Security Breach
Page 12
Lawson shrugged her shoulders. “What can I say? I made detective three years ago, and I’ve rarely had a good night’s sleep since.”
“Tell us about Garcia.”
“Not much to tell. All indications are that it was random street violence.”
Randall glanced at Nora who nodded once.
“We think he was tracking down a student.”
“Why?”
“We’re still piecing that together.”
Nora sat back and crossed her arms. “It has to do with his phone logs, internet activity, and the crowded state of Puget Sound.”
“Everyone’s wondering about that. What’s going on out there?”
“Disinformation campaign being raged on social medial.”
“Huh.”
“Do you get much of that here?” Randall already knew the history of cyber attacks in Seattle. It had been one of the first things he’d researched the night before. Often a cyber perp would be paid off then come back for more.
“Cyber terrorism isn’t really my department. According to the Office of Emergency Management we experience daily threats, but we have yet to experience a large-scale attack.”
“They wouldn’t necessarily tell you about such a thing if it had happened.” Nora splayed her hands out flat on the table, stared at them a minute, and then looked up. “Have you noticed anything unusual? Cell phones not working, computers going down, rolling brownouts, a dramatic slow-down in network performance?”
“Nothing like that. So you’re suggesting this is more than a random act of violence?”
“Definitely more. Was his wallet taken?”
“Yes, as well as his watch and wedding ring.”
“So, someone wanted it to look like a burglary gone bad.”
“The bullet to the head was a little excessive, at least that’s what we thought at first. But someone on PCP or Oxy? There’s really no understanding why they do what they do.”
“Medical Examiner’s report?”
“We’ll have it this afternoon.”
They spoke another ten minutes about Garcia’s background, which was clean, and Seattle crime stats, which weren’t any higher than any other tourist town. Finally Nora motioned for the waiter to bring the bill. “We’d appreciate it if you’d share the results from the ME with us as soon as you have them.”
“Of course.”
“Keep your eyes open for any type of tech anomaly, and if there’s anyone you trust implicitly ask them to do the same.”
“How big do you think this is?”
“Based on the evidence we have at this point, I couldn’t say with any measure of certainty.”
“But our best guess is that it’s big.” Randall looked again out the plate glass windows, looked at a city that was waking and going to work like any other day. In the time since he’d been partnered with Nora, he’d learned that it was usually the most normal-looking day that exploded into utter chaos.
Better to brace yourself and meet it head on.