Gun Games - Faye Kellerman [89]
Marge said, “Mrs. Hesse had stopped returning our phone calls. When Greg’s computer was stolen, it freaked her out that someone broke into her house and took the computer. That’s why she called us. So yes, I do believe that the computer was stolen.”
“Maybe the anonymous sex girl stole the computer,” Joey suggested. “Maybe she didn’t want her identity revealed to the police.”
Oliver said, “How would the girl or anyone know that Mrs. Hesse was getting ready to show it to the police?”
Marge asked, “And how would the girl know that Mrs. Hesse had discovered the porno images on her son’s computer?”
Beezel said, “Maybe the sex girl had a remote access to his computer.”
“Remote access?” Oliver asked.
“Good thinking,” Joey said. “It means that maybe she could control his computer from an off-site location.”
“It’s not weird,” Mikey said. “You buy a program that allows select people to access your computer by a remote.”
“Why in the world would you do that?” Marge said.
Joey said, “Because if your computer breaks, your tech support guy can access your computer by remote, meaning he can diagnose the problem and clean it up without you having to physically drop it off. It, like, saves a bunch of time.”
“It’s done all the time,” Mikey said. “The thing is, in order for the tech to gain access to the computer, the user has to sign the tech guy on with a password. But c’mon, if you know your way around a hard drive, you probably can bypass the user’s permission and access the computer whenever you want.”
“That would be illegal, of course,” Oliver said.
“Of course,” Mikey said. “But c’mon. If you’ve got motivation to do something, you’re gonna do it—legal or not.”
Chapter Twenty-seven
Sitting in his office with Marge and Oliver, Decker raked his hair and sipped cold coffee. It was three-thirty in the afternoon. In a couple of hours, Cindy, Koby, and his twin grandsons would be at the house for Sabbath dinner. He could feel his mind slipping into off-duty mode. To prevent him from zoning out altogether, he flipped through his notes. “So what’s with this remote control computer access? What does it have to do with Greg’s stolen computer?”
Marge was picking the pilling off her sweater. “Maybe someone realized that Greg’s computer was in use and his personal things were being watched. Someone got scared that things would come out.”
Oliver said, “Specifically, the girl who was giving Greg a blow job. It could be she wasn’t ready for X-rated distribution.”
Decker was skeptical. “You actually think that a girl broke into Hesse’s house and took the computer before Wendy could give it to the police?”
Marge said, “Or perhaps it was taken by a certain future Yalie and his posse nicknamed the B and W Mafia. Maybe one of the guys realized that there were images on the computer of Greg playing with a stolen gun.”
Oliver said, “The same stolen gun sold to Greg by Yalie who was now worried about being implicated in something more serious than stolen weapons. Something like negligent homicide, which doesn’t look good on any transcript except maybe Corcoran or Pelican Bay.”
“The problem is,” Marge said, “that until someone names names, we’ve got nothing.”
Decker wasn’t quite ready to give up. “What about Saul Hinton? Could you lean on him a little?”
“That was our next step.” Oliver smoothed his silver tie. “We called him this morning, asking him to meet with us next week, but he hasn’t called us back.”
Decker said, “Call him again. Tell him you want to talk about Myra Gelb. If he forgot to follow up on what Heddy told him about Myra’s depression, that’ll get his heart racing. Maybe he’ll spill something on Dylan.”
Oliver checked his watch. “You know, school’s letting out right around this time.” He turned to his partner. “How about we use the old ‘we were on our way home anyway’ thing.”
“No guarantee he’ll talk to us, but . . .” Marge slipped the strap of her purse over her shoulder. “I’m supposed to meet up with Willy at eight in Ventura. I got time.”
Oliver stood up. “Let’s go.”
Marge said, “We’ll fill you in if we find