”
Meg knew what had to happen as well as Jack Farley.
“Oh, well, go ahead. Let me just put the store on vacation and
that will take care of eBay.” She sat down in front of the machine
she now was afraid of and entered a few things and then stepped
away. “Done.”
“Thanks, now I would like to get someone up here to keep
an eye on you until we get some answers. Whoever this is knows
where you live and he knows your routine. Now why would a
complete stranger go to all this work if he weren’t after
something. I think it is you he is after.”
Meg sighed and agreed with him. Something was going
on and she had no idea what it was, but she did know she was
afraid for the first time in her life. The bars on the windows were
not enough to keep the intruder out of her computer, so how
could they keep anyone that determined out of her home? She
was sure of one other thing, if Kevin found out about this he
would force her to come to California.
“ I will make up the guest room for whoever is coming.”
“No, he is not coming here to sleep. He is coming here
to take care of you. Ambrose will stay until his replacement gets
here. Probably tomorrow.” He placed the hard drive in the car
and then crawled into the drivers’ side. “Even with someone
here you need to stay inside and stay alert. I am afraid this guy
is serious and I just wish I knew what he was serious about.” He
put the car in drive and pulled out the circle drive.
Meg gave a wave and turned to Ambrose, “Well, buddy,
looks like it is just you and me.”
They walked back into the house and Ambrose checked
that all the doors and windows were secure before he pulled a
chair from the table and sat down to watch, who knew what.
Meg, Jack, and Ambrose
Meg gazed at the two men on her doorstep. Detective
Jack Farley and Detective Ambose Middleton. She felt a
feeling of being disconnected from her own body. Yes, she had
seen the news. No, she did not know a Jeffery Purcell. And
what did any of this have to do with her? Well, yes she did
know a redranger from the Internet. No she had never met him.
Yes she was supposed to meet him in Denver at the Sheraton on
Thursday, but he had not shown up. No, she had heard nothing
since then. And the final blow when Jack Farley explained how
Jeffery Eldon Purcell had flown out of Brattleboro, Vermont
and flown into Denver. He had disembarked at Stapleton and
his wife had heard nothing from him since he left Vermont.
“Were you aware that he had a wife and children?”
“Of course not, Mr. Farley! What kind of woman do you
take me to be?”
“Well certainly not one that picks men up on the
Internet!” He remarked sarcastically and Meg blushed. He was
right about that!
“We are going to need to take a good look at your hard
drive. Going to have to take it in and that may take some time.
Is that a problem?” This Jack Farley was getting on her last
nerve.
“Oh it most definitely is a problem. I run my eBay
business through the computer. I keep all my records on the
computer. I communicate through my computer. I just can’t
let you take that!” She crossed her arms across her chest and
then quickly remembered that was a defensive gesture. She
dropped her hands to her sides and then felt vulnerable. She
placed a hand on each hip and glared at Jack Farley. “I have
done nothing wrong here! What earthly good would my
computer be to you? I told you about our emails.” Jack
Farley thought for a moment.
“Alright I can probably do this here and get what I
need.” He turned to his partner. “Ambrose, I am going to
need about five or six hours. You want to hang out here or go
kill time somewhere? I could actually use the help if you
don‘t mind.” Ambrose nodded his assent. Jack turned to Meg
and extended his arm indicating that she should lead the way.
She opened the door and stepped inside. The men followed.
Jack was experienced at what he was doing and very
quickly had the computer booted and running and was in her
email account, but in an area she did not know existed. He
scrolled slowly through her correspondence with redranger,
pausing now and then and making a notation. Then he turned to
her and asked, “Why do you read his emails and then rather then
just leave them, mark them as new and then come back later and
answer them? That seems kind of strange.” He waited.
“ I don’t. I open them, answer them and then they go
to old mail. Why would I want to save them as new?”
“You are the only one that uses this computer, right?”
“Yes, my son was here, but he didn’t even come in here.”
“Well either you are doing that or you have a very savvy
hacker. Come here.” He pointed to a blip on the screen. “See
that? That is open, then keep as new. And here. Another one.”
