Postmortem. Patricia Cornwell

This to me: “We’d be wise to consider all channels. Who else, for example, has access to your records, Kay?”

“Copies are sent to the CA and to the police,” I replied evenly-he and Tanner were the CA and the police.

“What about the families of the victims?”

“So far I’ve gotten no requests from the women’s families, and in cases such as these I most likely would refer the relative to your office.”

“What about insurance companies?”

“If requested. But after the second homicide I instructed my clerks to refrain from sending out any reports, except to your office and to the police. The reports are provisional. I’ve been stalling for as long as possible to keep them out of circulation.”

Tanner asked, “Anybody else? What about Vital Statistics? Didn’t they used to keep your data on their mainframe, requiring you to send them copies of all your CME-1’s and autopsy reports?”

Startled, I didn’t respond right away. Tanner certainly had done his homework. There was no reason he should have been privy to such a mundane housekeeping concern.

“We stopped sending VS any paper reports after we became computerized,” I told him. “They’ll get data from us eventually. When they begin working on their annual report-” Tanner interrupted with a suggestion that had the impact of a pointed gun.

“Well, that leaves your computer.”

He began idly swirling the coffee in his Styrofoam cup. “I assume you have very restricted access to the data base.”

“That was my next question,” Amburgey muttered.

The timing was terrible.

I almost wished Margaret hadn’t told me about the computer violation.

I was desperately trying to think what to say as I was seized by panic. Was it possible the killer might have been caught earlier and this gifted young surgeon might still be alive had these leaks not occurred? Was it possible the anonymous “medical source” wasn’t a person after all, but my office computer? I think it was one of the worst moments in my life when I had no choice but to admit, “Despite all precautions, it appears someone has gotten into our data. Today we discovered evidence that someone tried to pull up Lori Petersen’s case. It was a fruitless attempt because she hasn’t been entered into the computer yet.”

No one spoke for a few moments.

I lit a cigarette. Amburgey stared angrily at it, then said, “But the first three cases are in there.”

“Yes.”

“You’re sure it wasn’t a member of your staff, or perhaps one of your deputy chiefs from one of the districts?”

“I’m reasonably sure.”

Silence again. Then he asked, “Could it be whoever this infiltrator is, he may have gotten in before?”

“1 can’t be sure it hasn’t happened before. We routinely leave the computer in answer mode so either Margaret or I can dial in after hours. We have no idea how an outsider gained access to the password.”

“How did you discover the violation?”

Tanner looked confused. “You discovered it today. Seems like you would have discovered it in the past if it’s happened before.”

“My computer analyst discovered it because the echo was inadvertently left on. The commands were on the screen. Otherwise we would never have known.”

Something flickered in Amburgey’s eyes and his face was turning an angry red. Idly picking up a cloisonne letter opener, he ran his thumb along the blunt edge for what seemed a long moment. “Well,” he decided, “I suppose we’d better take a look at your screens. See what sort of data this individual might have looked at. It may not have anything to do with what’s been in the papers. I’m sure this’s what we’ll discover. I also want to review the four strangling cases, Dr. Scarpetta. I’m getting asked a lot of questions. I need to know exactly what we’re dealing with.”

I sat helplessly. There was nothing I could do. Amburgey was usurping me, opening the private, sensitive business carried on in my office to bureaucratic scrutiny. The thought of him going through these cases, of him staring at the photographs of these brutalized, murdered women made me tremble with rage.

“You may review the cases across the street. They are not to be photocopied, nor are they to leave my office.” I added coldly, “For security reasons, of course.”

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