Additional telephone lines had been installed, and these were connected to modems winking with green lights. But I did not get the impression that my niece was living here alone, for on the sink were two toothbrushes, and solution for contact lenses that she did not wear. Both sides of the twin bed were unmade, and on top of it was a briefcase I did not recognize, either.
“Here.” She lifted a printer off a chair and put me close to the fire. “Sorry everything’s such a mess.” She wore a bright orange UVA sweatshirt and jeans, and her hair was wet. “I can heat up some water,” she said, and she was very distracted.
“If you’re offering tea, I accept,” I said.
I watched her closely as she filled a pot with water and plugged it in. Nearby, on a dresser top were FBI credentials, a pistol and car keys. I spotted file folders and pieces of paper scribbled with notes, and I spotted unfamiliar clothing hanging inside the closet. -Tell me about T. C.,- I said.
Lucy opened a tea bag. “A German major. She’s spending the next six weeks in Munich. So she said I could stay here.”
“That was very nice of her. Would you like me to help you pack up her things or at least make room for your%?”
“You don’t need to do any work at all right now.”
I glanced toward the window, hearing someone.
“You still take your tea black?” Lucy said.
The fire crackled, smoking wood shifted, and I wasn’t surprised when the door opened and another woman walked in. But I was not expecting Janet, and she was not expecting me.
“Dr. Scarpetta,” he said in surprise as she glanced at Lucy. “How great of you to drop by.”
She was carrying shower items, a baseball cap pulled over wet hair that was almost to her shoulders. Dressed in sweats and tennis shoes, she was lovely and healthy, and like Lucy, seemed even younger because she was on a university campus again.
“Please join us,” Lucy said to her as she handed me a mug of tea.
“We were out running.- Janet smiled. “Sorry about the hair. So what brings you here?” she asked as she sat on the floor.
“I need some help with a case,” was all I said. “Are you taking this virtual reality course too?” I studied both of their faces.
“Right,” Janet said. “Lucy and I are here together. As you may or may not know, I was transferred to the Washington Field Office late last year.”
“Lucy mentioned it.”
“I’ve been assigned to white-collar crime,” she went on.
“Especially anything that might be related to a violation of the 10C.”
“Which is?” I asked.
It was Lucy who replied as she sat next to me, “Interception of Communication statute. We’ve got the only group in the country with experts who can handle these cases.”
“Then the Bureau has sent both of you here for training because of this group.” I tried to understand. “But I guess I don’t see what virtual reality might have to do with hackers breaking into major databases,” I added.
Janet was silent as she took off her cap and combed her hair, staring into the fire. I could tell she was very uncomfortable, and I wondered how much of it had to do with what had happened in Aspen over the holidays. My niece moved to the hearth and sat facing me.
“We’re not here for a class, Aunt Kay,” she said with quiet seriousness. “That’s how it’s supposed to look to everybody else. Now, I’m going to tell you this when I shouldn’t, but it’s too late for any more lies.”
“You don’t have to tell me,” I said. “I understand.”
“No.” Her eyes were intense. “I want you to understand what’s going on. And to give you a quick, dirty summary, last fall Commonwealth Power and Light began experiencing problems when what appeared to be a hacker started getting inside their computer system. The attempts were frequent-sometimes four or five times a day. But there was no success in identifying this individual until he left tracks in an audit log after accessing and printing customer billing information. We were called, and remotely we managed to trace the perpetrator to UVA.”