He continued to point them out as she stared in amazement.
“No one is ever in here but me!”
“Oh, he does not have to be in here. He can be miles
away. If you did not do this then someone is operating your
computer from their computer. No problem at all for someone
who knows what he is doing. Probably paid you a visit at some
point and left behind what he needed to make this work. Had any company
lately besides your son? I am assuming he would not do this?”
He looked at Meg and waited for a reaction. He got it as she
suddenly remembered the bar of Irish Spring in her shower when
she returned from California.
“Yes,” she said very slowly, “Yes, but I do not know
who it was.” She then explained to him about that experience,
about the bars now on the windows, the doggie door alteration
and who had done the work.
“This Fred guy, how well do you know him? Good with
electronics? I mean computers and such?”
Meg laughed. “Oh, no! Fred is not good at anything
except manual labor. He lives up the hill and is the area
handyman. I don’t think he knows that computers even
exist. Other than that I can‘t think of anyone who has been here.”
“Neighbors? Any of them ever stop by?”
“No. I only ran into the man up North once in the past
I don’t know how many years. He is only up there some time.
I think. Guess I really don’t know.”
“Got any fellas hanging around who might be a little
jealous? I noticed the only emails that were messed with were
the ones from redranger, Jeffery Purcell. So he is not after your
money, or your accounts, he just wants to keep tabs on your
extracurricular stuff basically. And he knew you planned on
meeting Jeffery on Thursday. See anyone you knew in the
Sheraton that day?”
Meg stared in disbelief. What was this guy after? But
sadly it all made perfect sense. Someone was in her home and
now was in her computer and was in her life and in her head.
How could she type another word and feel safe? She couldn’t.
But who would be doing this? No one paid any attention to her
movements. Well not that she knew about anyway.
“No, not a soul.”
“Anybody follow you home? Anybody here when you got
here? Anything messed with?”
“No. No. I just cannot think of anyone at all who is even
remotely interested in me for any reason.” She dropped her head
in her hands and began to cry softly. “Oh, Tommy,” she thought
to herself, “What is this all about? God I wish you were here.”
Jack Farley patted Meg awkwardly on her shoulder.
“Listen, Meg, uh, may I call you Meg?” She nodded her assent
and he continued. “I can’t do it. I am not smart enough, but
there are guys at the station who can dig in this thing and come
up with who ever is messing with your account. I got a feeling
that he messed with Jeffery Purcell too. That guy didn’t just fall
off the face of the earth. And I think we need to know this now,
because I think you are in danger. So can I take your hard drive?
Or is eBay more important? Not to put any pressure, but I can get
a warrant if I need to go that route.”
Meg knew what had to happen as well as Jack Farley.
“Oh, well, go ahead. Let me just put the store on vacation and
that will take care of eBay.” She sat down in front of the machine
she now was afraid of and entered a few things and then stepped
away. “Done.”
“Thanks, now I would like to get someone up here to keep
an eye on you until we get some answers. Whoever this is knows
where you live and he knows your routine. Now why would a
complete stranger go to all this work if he weren’t after
something. I think it is you he is after.”
Meg sighed and agreed with him. Something was going
on and she had no idea what it was, but she did know she was
afraid for the first time in her life. The bars on the windows were
not enough to keep the intruder out of her computer, so how
could they keep anyone that determined out of her home? She
was sure of one other thing, if Kevin found out about this he
would force her to come to California.
“ I will make up the guest room for whoever is coming.”
“No, he is not coming here to sleep. He is coming here
to take care of you. Ambrose will stay until his replacement gets
here. Probably tomorrow.” He placed the hard drive in the car
and then crawled into the drivers’ side. “Even with someone
here you need to stay inside and stay alert. I am afraid this guy
is serious and I just wish I knew what he was serious about.” He
put the car in drive and pulled out the circle drive.
Meg gave a wave and turned to Ambrose, “Well, buddy,
looks like it is just you and me.”
They walked back into the house and Ambrose checked
that all the doors and windows were secure before he pulled a
chair from the table and sat down to watch, who knew what.
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